I will take the “Best Of” concept one step further this summer by posting some of my all-time favorite stories from my 15 years with the MSHSL. I am working on selecting 15 stories that I really enjoyed writing, and this process is quite in-depth.
Randy Taylor has been on the Titans coaching staff for 28 years, Jon Wessel for seven and they are very close friends … even before Wessel gave Taylor one of his kidneys earlier this year.
“Winning games is awesome but our goal is to turn them into men,” he said. “We have 26 kids on the roster and you could ask any of the coaches, they’re all like sons to us.”
The good news: I never saw one flake of snow while driving home from Lake Crystal. The great news: I had one of the best experiences I’ve ever had at a high school sporting event.
More than 1,500 Minnesota girls in grades 7 through 12 are on wrestling teams this season. That number has almost doubled from a year ago, and there were about 250 the first year girls wrestling was sanctioned by the MSHSL in 2021-22.
Kailee is a 2009 graduate of Cambridge-Isanti, and her hometown turned out for her. There was a raffle, a silent auction, a halftime shooting contest and more, with a whole bunch of folks wearing “Full Court Fight For Kailee” T-shirts.
Erik Hermanson has dual educational roles that are all but unknown. Football coaches are usually teachers or administrators, but the combination of football and instrumental music is extremely rare.
Andrew Klinnert is an 18-year-old senior at Fergus Falls High School. He is in his first year as an MSHSL basketball official and has worked several games with his grandfather. If Andrew officiates for as many years as his grandpa, he will put in more than 60 winters on the court.
Twenge, 71, is a true baseball lifer. Ask him about winning 1,000 games and he’ll likely respond with a statement about losing 600-some games, too. And he will smile.
A few days before Christmas, three wise men made history on the basketball court at Duluth Denfeld High School. They brought gifts of wisdom, experience and gratitude, based on their combined 154 years as basketball officials.
The previous game had just ended when the Green Wave players exited their locker room for the short walk down a hallway, followed by a right turn into the tunnel that leads to the bench, the ice and pregame warmups. Cole never got to the ice.
Every summer I have a tradition of posting my favorite John’s Journal stories from the just-completed school year, and I have just finished choosing those stories.
“Ava and I have gone head to head through the past three, four years and she's an amazing competitor. I am blessed to have been able to compete against her. I love her. I'm excited to see how her much farther track career goes.”
I’d like to think we now have the best of both worlds in Minnesota softball. Playing quarterfinal, semifinal and consolation-round games at Caswell Park is a tradition that needs to continue, and moving the four championship games to Minneapolis worked out great.
The real point of these athletic endeavors is to have fun, build foundations of friendship, set an example for younger kids — as well as some adults — and create lifelong memories.
History is history and this historical moment came via a one-time grouping of talented athletes who ran together for the first time and will probably never run that race again.
How talented is St. Charles senior Christopher Hilton? He holds or shares school records in six events: 100 meters, 200 meters, 110-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles, triple jump and 4x400 relay.
