The boy’s basketball team lost in the Section 1A tournament quarterfinals against Hayfield.
At the start of the season, these young guys heard and read about last year’s senior-dominated team’s triumph. This spurred the 2022-23 squad to prove they could match the 2021-22 team.
Alex Lee led on the floor and in practice. Football injury sidelined Cal Luebke last season. He played through shoulder and ankle problems this year. Last year’s junior varsity experience helped Jase Graves’ shooting, defense, and ball handling this season. Lorenzo Stucci, a substitute, shot a corner 3-pointer. A. J. Higginbottom played offense and defense all season.
Junior starters Colton Steberg and Zach Mason scored well and will return with a bunch of seasoned junior varsity players for another entertaining boys’ basketball season.
The Knights wrestling team won the Gopher Conference Championship with senior leadership from Tate Miller, Jaedin Johnson, Gage Thompson, Mason Carlson, and Nathan Wood.
Next year, Coach Nathan Lexvold and his coaches will welcome back state tournament wrestlers Ryan LaCanne, Will VanEpps, and Gavin Johnson. Many wrestlers improved this season and performed well in the section event, including these three returnees.
Stageplay Clue
The K-W Theatre performed Clue the State Play well on Saturday night.
A isolated home hosts a dinner party featuring murder and blackmail for six unknown visitors.
Louie Breimhurst portrayed Wadsworth, the butler. Erin Christenson, who has worked on sets and staging, played the feisty Miss Scarlet. Riley Huschle played flirty Professor Plum. Addison Donkers effectively represented Mrs. White. Brady Bauer, a K-W Theatre veteran, played arrogant, thick Colonel Mustard. Mrs. Peacock, played by Ashley Rechtzigel, denied a glass of champagne when she arrived to Broddy Manor, insisting liquor did not touch her lips, but she subsequently drank from a flask to soothe her anxiety. Landon Trump played Mr. Green well onstage.
The play was made funnier by supporting actors Jordan Blowers, Flint Stevenson, Hailee Bolton, Holly Carlstrom, Elsie Braaten, Olivar Breyer, and Tate Lewis-Douville.
Veteran Director Randy Hockinson chose another piece that the players loved playing for an enthusiastic audience.
State girls basketball tournament
Two former K-W basketball players will coach girls state tournament teams. Kristina Lurken Anderson coaches Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa. Josh Wieme’s Goodhue Wildcats are AA Tournament qualifiers from Section 1.
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (BBE) Jaguars won the 5A Championship Friday night by defeating Barnum 76-50.
State Tournament sixth seed BBE. They play number four seed Underwood at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 16 at Maturi Pavilion on the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus. Mountain Iron-Buhl is first and Hayfield second.
The Jaguars finished second in the Central Minnesota Conference behind Class AA Holdingford with a 25-4 record and a tenth-place Class A ranking.
Hancock lost 64-50 to 26-3 Underwood in the 6A Final Game. Class A’s eighth-ranked Rockets won the Little 8 Conference.
Later this spring, BBE senior point guard Abby Berge will play in the Minnesota Girls All-Star Basketball Series.
In the Section 1AA Championship game, the Goodhue girls’ team defeated Caledonia 78-58 to advance to State.
27-3 Goodhue is the State Tournament’s No. 2 seed. They’ll face Mid-State Conference champion Crosby-Ironton in the first round on March 15. To reach Minneapolis, the Rangers defeated Pequot Lakes 23-7.
Tori Miller, Goodhue’s five-foot-11-inch senior wing, will compete in the Minnesota Girls All-Star Basketball Series.
Wrestling college
The NCAA Division III Wrestling Tournament was held last weekend at Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia.
At 174 pounds, former K-W wrestler and UW LaCrosse senior Seth Brossard received the third seed. In the quarterfinals, he lost a 5-3 defeat to Oswego State University’s Charlie Grygas.
In the consolation third round, Brossard fell and beat Augsburg University’s Seth Goetzinger 8-4. He defeated Grygas via fall in his second round and advanced to the third-place match. This time, Brossard won 7-3 and an All-American Third Place honor.
Brossard’s season was plagued by injury. In the 174-pound NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament final bout, he had a medical forfeit.
Brossard excelled at college wrestling. At 165 pounds, he placed sixth in the 2022 National Tournament and received All-American honors. He won two Division II Junior College Team Championships at Rochester and was a two-time National Junior College All-American. He was the 2019-20 Minnesota College Athletic Conference Outstanding Wrestler.
Large-group competitions
Pine Island hosted the K-W High School Band and Choir’s big group music contests on March 7.
Hannah Johnson, a first-year choir director, received a Superior Rating from the judges.
Inscription of Hope by Randall Stroope, found on a cellar wall during Nazi Germany’s ascendancy, was introduced by Landon Trump. Dan Forrest’s difficult Music of Life was the choir’s second pick.
The K-W band was the contest’s largest instrumental ensemble, according to band director Claire Larson. Cannon Falls, Goodhue, Pine Island, Randolph, Zumbrota-Mazeppa, and Bethlehem Academy also participated.
The band won a Superior Award for playing Cait Nishimura’s nature-inspired Chasing Sunshine. Brian Balmages’ upbeat Endless Hope was also played for the judges. The band kept going even after the period school bell’s additional chimes joined midway through their opening piece.
Hope is the theme for the May 9 Spring Concert. Concertgoers can hear these hopeful music.
Larson stated, “Enthusiasm and dedication run high in the KW community for music.” Family support is appreciated.”