Area notebook: Ellsworth’s Place earns All-American status

Ellsworth’s Morgan Place took sixth place at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in Evansville, Ind., Saturday. Her finish helped her earn All-American status for the second straight year.

Place, who is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota Duluth, finished the 6K course in 20 minutes, 53.0 seconds. Place, who took seventh place last year, improved by more than a minute from her time in the 2008 championships. The Bulldogs took seventh place as a team.

•Kyle Blakeslee of Cannon Falls took 41st in the same race. The Augustana freshman finished in 22:00.2. She missed All-American honors by just one place and less than half a second. The Viking women finished in 13th place as a team. On the men’s side, Travis Beniak of Zumbrota-Mazeppa took 106th place at the championships. The sophomore runner at Augustana finished in 33:56.04. The Viking men took 10th place as a team.

•Johnny Pohl and Reid Cashman of Red Wing are both playing hockey in the AHL this season. Pohl is playing center for the Chicago Wolves. In 13 games, he has four goals and five assists. Cashman is playing defense for the Milwaukee Admirals. He was called up from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL on Nov. 11. The two squads are scheduled to face each other at 7 p.m. Dec. 19 in Chicago.

•Red Wing’s Joe Ellis and Goodhue’s Tyler Stehr both wrapped up their sophomore seasons with the Rochester Community and Technical College football team Saturday.

The Yellowjackets lost the North Star Bowl 54-12 to Coffeyville Community College at Rochester Regional Sports Stadium. RCTC finished the season with a 10-2 record. Ellis was a 5-foot-10, 186-pound defensive back, while Stehr was a 6-1, 286-pound offensive lineman.

•Whitney Fick of Lake City is having a successful season with the RCTC women’s basketball team. In the Yellowjackets’ last game, Fick had 16 points and six rebounds against North Iowa Area Community College.

In the game before that, she had six points and 10 rebounds against Madison Area Technical College. RCTC, the defending national champions, has a young squad this season and is 2-2 on the year. The Yellowjackets don’t play again until Dec. 4.

•Plum City’s Adam Churchill and Pepin’s Kevin Haglund recently completed their season with the Wisconsin-Stout football team. The Blue Devils finished the year with an 8-2 record.

Churchill, a 6-1, 185-pound defensive back, was a junior this season, while Haglund, a 5-11, 205-pound linebacker, was a freshman. Churchill had four interceptions for 90 yards and 31 solo tackles in 10 games played.

Tags: sports notebook, morgan place, kyle blakeslee, cannon falls, travis beniak, johnny pohl, red wing, reid cashman, joe ellis, tyler stehr, whitney fick, lake city, adam churchill, plum city, kevin haglund, sports, ellsworth, zumbrota, mazeppa, goodhue, pepin