SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
We are officially done with the Winter Sports season and a huge congratulations to Red Lake County on their third place finish in the Class A State Boys Basketball tournament!
Enjoy the column!
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The Minnesota High School Boys Basketball Coaches Association has announced several awards.
Red Lake County Coaches Steve Philion and Randy Huie will be coaching the All-Star game and will head the Blue team. Red Lake County’s Owen Chervestad (UMC Commit) will play on the blue team.
The Section Coach of the year for Section 8a was Steve Philion of Red Lake County.
The Section 8AA Coach of the Year was Josh Perkerwicz of East Grand Forks
Section 8AAA Coach of the Year is Forrest Witt of Alexandria
The Section 8AAAA Coach of the Year is Matt Ellingson of Moorhead
Congratulations to the Stephen-Argyle Storm Boys Basketball team on winning the Section 8A Academic team championship and the Class A State Academic team championship this season.
Pelican Rapids won the Section 8AA Academic team championship.
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Crookston Pirate Spring sports are all underway, and I have half of the team’s rosters this week and will do the other half next week.
Boys Tennis – 16 boys out
Seniors (5) – Nickolaus Bachmeier, Michael Deng, Jack Everett, Codey Heinle, Teagen Lubinski
Juniors (3) – Gunnar Groven, Sam Widseth, Reggie Winjum
Sophomores (6) – Sawyer Anderson, Ean Deleon, Grant Funk, Colton Osborn, Hudson Rick, Alex Zammert
Freshman (2)– Tucker Lubinski, Cameron Martin
Boys Track and Field – 27 out 7-12 (I don’t include 6th graders because they can’t compete in varsity)
Seniors (1) – Jayden Mulvey
Juniors (8) – Ryker Arnold, Miles Corneillie, Kahnen Hanson, Ian Olslund, Lennon Prudhomme, Makoti Weber, Peter Wiersma, Cade Wisk
Sophomores (6) – Jackson Fritsch, Aaron Gosse, Landon Meier, Xsavior Ramos, Gavin Reitmeier, Josseft Valadez
Freshman (5) – Travis Blackbird, Paul Bruce, Jesus De Los Santos, Chris Goodrich, Erik Pruneda
8th graders (3) – Masen Lessard, Eli Marsyla, Tyrese Middleton,
7th graders (4) – Miguel De Los Santos, James Hood, Cohen Luckow, Jude Seddon
Girls Track – 19 out 9-12
Seniors (1)– Madi Harbott
Juniors (3) – Ashlyn Bailey, Chloe Boll, Ziizi Sam
Sophomores (11)– Stella Abeld, Madilyn Abrams, Rylee Anderson, Alicia Bartrum, Aubrey Bartrum, Veronica Deschene, Alaina Goelzer, Ella Huffman, Ashlynn LaLonde, Brooklyn Waldal, Cecelia Widman
Freshman (4) – Grace Boll, Hailey Fritz, Nora Groven, Jayde Uttermark
Softball – 18 out 9-12
Seniors (2) – Emily Bowman, Kambelle Freije
Juniors – None
Sophomores (8) – Madi Bruggeman, Lilyan Corneillie, Brylee Darco, Leah Johanneck, Brea Lessard, Mollie Samuelson, Addisyn Schiller, Allysen Wagner
Freshman (8) – Rilynn Aubol, Shyuh Burnette, Danielle Bushaw, Kylie Delage, Peyton Demarais, Priscilla Gonzalez, Alyssa Johnson, Leia Parkin
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The Ted Brill Great 8 will be held this weekend, and we have a list of the Section 8A guys who are playing in the games.
Cole Bies (EGF)
Gavin Girdler (RLF)
Area 8AA kids-
Aiden Dufault (Moorhead)
Nick Johnson (Bemidji)
Jake Halvorson (Roseau)
Briggs Knott (Bemidji)
Benji Oleary (Bemidji)
The HP 18 Section 7/8 team has been announced, with several Section 8A players making the team –
Patrick Kennedy (Warroad)
Broden Hontvet (Warroad)
Hudson Pettit (Detroit Lakes)
Garrett Fischer (Crookston)
Tucker Lovejoy (East Grand Forks)
Ryan Shaugabay (Warroad)
Coach – Trevor Page (RLF)
The Girls HP 17/18 team for Section 8 includes the following Section 8A girls –
Kate Johnson (Warroad)
Jaylie French (Warroad)
Brynn Erickson (Detroit Lakes)
Emma LaPlante (Crookston)
The Girls HP 16 team for Section 8 includes the following Section 8A girls –
Grace Knutson (TRF)
Adley Vigness (Crookston)
Addison Lindgren (TRF)
Aurora Jabas (DL)
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The transfer portal has been a major topic this week, and UMC basketball teams aren’t immune to it.
Thus far, men’s Basketball has Christian Bowen-Webb, Micah Garrett, and Andrew Stokes in the portal. All three are juniors.
Bemidji State has Daxton Dayley and Peyton Newbern.
MSU-Moorhead has JaMir Price
There isn’t as organized reporting of a transfer portal for Women’s basketball, but a check of the UMC Women’s roster page tells us several players aren’t returning.
Emma Miller, Hope Dudycha, Halle Winjum, Natalie Mikrot, Rayna Klejeski, Brynlea Mahlen, and Riley Jenkins are returning. That means the following have left or won’t be back next year – Nicole Hernandez (graduating), Willow Thiel, Taryn Frazer (left during the season), Kloe Wadd (left during the season), Emme Munch, and Olivia Walsh.
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It looks like there will be some new Boys Hockey teams in Class A next year. Irondale and Tartan have been notified that they were approved to play in Class A next year. Now there will be 78 teams in Class A.
We will find out more in April on section realignment.
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Congratulations to Warroad Girls Hockey alumni Katie Kotlowski and Quinn Kuntz on winning their third NCAA D1 Women’s Hockey Championship this past weekend!
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The University of North Dakota fired hockey coach Brad Berry on Sunday. Berry won a National Championship in his first season in 2015-2016 season, but failed to make the NCAA tournament for the second time in three seasons this season. Since the National Championship season, UND has only won one playoff victory, which came in 2021.
Berry went 227-119-35 with the Fighting Hawks, including 21-15-2 this season, with five NCHC Penrose Cups and one NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship. Dane Jackson will serve as interim coach while a national search for a replacement will begin immediately.
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Speaking of UND. North Dakota transfer guard Treysen Eaglestaff, who is considered one of the top players in the transfer portal, has received interest from the following schools, per his agent.
Kentucky, Michigan, St. John’s, Kansas, LSU, Alabama, Mississippi State, Washington, Gonzaga, UCLA, Ole Miss, Syracuse, USC, Minnesota, TCU, Georgia, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Villanova, Oklahoma, Colorado, Iowa, and Vanderbilt.
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The University of Minnesota Crookston tennis team announced the signing of Terezie Drasilova (Naples, Fla./ES American School) as the program’s first signee for 2025. Drasilova is originally from Czech Republic.
Terezie Drasilova (Naples, Fla./ES American School)
Drasilova has spent the last three years at the Emilio Sanches American School in Naples, Fla.
She is the daughter of Roman Drasil, and Romana Drasilova. Drasilova plans to major in animal science at Minnesota Crookston.
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The University of Minnesota Crookston soccer program announced the addition of Breezie Davis as assistant coach for the Golden Eagles. Davis arrives at Minnesota Crookston after three seasons as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at the University of Arkansas-Rich Mountain.
She played her college soccer at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Ark. Davis scored four goals to lead the team in 2021. She started 15 games, and played in 16. She played in eight games in 2020 with four shots, and no goals. Davis started all 28 games in 2019, with 23 shots. As a a senior, she was named All-American Southwest Conference Honorable Mention. In her final season, she was team MVP, and the squad’s Offensive Player of the Year.
Davis started her career at Seminole State College, earning All-Region 2 honors. She received her bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from the University of the Ozarks in 2021. Davis went on to receive her master’s degree in athletic administration from Arkansas State University in 2024. She is a Verdigris, Okla., native.
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JOKES
A man running late for his once in a lifetime dream job interview is frantically trying to find a parking spot in a packed lot…
Time is not on his side, and he starts to panic. In his last ditch attempt, he turns to the skies, and begs: “God, please, help me out here. I’ll do anything… I’ll quit smoking. I’ll stop drinking. I’ll donate money to charity.” As soon as he finishes his plea, the skies open up, and the bright light shines on to an empty parking space. The man holds up his hand, and goes: “Never mind, I found one”.
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There was an old priest who got sick of all the people in his parish who kept confessing adultery. One Sunday, from the pulpit, he said, “If I hear one more person confess to adultery, I’ll quit!”
Well, everyone liked him, so they came up with a code word. Someone had commiteed adultery would say they had “fallen.”
This seemed to satisfy the old priest and things went well, until the priest died at a ripe old age. About a week after the new priest arrived, he visited the Mayor of the town and seemed very concerned.
The priest said, “You have to do something about the sidewalk in town. When people come to the confessional, they keep talking about having fallen.”
The Mayor started to laugh, realizing that no one had told the new priest about the code word.
Before the Mayor could explain, the priest shook an accusing finger at the Mayor and said, “I don’t know what you’re laughing about! Your wife fell three times this week!”
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There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him.
An angel hears his plea and appears to him. “Sorry, but you can’t take your wealth with you.” The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules.
The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed.
Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the suitcase says, “Hold on, you can’t bring that in here!”
But the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord. Sure enough, St. Peter checks and comes back saying, “You’re right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I’m supposed to check its contents before letting it through.”
St. Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, “You brought pavement?!!!”
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A cowboy, who just moved to Wyoming from Texas, walks into a bar and orders three mugs of Bud. He sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.
The bartender approaches and tells the cowboy, “You know, a mug goes flat after I draw it. It would taste better if you bought one at a time.”
The cowboy replies, “Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in Arizona , the other is in Colorado . When we all left our home in Texas , we promised that we’d drink this way to remember the days when we drank together. So I’m drinking one beer for each of my brothers and one for myself.”
The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.
The cowboy becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way. He orders three mugs and drinks them in turn.
One day, he comes in and only orders two mugs. All the regulars take notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, “I don’t want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss.”
The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns in his eyes and he laughs.
“Oh, no, everybody’s just fine,” he explains, “It’s just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church and I had to quit drinking.”
“Hasn’t affected my brothers though.”
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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.
Reese Swanson is a freshman playing hockey at St. Olaf.
Carter Coauette is a freshman playing football at Minot State.
Isabelle Smith is a freshman playing Tennis at Concordia College.
Isaac Thomforde is a freshman playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Emilee Tate is a Sophomore playing Softball at Northland Community and Technical College.
Halle Bruggeman is a Sophomore on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.
Ethan Boll is a Red-shirt Freshman on the University of North Dakota Football team.
Breanna Kressin is a Junior on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.
Jacey Larson is a Sophomore playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Aleah Bienek is a Junior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Joslynn Leach is a Senior playing golf at Concordia College in Moorhead. The Cobbers wrapped up the Fall season.
Brooks Butt is a Junior playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Ty Hamre is redshirt Junior playing football at Bemidji State University.
Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.
Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Ben Parkin is the head Pirate Baseball Coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc
Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.
Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball
Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.
Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.
Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.
Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida.
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown.
Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Matt Harris is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of North Dakota.
Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.
Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy.
Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.
Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and a grad of West Point and currently serving in the U.S. Army.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004, from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments, and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.
The post SPORTS FEEVER – March 27, 2025 first appeared on KROX.
