Page designer for Minnesota's Ogden Newspapers daily publications, based in Marshall. Nearly a decade of experience in page layout and sports coverage.
Great point brought up by Chris Finch in SportsCenter interview today: The last two years have been joyless. Not just in Minnesota, but yet at the same time, ESPECIALLY in Minnesota. This is a community that has gone through a lot away from hoops in the past two years. Celebrate!
Lipscomb played in its first NCAA Tournament game.
Northern State is going to play for a Division II title.
Think
@CoachDonMeyer
is looking down smiling?
Minnesota hasn't won at Kinnick Stadium since 1999. Iowa went 1-10 that year. Their one win? Northern Illinois. Who was a freshman on that NIU team? Philip John Fleck.
@RyanBurnsMN
@GobieMN
Tonight,
@SMSUMustangsMBB
will officially become the first team in program history to qualify for the regional tournament in two consecutive seasons. This program has had a lot of success over the past two decades, so an accomplishment like that is noteworthy for this group!
Nick Altermatt (Wabasso HS / MSU-Mankato) was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 17th round of the MLB Draft.
OK area baseball historians, how many MLB draft picks have come from the area?
Chad Johnston is 340-41 (.892) with six state champion teams since the 2012-13 school year.
Football: 98-7 (.933); 3 championships
Girls basketball: 340-41 (.877); 3 championships
After a four-year college basketball career for the Mustangs, Carter Kirk has joined the SMSU football team for his fifth and final year of eligibility. He is listed on the 2018 football roster as a tight end.
Is there a better basketball town in the state than Marshall right now? The Marshall boys and girls basketball teams have a combined 45-1 record in 2019-20 (yet somehow neither team is ranked in the Top 3 in Class AAA).
I've seen a lot of mentions of the Marshall-Waseca 4 OT game as one of the best prep sports moments of the decade. This has to be another one of the top moments of the decade from this corner of the state, courtesy of Nick Ektanitphong.
@MSHSLjohn
Since ESPN brought it up earlier in the game, I did some research.....
The last time Trey Lance threw an interception in a game was Oct. 13, 2017, a pick-six by Zach Sexe of Tri-City United.
Under football coach Terry Bahlmann the Marshall football program has been churning out college football players. Next year, Yahya Black could become the third Tiger to sign at a FBS school in 5 years, plus numerous others in recent years have signed at the FCS, D2 and D3 levels.
This is a MUST-LISTEN, especially the last 12 minutes or so. If you're undecided about
@SMSUMustangsMBB
or if it's a good environment for you or your kid to grow as a player on the court or as a man, please listen to this interview and what these guys mean to Bigler.
#M4L
There are a bare minimum of 650 starting offensive linemen in FBS every year (5 starting spots x 130 FBS programs). Going into his redshirt junior season, the 2017 Marshall HS graduate was named today to a watch list that includes just 85 offensive linemen.
After a weekend going 10-17 from 3-point range, Dunwa Omot is 37-63 (.587) on 3-pointers this season for
@SMSUMustangsMBB
. The single-season SMSU record for 3-point percentage (minimum 40 makes) is .510 by MJ Delmore in 2014-15.
For the third time in four seasons, two Marshall football players from the same class are signing to play Division I football tomorrow morning:
2017: Andries (Minnesota) and Winkelman (SDSU)
2018: Lance (NDSU) and Lee (SDSU)
2020: Black (Iowa) and Steinbach (NDSU)
Section 3A deserves recognition.
As good as RTR is playing on the state tournament stage, Minneota, Dawson-Boyd, Lakeview and SWC weren't really that far behind the Knights. Strong conference at the top this year.
Minneota's athletic excellence is impressive! By my count, they are up to 11 state championships since 2009 across four sports (4 FB, 3 VB, 3 GBB, 1 WR). In that time, also 7 runner-up finishes (3 VB, 2 FB, 2 GBB).
Snuck in for a recent practice session of
@A_Peschong_23
and the rest of the SMSU Alumni team preparing for today's exhibition game against
@SMSUMustangsMBB
. Hopefully he's not asked to guard Bruggeman.
Watching other broadcasts really makes a person appreciate
@SwamMurphy21
and the job he does calling
@SMSUMustangs
games. Mustang fans have really been spoiled for decades with Swami and Ziemer before him!
Drew Hmielewski is leading
@GopherBaseball
against B1G opponents in batting average (.357), slugging percentage (.536) and on-base percentage (.419), and is second in runs batted in (8) in 11 games.
Over the last 10 games of the season (9 starts), Dunwa Omot averaged 16.4 ppg with 29 made 3-pointers for
@SMSUMustangsMBB
. His .566 season percentage from long range shattered the previous freshman season record for 3-point percentage (.443, Matt Fletcher, 2004-05).
Tropical Night is this Saturday inside the R/A Facility. What is Tropical Night? Think warm, have fun, invite friends and cheer on the Mustangs! Pack the R/A Facility as
@SMSUWomensHoops
&
@SMSUMustangsMBB
host Concordia-St. Paul at 3:30 and 5:30 p.m.
#LetsRide
Big football weekend in Minneapolis in two weeks for Marshall fans. Blaise Andries (Minnesota) hosts Reece Winkelman/Jefferson Lee V (SDSU) on the 29th at TCF Bank Stadium, followed on the 31st by Trey Lance (NDSU) getting his first college start against Butler at Target Field.
A couple of milestones on the horizon for
@SMSUMustangsMBB
@CoachBradBigler
next season.
Bigler is 11 wins shy of his 400th win as a Mustang player or coach (entering 23rd season), and 13 wins shy of 200 wins as SMSU head coach (entering 12th season).
The whole game I’ve enjoyed watching MACCRAY coach Shaun Condon encourage his players and teach the game on the sideline. Not many gave the Wolverines a chance against top-ranked Minneota, but they’ve kept it competitive.
RTR will play in tomorrow's state championship, marking the 14th time since 1999 the Section 3A representative has played in the title game (Section 3A is 9-4 in previous 13 state championship games).
With the last reception of the first half, Bryce Lance moved into the Top 5 in Marshall single season receiving yards.
1. Stensrud '09: 657
2. Klaith '17: 606
3. Schnaible '11: 603
4. Rysdahl '08: 563
5. Lance '19: 535
6. Winkelman '16: 532
Today marks 8 years since I was hired to work part-time at the Independent sports desk.
My role has changed quite a bit over the years (especially the past two years), but I'm happy to still be working at the Independent 8 years later.
With Marshall native Trey Lance set to make his first start,
@Fox9Sports
needs to do the right thing and get this game on in the Twin Cities over Dallas/New York.
@KVRRSports
already made the switch in the Fargo market.
I usually stay out of these Twitter fights, but not credentialing
@RyanJamesMN
and other media types like him is a bad look for the MSHSL. I understand in a smaller town you may have capacity limits on press row, but there aren't these concerns at Target Center or Williams Arena.
Over the weekend, Nick Dufault moved into the Top 15 in career 3-pointers made in SMSU program history, passing legends Trent Carlson and Jared Keaveny. Up next: Ryan Bruggeman and Rory Larson.
13. 124 Larson
14. 123 Bruggeman
15. 121 Dufault
16. 119 Keaveny
17. 117 Carlson
In 19 career games,
@BlaiseAndries
has made starts at LT, LG, RG and RT for
@GopherFootball
. That kind of versatility is rare and I don't remember the last time the Gophers had a lineman who could be placed anywhere along the line like that.
Now we just need to see a start at C!
With his third catch of the game (five minutes in), Bryce Lance set the Marshall single-season record for receiving yards.
1. Lance '19: 677 (and counting)
2. Stensrud '09: 657
3. Klaith '17: 606
4. Schnaible '11: 603
5. Rysdahl '08: 563
The man simply knows how to turn around basketball programs.
@SMSUMustangsMBB
had 7 winning years in 30 seasons before
@CoachMiles
came to Marshall, and his four winning seasons were the first of 19 winning seasons in the 26 years since.
Need some reading material before the college football season kicks off tonight? Here’s
@RealDealThiel23
with a preview of tonight’s
#Gophers
game, with a local angle to the game for Marshall fans.
How do you build a program of sustained success at the Division II level? Identifying the right talent for your program and system. Webb has a very good recruiting success rate so far in his
@SMSUWomensHoops
tenure, finding key contributors in every class.
With 46 steals for Cliff McCray in 2021-22, he set the new
@SMSUMustangsMBB
record for steals by a sophomore, breaking Ryan Bruggeman's previous record of 43.
All-around student-athlete! Will be playing Big Ten football in the fall, was a state champion shot-putter last spring and was Camden Conference's South MVP in hoops, while also being one of the best in the state in FFA.