Sports

Pictured are the winners of the major BHS Athletic Awards for 2017-2018, announced during the BHS Athletic Awards Ceremony last Monday night.  From left to right are Elizabeth Staton and Aaron Zosel, winners of the Ernie Wheeler Memorial Scholarship, and Courtney McNeill and Sam Lundebrek, winners of the Craig Johnson Award.
 

Did you know the Swift County Monitor-News prints photos like this one?

Give us the date, page and subject of the photo and we will print it on archival quality photo paper. Makes a great gift!


Stop in, call or email us for more information or to order photo prints.
320-843-4111 or ads@monitor-news.com
 

The Benson softball team closed out the regular season with a pair of home losses last week against Morris Area (11-1) and West Central Area (7-3).  

Benson, which lost its final three regular-season games, finished the regular season with a 7-8 overall record and was also 7-7 in the WCC to finish tied for third with Minnewaska Area.

“We have struggled with routine catches the last couple of games and need to clean that up before playoffs,” coach Barb Schwarz said.  “We have the athletic ability to be a solid team, but we need to make sure we are improving, learning the in’s and out’s of the game, and making the routine plays.  Our record has improved from last season, however, it could be much better.  We have had 3-4 games in which we have let the lead slip in the late innings.”

The Benson girls golf team finished fourth in the league standings after competing in the final four WCC meets last Monday and Thursday.

The Braves placed sixth and fourth at a pair of meets at Minnewaska and Morris last Monday and then placed third and fourth at the final two WCC meets of the season at Benson and Montevideo, Thursday.

In the final conference standings, Minnewaska Area won the overall title with 78 points, followed by BOLD with 73, Morris with 64, Benson with 55, Sauk Centre with 47, Montevideo with 43, and Melrose with 42.

The top 13 conference golfers earn All-Conference and Alissa Maurer was 11th overall with a 46.0 average among her top six scores from the eight WCC meets.  Just missing out on All-Conference were Danielle Reuss (16th) and Stacy Johnson (17th).

The Benson-KMS boys and girls track and field teams hosted the WCC Track and Field Meet last Tuesday night.

Minnewaska Area easily won the girls meet by 83 points over runner-up Morris Area, while Montevideo edged Morris for the boys title by a half-point.

Benson-KMS finished sixth in the boys meet with Jon Tostenson’s second-place finish in the 800 meter run the top placing for the Fighting Braves, while the Benson-KMS girls were seventh and the 1600 meter relay team’s second place was the top finish for the girls’ team.

This week, the sub-section meet is scheduled for Thursday at Minnewaska Area High School.  The top finishers from that meet earn a berth in the Section 6A Meet, set for Thursday, May 31 at Fergus Falls....

The Benson-KMS track and field teams competed at the YME Invitational, Thursday night at Granite Falls.

LQP-DB continued its dominant performance this spring in track competitions by winning both team titles, while Benson-KMS was fourth in both meets out of eight participating schools.

Allie Mitteness had the only individual first place for both teams as she won the 400 meter dash in 1:04.45.  Also winning a title was the girls 1600 meter relay of Allie and Abbie Mitteness, Claire Ricard, and Mariah Ahrndt.

Benson is set to host the WCC Track and Field Meet, Tuesday before getting ready for the sub-section meet at Minnewaska Area, Thursday, May 24....

For more on this story, and to keep up on all the latest in area sports, subscribe to the Swift County Monitor-News print edition or our PDF internet edition. Call 320-843-4111 and you can get all the local news and sports delivered to you!

The Benson girls golf team competed at a pair of conference meets at Sauk Centre and Melrose Area last Tuesday night, placing fourth at both meets with totals of 205 and 200, respectively.

After four WCC meets, the Braves are in fourth place overall with 28 points, while BOLD and Minnewaska Area are tied for the lead with 38 points, Morris Area is third with 32, and Sauk Centre is fifth with 22.

The Braves also hosted the Benson Invitational last Wednesday at the Benson Golf Club.  Lac qui Parle won the 7-team title with a score of 342, while Benson was sixth with a 427 total.

This week, the team is set to compete in the final two WCC doubleheaders.  Benson is set to compete at Minnewaska Area and Morris, Monday, before competing in Benson and Montevideo, Thursday....

The Benson baseball team dropped five games last week to fall to 0-10 in the WCC and 0-12 overall.  The Braves, who have just five games left on the regular-season scheduled, opened up last week’s action with a 6-0, 11-1 doubleheader loss at home to ACGC.

Two days later, the Braves lost at BOLD, 11-1, and on Friday, Benson was swept in a doubleheader by Melrose, 9-3 and 9-3.  Results from the Melrose games were not available by presstime.

This week, Benson was set to play a doubleheader at Montevideo, Tuesday, and play at Minnewaska Area, Thursday.  The following week, the Braves host NLS, Monday, before closing out the regular-season with a game at Morris Area.

Coming up is the Section 3AA Tourney, Saturday, May 26.  Benson appears set to earn the eighth seed in its half of the section and will most-likely play at top-seeded Paynesville (11-1) in the first round....

The Benson softball team had a great week of softball last week despite having it end on a sour note.  The Braves went 3-2 last week to improve to 7-6 overall and 7-6 in the WCC.

The Braves opened up the week with a 6-4, 13-5 doubleheader sweep of Montevideo last Tuesday night in Benson, and then split a doubleheader at home against Minnewaska, Thursday, losing the first game, 5-1, but coming back to win the second game in extra innings, 7-2.

Liz Staton had at least one hit in every game last week and was 9-for-19 during the five games, while Kaitlyn Berreau had a hit in four games and had also had nine total hits for the week.

The week came to a close at home, Friday, against BOLD.  Benson took a 6-2 lead after three innings, but BOLD rallied for an 8-6 victory.

Pictured is Gary Klemm (right), from VFW Post 1403, presenting Benson head baseball coach Eric Hulterstrum a check for 1,500 to be used for expenses related to running the Legion and Jr. Legion baseball for the 2018 summer season.  Coaching the teams will be Josh Minchow, Mark Grussing, and Eric Hulterstrum (Jr. Legion Baseball, which covers grades 8-10), and Jim Lenarz and Steve Goossen (Senior Legion team).

The Benson-KMS boys tennis team earned its first win of the season, sweeping MACCRAY in a home match, Thursday, 7-0.  The Braves also hosted a triangular with NLS and Perham last Tuesday, losing both matches by 6-1 scores, and closed out the week with a 7-0 loss at Litchfield, Friday.

Benson-KMS, which is 1-5 overall and 1-1 in the WCC, has three more dates scheduled this week, beginning with a match at Foley, Monday, a home match with YME, Thursday (tomorrow), and a triangular at St. John’s University, Friday, with St. John’s Prep and Mora....

For more on this story, and to keep up on all the latest in area sports, subscribe to the Swift County Monitor-News print edition or our PDF internet edition. Call 320-843-4111 and you can get all the local news and sports delivered to you!

Pictured: Taylor Duncan stretches to return a shot during a close loss at second singles against NLS last week in Benson.