Depressing also was the next day's Willmar sports section which had two sentences of coverage. The second sentence was this: "No other details about the game were provided by press time." Is the sports editor spending too much time smoking cigarettes or what?
The season did in fact have its highlights for the orange and black. Often we'd make three-pointers. We had post talent with Malory Anderson. I never personally watched the team play but I enjoyed following them. Now that MACA is done, how can we properly acknowledge "March madness?" We can hope for some success by the MACA boys. Unless the boys surprise us, don't expect their post-season to last too long either.
The boys did impress on Monday with a 56-39 win over Montevideo on the road. Will that presage things? The win left our W/L record just under .500 at 12-13. Monte struggles with a 3-20 mark. Jaret Johnson made two 3-pointers and led us in scoring with 16 points. Jackson Loge and Connor Koebernick each made one '3'. Camden Arndt came through with ten points. Koebernick and Loge each put in nine points. Tate Nelson added six points to the mix and Kyle Staebler scored four.
(The individual totals in the Willmar paper add up to 54 points, not 56.)
Loge and Arndt led in rebounds, each with six. Arndt with his eight assists led there. Johnson was tops in steals with three. The Tigers led at halftime 27-25.
For Monte, Jackson Snell and Cole Sandven led in scoring with 13 and 10 points respectively. Adam Root scored four points. These Thunder Hawks each scored two: Blaine Sederstrom, Christian Riley, Isaac Hoogeveen, Thomas O'Malley and Josh Kinman. The list wraps up with Hunter Ward and his one point.
(These individual totals from the Willmar paper add up to 38 points, not 39.)
Sandven connected twice from three-point range and Snell made one long-ranger. Snell and Henry Strunc each had five rebounds. Snell executed two assists. Sederstrom stole the ball three times.
What about girls' future?
Any time a prep team loses in the first round of post-season, the conversation should be wide open for speculation on whether the coach should stay or step aside. No one should feel inhibited. I felt we were underachieving when Lauren Reimers was playing, and now we have some quite impressive individuals making their mark. But losing in the first round? It certainly seems deflating. Could someone else be given a shot at coaching this team?
I remember in the 1980s, how slow the Morris girls athletic programs were in getting up to snuff. It was like molasses. There are always exceptions to a general rule, and in the '80s we had a softball program coached by Mary Holmberg that could reach great heights. Holmberg could not duplicate that success in basketball. Our girls volleyball was lagging too. Basketball and volleyball are the highest profile sports.
We saw some small schools in the Morris area set very high standards in the high profile girls sports. We saw massive fan turnouts at the P.E. Center for teams other than Morris, teams like Wheaton and Hancock. Hancock was a story unto itself. A whole book night be written about that. Actually one was, by the coach who made his unique mark on Stevens County athletics. That coach/scribe was Dennis Courneya who wrote "Sudden Death Overtime." He praised that Halvorson guy of the Alexandria paper but didn't mention me. Oh, I'm so hurt! But I'd rather be in my shoes than in Courneya's, because I have no prison record in my personal background. Yes, Courneya was found to have crossed quite the line, Roy Moore style. Moore hasn't spent time in prison. In fact he came rather close to getting elected to the U.S. Senate. Congratulations Republicans, you almost got him pushed over the top.
The Stevens County Museum should ensure that the heyday of the Hancock girls basketball program gets preserved in an effective way. Regardless of the coach's misadventures, which were substantial, the Owls were rather a phenomenon with their nonstop running and pressure approach. Wheaton under coach Earl Steffens made its mark too, supported by that "sea of red" of fans. I used that term more than once and then I heard Janet Karvonen use it on TV, making me wonder if she'd read my work!
Wheaton had Sondra Weick who'd end up coming to UMM and playing very well. At that time I covered the UMM women. There was no UMM website with its high standards for coverage and PR. Those were different times. They were actually more relaxed times. I miss some of it.
Morris girls athletics in the 1980s needed a jump start. If we weren't going to win, we at least needed hope. Hope seemed elusive. Finally Chris Baxter came along and generated a 15-10 record with the volleyball team. This success made many Morris faculty members nervous. Fans needed patience but we finally righted ourselves. Today if Morris plays Wheaton in girls basketball or volleyball, it's just an ordinary game and either team can win - and that's the way it should be! In the 1980s such a matchup might have ended up as a political spectacle.
I was troubled that Morris community leaders, however you might want to define that network, didn't apply pressure to achieve progress faster. I was there and watched it all along. Mary Holmberg was great for advocating for equal resources for girls athletics. She didn't seem as committed, in my eyes, to setting high standards for competitive advancement. Dennis Rettke was a leader when the turnaround came, but even that turnaround was halting at times. Politics, friendships and political bonds had to be overcome.
Today the environment seems quite acceptable. But losing in the first round of post-season is never something we should feel comfortable with. If one thing doesn't work, try something else. It's just sports, it's just fun. In some years when Morris loses early, I start writing about New London-Spicer, that great program coached by Mike Dreier. I'll see what I feel like doing.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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