DC golfers showing improvement

Published by Jmenden on April 23, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Just was glancing at the golf scores from sunny Tuesday afternoon and thought I’d write about them.

First, the boys’ got three nice rounds yesterday. Garrett Ryynanen posted a 39, which was in a tie for seventh-best. Trevor Grindle was right behind him with a 40. And as we have seen, Grindle as the talent to go even lower, so if Ryynanen can keep golfing like Tuesday, the Chargers have a great duo at the top. Eric Dahlman also turned in a nice round of 42.

The problem is getting a low number from that fourth golfer. Tuesday, Tyler Koivisto was the guy after a round of 47. That is not a bad number, but that makes the difference between yesterday’s sixth-place finish, and something in the top three. The Chargers were just four strokes from fourth place, and eight from third.

In cast you were wondering, Waconia is leading the standings through  Tuesday by 10 shots over Mound-Westonka.

The girls are seeing improvement and it is showing. Tuesday at the lovely Southbrook
Golf Course near Annandale, the Chargers tied for fifth place. The scores from most of the golfers keep improving which means they could easily see higher placements as the season progresses.

One thing that will hinder that progression is the amount of meets, however. With four meets this week and many more on the horizon, it is difficult to work on specific parts of the game.

Annika Ring continues to be the leader on the course for DC; she carded a nice 47 Tuesday. The rest of the golfer are close too. Sarah Harmala had a 51, Abby Thomson a 52, and Heidi Harmala a 53.

Spring sports are going…finally

Published by Jmenden on April 22, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Happy Earth Day and Severe Weather Awareness Week everyone! At least to me, it seems that the Earth should receive a week too. Oh well.

I got my first look at both the DC softball and baseball teams last week, so I thought I would share my thoughts.

In the game I saw Friday, a 4-0 loss, the Chargers did not play that bad. They were victimized by a good pitcher and some very solid clutch hitting from just one batter. Annandale’s Hayley Vogt picked up all 4 RBIs on two-out extra-base hits. Other than that, it looks like pitcher Kaitlin Hartkopf is back in form.

One good thing to take away from the game is the Chargers are solid in the field. They made every play they should have, and Julie Munson made a very nice leaping catch at short stop late in the game. Now if they can just get those bats going…

The baseball team is off to a nice start at 3-1. The biggest thing that stands out is that they do all of the little things that are important. How nice is it that virtually anybody in the lineup can bunt? The team used the squeeze play several times last week, and in all sorts of situations.

The pitching staff is off to a great start. Tyler Zweibohmer and Jordan Flick have had little trouble so far, and it appears the team will be able to ride them to a lot of victories. Lucas Larson got roughed up in Hutchinson, but those games will happen, especially when the defense struggles like they did.

Recent MSHSL actions

Published by Jmenden on April 8, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Last week, the Minnesota State High School League made some interesting decisions at their board meeting. First, it was decided to add mercy rules to basketball and football for when games get too lopsided. Second, the board voted against reducing the number or weights in wrestling from 14 to 12 or 13.

Personally, I disagree with adding the mercy rule for basketball. The short version is running time will start when one team goes up by 35 points and continue as long as it stay above 30. Two reasons why I don’t like it: 1. Coaches now how to manage games, and are well aware of when the game is not competitive and should ease up. When the game is too lopsided, it provides a great opportunity for coaches to use players farther down the bench during varsity action (same for football), in my opinion. 2. What is the difference whether a team is up by 30 or 50, once it gets to that point, it is a thorough defeat, no matter the score. The players on the losing team are going to feel disappointment regardless if they are losing 75-45 or 75-25.

Keeping the weights at 14 in wrestling is a little more tricky for me. I don’t have a problem with it because in conference and section play, generally th schools squaring off are of similar size, and have the same struggles in filling the weights. Obviously, taking out one or two weights would make teams more competitive, but again, the teams are in the same boat. It would be interesting to see what coach Bryan Clemen would have to say about it and if he struggles to fill weights . I’ll try to get a little something in for the paper this week.

Spring sports preview

Published by Jmenden on April 2, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

The spring sports season is already here, with track and field kicking (running, actually) it off in Becker Tuesday. Here are some more thoughts about the DC teams.

Softball: Clearly, coach Rachel Franklin has a lot of options heading into the season, which will hopefully now start in Waconia next week after Friday’s game has already been canceled. Just about everybody on the team can play multiple positions, where they will play will depend on who is doing well with the bat. In the team’s 12 losses last season, the Chargers scored more than two runs just once. The addition of Briann Jennissen to the lineup, along with a lot of new blood should overcome some of the offense they lost to graduation. A good sign for the future: six players that are a sophomore or younger could see regular time.

Baseball: The team has an entirely new infield, and a lot of new faces on the team. Just like softball, it is unknown exactly how many runs this team will score. Just Luke Peterson and Brendon Opsahl return to the regular lineup from last season. Like coach Neutzling said, all of the new guys have played a lot baseball, so they are banking on a relatively smooth transition to the varsity level by these players. Pitching should be a strength of the team. Tyler Zweibohmer returns as the team’s craft left-hander. He can fool a lot of batters and keep opposing teams off the scoreboard. Lucas Larson is also an excellent pitcher. So the team should be able to win some games based on their pitching alone.

Boys’ Golf: Coach Brian Johnson is looking for everybody to take a step forward this season. Based on last season, Trevor Grindle will be solid for the team at every meet, and might do some impressive things. The team will need Eric Dahlman to regain his form, and have experienced golfers like Garrett Ryynanen, Joel Ring, Alex Morris, and Isaiah Morris step up their game. If Grindle can be dominant, and others shoot consistently in the high 70s, the team could surprise some people.

Girls’ Golf: For girls’ golf, the team is just looking for continued development and progression. There is no reason that should not happen because many of the golfers last season were starting out green. As a team, the Chargers might not do better than last season, though. The team lost Melissa Aho and Emily McConkey to graduation, both were recognized by the Wright County Conference and that is tough to replace.

Boys’ Track: The team has a lot of returning athletes, and the question will be if they have enough of them. Can some of the young talent help the team to more points? The Chargers are solid with the likes of Dan Thorson, Phil Uecker, Jaibyne Braatz, Karl Koivisto, Josh Balmores, Mitch Jorgensen, the Pokornowski boys, and others. With the number of new kids on the team, Gilmore will be mixing and matching to find the right combination. Overall, the Chargers do have a solid team.

Girls’ Track: The bottom line for this team: they must stay healthy. If they can do that, a couple of very talented athletes can make it an exciting season for the Chargers. The team has legitimate talents in Lindsey Keskey, Erica Nelson, Amber Olson, Dayna Sherman…just to name a few. When things shake out, it will be interesting to see exactly who will make up the 4×400-meter relay that head coach Julie Ellis thinks will break the school record, and who will fill out the rest of the events.

Season in review

Published by Jmenden on March 20, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Ok, the winter sports season is over. Of all the DC teams, only two (boys’ swimming and wrestling) had winning records in the regular season. But the biggest thing I take from it was the postseason success that many of the individuals and teams saw. Dan Felt, Keeley McConkey, Tom Werner, and Tim Walker won the 200-yard freestyle relay at the Class A meet. They also took second in the 400-yarder.

How about Tony Larson and Chuck Pokornowski. Both won their respective weights at the section meet and were able to participate at the state tournament.

And of course it is impossible to forget the hockey team and their run to the state tournament. They had put together a winning streak of three of more games only once during the regular season. But did it in the section playoffs to reach state.

So even though some of the teams did not see success in wins and losses, it was definitely an excellent winter…with a lot of team and personal accomplishments from all of the sports.