Area Notebook: Kesti shines at Pink in the Rink night

Ryan Kesti, a 2008 Red Wing High School graduate, is playing defense for the Sioux City Musketeers in the USHL. He was named an alternate captain for the team in his second year playing in the USHL.

Kesti recently had an emotional night when his team played against the USA National Development Team. Oct. 23 was Pink in the Rink Night for the Musketeers.

Kesti and his mother, June, a breast cancer survivor, participated in the ceremonial face-off. Kesti then went on to score the game-winning overtime goal in a 4-3 win. It was Kesti's first goal of the season. He's played in all nine of the team's games this season.

After the game, the pink official game jerseys worn by all of the Musketeers' players were auctioned off. Kesti's No. 6 jersey sold for $1,000 and when he went to present it to the woman who purchased it, she asked him to give it to his mother instead.

The proceeds of the auction were donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure -- approximately $35,000 was donated that evening by the Musketeers.

• Red Wing's KC Boldt has been named a captain for the Valparaiso University softball team and also the program chair for the team's large community service project. Boldt is a junior outfielder for the Crusaders.

I Need a Hug started in 2003 as a partnership between the team and the United Way of Porter County. Since guidance counselors in schools are no longer advised to physically comfort young children, the I Need a Hug program was created to provide stuffed animals that are used as counseling tools for children in crisis. The program has been so successful that it is now a nationally recognized program with the United Way.

"This year I am the program chair," Boldt said. "I work with representatives at the United Way in Valparaiso and coordinate all the fundraising and organization of the program. People can help by sending either stuffed animals or money to our softball office. We like the animals to be new and less than a foot tall so the kids can hold them easily."

Send donations to: Randy Schneider, Head Softball Coach, Athletics Recreation Center, 1009 Union Street, Valparaiso, IN 46383. Email Boldt at kathryn.boldt@valpo.edu with any questions.

•Ellsworth's Morgan Place, a sophomore at the University of Minnesota Duluth, recently defended her crown by winning the women's race at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships. Place has won 12 of the 15 races she's competed in at the college level.

Also on the Bulldogs' squad is junior Chelsea Hanson of Ellsworth.

Place and the Bulldogs advanced to today's Central Regional Championships in Wayne, Neb.

Also competing in the Central Regional Championships will be Kyle Blakeslee of Cannon Falls and Travis Beniak of Zumbrota-Mazeppa, who both run for Augustana College.

Both Vikings' teams are coming off of big wins at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships. The women's team won its third consecutive title, while the men's team won its first NSIC cross country title. Beniak, a sophomore, took fifth place in the men's race in 26:04.0, while Blakeslee, a freshman, finished sixth place in the women's race in a time of 22:52.2.

•Red Wing's Alex Nelson is running for the Carthage College men's cross country team. Nelson recently competed in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championships and finished in 30:17.2 for 56th place. His best time of the season was a 27:14.38 at the UW-Oshkosh Brooks Invitational.

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