Kyle Stevens
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Kyle Stevens is the Regional Sports Editor for RiverTown Multimedia. Previously, Kyle worked at the Owatonna People’s Press, as well as KWLM and KLFN in Willmar. You can contact Kyle by phone at (651) 301-7879, via e-mail at kstevens@rivertowns.net, and follow him on Twitter @KyleSleepins.
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The top of the first inning was about as bad as Red Wing could imagine. Ben Domagala had to battle a strike zone that eliminated anything at the knees, and the Wingers' defense could only watch as Kasson-Mantorville laced line drive after line drive in front and between each defender. But there was no panic for the top-seeded team in the Section 1AAA tournament. Red Wing came back and tied the game in the bottom of the first, then took advantage of the same limited strike zone, and three K-M errors, for an 11-5 victory that sends the Wingers to the semifinals on Saturday, June 3.
Just before 9 a.m. Thursday, Red Wing Superintendent Karsten Anderson emailed that Activities Director John Miller has resigned, effective at the end of the school year. The School Board is expected to act on the resignation during its first meeting in June.
Nate Freier is betting on Red Wing. As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, a GoFundMe set up by the Wingers' new football coach has raised $2,700 of a stated $16,000 goal. The money, which comes in donations, will be spent on new uniforms for the team. The school does not have the funds, especially after 21 helmets were taken out of the rotation, forcing the district to spring for new ones.
If there is one thing that Paul Hartmann and Corey Tauer have in common, it is the pride they take in Red Wing baseball. From young kids through the high school and Legion teams to the Aces, Hartmann and Tauer will seemingly do anything in their power to promote the game. On Tuesday, their latest effort will glow into the night.
Goodhue state champion signs LOI to Minnesota Bailee O'Reilly had heard from some good wrestling schools. St. Cloud State University was in the mix, and there was interest from O'Reilly in the Huskies, who finished second in the NCAA Division II tournament this year after consecutive national championships in 2015 and 2016. SCSU has also had five individual champions since 2011, and had four All-Americans this season.
Less than two months after accepting the head coaching job, Doug Toivonen was walking around the tennis courts trying to corral players for introductions before Red Wing kicked off the season against Northfield. It's not an unfamiliar scenario for Toivonen, who patrolled the sidelines for 12 seasons for the Wingers’ boys’ basketball. But along with Drew Olinger, who took over for Toivonen in the winter and will be co-head coach with Toivonen for the tennis team, there will be a feeling-out process.
Mara Quam didn't have to play three sports. A gifted athlete, Quam, who will play volleyball next fall while attending Minnesota State University, Mankato, could have decided a couple years ago to focus solely on one sport. With scholarship ability, that tends to be the direction modern athletes choose.
Last year, the Red Wing softball team relied on four seniors to produce nearly half of its runs while breaking in a group of younger players. This year, head coach Jon Bohmbach will have three seniors and a junior set to lead. But three sophomores, six freshmen and an eighth-grader will be leaned on more than any time in Bohmbach's tenure.
Area schools saw some drastic changes in which teams will be in postseason brackets beginning with the 2017-18 school year. In particular, football and wrestling saw dramatic movement. Every two years, the Minnesota State League realigns sections and classes, moving schools around based on an enrollment formula the MSHSL uses that subtracts a percentage of free and reduced lunch students from the actual enrollment.
When Lake City tips off the Class 2A state tournament on Wednesday, the end of a 27-year drought will finally come. In 1990, the Tigers won a state championship, and until this season, it would be the last time Lake City would get out of the section. Almost three decades later, the Tigers will be represented by two familiar names: Gastner and Heise. Freshmen Reid Gastner and Nathan Heise will step onto the court at Target Center to face Minnehaha Academy, and in doing so, will be joining their fathers, Cris Gastner and Tony Heise, in playing for Lake City in a state tournament.