Sports

Pictured: BKMS gymnastics coach Kathy Ahrndt and her daughter, Mariah, help a young gymnast with a skill.
 

The Benson 16 and under (16U) Fastpitch Softball Team competed in the Star of the North Tourney in St. Cloud, recently, losing to Litchfield and Sauk Rapids in pool play, while also beating the Rocori Flames.  In the single-elimination bracket, the Benson team was knocked out of the tournament by the Hopkins Royals.  Other teams in the tournament included Big Lake Hornets, Holdingford, and the Sartell Swarm. 

“The game experience against players slightly older allowed the girls to gauge where they are with skills,” said Benson head softball coach Barb Schwarz.  “We did not have a single 16-year old on our team.  It was an opportunity to be competitive in tournament action where you have to grind it out game after game and stay in the game mentally as well.” 

The Kerkhoven Legion baseball team had a good week last week, beating Hancock last Tuesday night, 12-2, and also winning at Benson, Thursday, 7-5.

Benson outhit Kerkhoven, 8-5, but Benson also issued five walks and committed five errors leading to five unearned runs.

This week, Kerkhoven was set to host Eden Valley-Watkins, Thursday (tomorrow) before getting ready to host Willmar, Wednesday, July 5 and playing at Granite Falls, Thursday, July 6....

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: Hunter Gonnerman tries to bunt the ball, but eventually hit  into a groundout, scoring Cole Hedman from third base.

Peterson, Bailey, Burns, Grube, Ricard, Ascheman, Lenz, and Laumeyer also earn team awards

The Benson-KMS boys and girls track and field team recently announced their season-ending awards for 2017.

•  Jon Tostenson, a junior from KMS who earned a third-straight trip to state this season in the 800 meter run, going on to place third at state, earned the boys’ team’s MVP award.

Seniors Max Peterson, Zach Burns, and Josh Bailey were selected for the Coaches’ Awards, while sophomore Riley Grube was selected for the Most Improved Award.

Bailey was mainly used in the 800-3200 meter runs and 1600 and 3200 meter relays, while Peterson was a multi-event performer in the sprints, relays, and jumps, Burns also did a variety of events, including the hurdles, jumps, pole vault and sprints, and Grube was mainly used in relays.

The Swift Fishing League pulled Lake Reno from the hat for its June 8th event.  It was a sunny 84 degree evening at the 6 p.m. start.  Water temperature was 72 degrees with a light wind.  The league members were expecting a big night at the weigh-in table, since the bite on Reno had been pretty good the past week, and the weather was favorable.  As it is with fishing, you never really know what will happen until you get on the water.  It turned out to be a very slow bite, with only a few fish caught.  As the evening went on, the mayflies were emerging from the water in droves.  By the time for the 9 p.m. weigh-in, there were clouds of millions of mayflies swarming above the landing.  All that food in the lake was likely a factor in the slow bite.  

The Benson-KMS boys tennis team recently completed its season at the Section 6A Boys Tennis Tournament.

The team was seeded eighth in the team tourney and fell to top-seeded Litchfield in the first round, 7-0.  The Dragons went on to earn the section title and went on to place fifth at the State Class A Boys Tennis Tourney.

In the individual tourney, Eric Hoium and Nathan Habben won their first two matches in the doubles’ tourney, but lost to the top-seeded team from Foley in the semifinals and also lost the third-place match to finish fourth.

Also competing at the section individual tourney, but failing to advance past the first round, were Taylor Duncan and Jonas Habben in singles, and Kevin Johnson and Josh Clark in doubles.

The Braves, coached by Jonas Grossman, finished the 2017 season with  a 3-13 overall record, including a 2-3 mark within the WCC to place fourth.  

Jon Tostenson saved his best for last!

Tostenson, a junior from KMS High School, had the ninth and final qualifying time in the boys 800 meter run prelims at the State Track and Field Meet, Friday, but during the finals, Saturday, Tostenson ran a personal best time of 1:58.42 to place third overall.

The 800 meter run finals was not without its share of drama as a pair of runners fell nearing the finish line, allowing Tostenson to move up two places at the end.

His time of 1:58.42 was just .23 off the school record of Tony Rosemeier, set in 1988.

Tostenson, who also qualified to state as a freshman and sophomore in the 800 meter run, has a chance to become one of only a few BKMS athletes to qualify to four-straight State Track and Field Meets next spring.

The second event of the Swift Fishing League was held on Long Lake.  The air temp was 65, with a cool surface water temp of 53 from the cold nights we’ve had.  There had been a good bite on Long Lake that week, so teams were hopeful.  Within the first few minutes, some teams had hooked-up on some nice walleyes.  It didn’t take long to find out the bigger fish were active that evening.  There were numerous big fish caught, and point totals were some of the highest we’ve had.  There were six teams that brought in the league limit of six fish....

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: Scott Lee holds a nice 24.5-inch walleye from Page Lake, which was the top fish from the first week of competition.
 

Eric Hoium and Nathan Habben lost their final two matches of the season at the Section 6A “Final Four” Individual Tennis Tournament last Tuesday at St. Ben’s College.

Hoium and Habben, who were seeded fourth among the 16 doubles’ teams, won their first two matches the previous week, but fell to the top-seeded duo from Foley last Tuesday, 6-3, 6-1, and also lost the third-place match to a team from Foley, 7-5, 6-2.

Going on to claim Section 6A titles were Josh Prahl of Litchfield, in singles, and Logan Scott and Jordan Ziwicki, of Foley, in singles.

The Benson boys tennis team ended the season with a 3-13 overall record after losing to Litchfield, 7-0, in the Section 6A quarterfinals.

Litchfield went on to win the section team title with a 5-2 win over Foley in the championship match.  The Dragons had qualified to state for 11-straight seasons, but the last state berth was 2007.

Two members of the Benson-KMS girls golf team ended their season at the Section 3AA Boys and Girls Golf Finals last Tuesday at the Oakdale Golf Club near Buffalo Lake.

Kellie Enderson and Alissa Maurer were among about 44 golfers who qualified to the girls’ finals, while another 44 boys also competed in the boys’ Section 3AA finals.

Enderson and Maurer both failed to advance to state tourney, ending the season for both of them and officially ending the season for the Benson-KMS girls golf team, coached by Sally Jones.

Minnewaska Area edged Marshall by 12 strokes to claim the girls’ section title, while New Ulm topped Minnewaska Area by one stroke to earn the boys’ title.

The State Boys and Girls Class AA Golf Tournament is set for June 13-14 at Ridges on Sand Creek near Jordan....