In this week’s edition of Lots O’ Stuff we cover track and field, baseball, softball, golf and hockey.
Here we go.
SDSU track and field
Jackson County Central graduate Jessica Christoffer placed in two events at The Summit League Outdoor Championships in Tulsa.
She was third in the 1500 meters with a time of 4:28.5 and sixth in the 800 meters in 4:28.5
The Jackrabbits were third in the team standings.
Fairmont grad Andrew Moeller represented SDSU at the UW-La Cross Eagle Open, winning the 800 meters in 1:56.05.
NSIC meet
JCC graduate Molly Boyum, a junior at Augustana University, competed in the 400-meter hurdles at the NSIC meet in Aberdeen.
She was 20th in 1:10.32.
Fairmont grad Sabrina Segar, a freshman at Minnesota-Duluth, competed in the pole vault.
MIAC meet
Two Fairmont graduates competed for Gustavus at the MIAC Track and Field Championships in Winona.
Iliana Ramon is a sophomore with the Gustavus women’s team that won the conference title for the first time in school history. She finished fifth in the 10,000 meters (37:56.07) and 12th in the 5000 meters (19:26.07).
Wyatt Quiring, a sophomore with the Gusties men’s team, had a busy meet.
He had a pair of fifth-place finishes individually, in the 200 meters (22.49) and 400 meters (49.43).
Quiring also anchored two second-place relay teams, the 4x100 (42.31) and the 4x400 (3:19.49).
The Gustavus men were fifth as a team.
More honors for Tordsen
Fairmont graduate Conner Tordsen, a senior at Dakota State, was named the Most Valuable Athlete in men’s track and field in the North Star Athletic Association. The award is voted on by conference coaches and is based on performances throughout the season.
At the conference meet in Valley City, N.D., he shared the Men's Field Athlete of the Meet Award with Dickinson State’s Dane Allen after both scored 26 points in their respective field events.
Tordsen set NSAA records in winning both the hammer throw and discus titles.
He shattered his own hammer throw record with an effort of 192-2. Tordsen had thrown 171-10 to set his previous record in last year's conference meet in Forest City.
In the discus, Tordsen was first with an effort of 170-3, breaking the record of 159-3 set by his former Dakota State teammate, Tyler Lems in 2018.
Tordsen has qualified for the NAIA Championships in both hammer and discus in Gulf Shores, Ala. later this month.
The Trojans won the team title.
Olson qualifies for nationals
Martin County West graduate Cora Olson, a junior at Concordia University in Seward, Neb., anchored the Bulldogs’ 4x400-meter relay team that qualified for the NAIA Championships.
Olson’s relay team had a time of 47.82 seconds in placing fourth at the Concordia Twilight Meet Friday.
At that meet, Olson also placed fifth in the long jump (17-5 ¼) and fifth in the triple jump (35-3 ¼).
Jacobsen finishes freshman season
Jackson County Central graduate Gavin Jacobsen has finished his freshman season with the Bethany Lutheran College baseball team.
The lefthander appeared in eight games on the mound for the Vikings, starting seven.
He had a 3-2 record, pitching 27 and one-third innings allowing 25 runs (19 earned) on 37 hits, walking 26 and striking out 31.
Bethany had a 19-15 overall record, 10-4 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
Shoen named all-NSIC
A record-setting season by Truman native Derek Shoen has earned the University of Mary junior a place on the all-Northern Sun baseball first team for the second time.
He finished the regular season with 14 home runs and 51 runs batted in, breaking long-standing team single-season school records in both categories.
Shoen also led the Marauders in batting average (.329), on base percentage (.472), slugging percentage (.653), and OPS (1.125) and runs scored (50). He also walked 35 times, was hit by 12 pitches and stole three bases.
In NSIC play only, Shoen tied for the conference-high in home runs (11), was fifth in slugging percentage (.678) and OPS (1.147), sixth in RBI (33), eighth in on base percentage (.469) and tenth in runs scored (33),
Additionally Shoen set Mary single-game records when he hit three home runs and drove in seven runs at Augustana on March 29.
Shoen also pitched in eight games for UMary with one start and seven relief appearances. He tied for the team lead in saves with two.
Mary finished the season with a 24-27 record.
NDSU softball
JCC graduate Aba Turner was a junior with the North Dakota State softball team.
She played in 11 games for the Bison, scoring six runs.
NDSU was 30-21 overall, 10-8 in Summit League play.
Senf receives pair of honors
Fairmont graduate Bergen Senf, a sophomore with the St. Olaf College women's golf team, received two honors this past week.
She earned all-MIAC honors for the second straight year and was also named to the Women's Golf Coaches Association NCAA Division III All-Region 3 team.
Senf is only the sixth two-time all-conference honoree in program history. She was one of five student-athletes voted to the team alongside the top 10 finishers from the MIAC Championships.
For the all-region team, she was one of 12 women's golf student-athletes recognized in the region and one of six first years or sophomores to earn the accolade.
Senf competed in six events for the Oles this season, averaging a team-best 78.1 strokes per round. That ranked her seventh in the conference.
She had a pair of top-five finishes, including winning the Carleton-St. Olaf Spring Invitational with a four-over 78 on April 23, and finished in a tie for 14th at +18, 198 at the MIAC Championships in October.
Long outing
Mackenzie Ward, who will be a teacher in the Jackson County Central school district in the 2022-23 school year, had her career with the Minnesota State University softball team come to an end at the NCAA Central Region Tournament in Claremore, Okla. Saturday.
The fourth-seeded Mavericks opened the tourney Thursday with a 1-0 win over fifth-seeded Washburn as Ward allowed two hits, walked one and struck out seven.
On Friday, MSU beat top-seeded and host Rogers State 3-0 as Ward allowed only one hit, walked one and struck out nine.
Saturday was a long day in the championship round for Minnesota State, which dropped two games to Rogers as the Mavericks lost 8-2 in 15 innings and 4-0.
In the first game Saturday, Ward threw a school-record 266 pitches in 14 and one-third innings. She allowed seven runs (six earned), on eight hit, walked 10 and struck out 14 before leaving the pitchers circle.
She would come back and start the second championship game. Ward threw 28 more pitches in two innings, giving up two unearned runs on one hit, not waling a batter and striking out one.
And she did that it 88 degree weather wearing an all-black uniform.
A senior from Clive, Iowa, Ward was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Year for the second straight year after being named NSIC Player of the Week eight times during the season.
She was also named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association all-Central Region first team for the second straight season.
But wait, there’s more. Ward is also listed on the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player and Pitcher of the Year Top-25 awards list.
Rangers force Game 7
The New York Rangers and defenseman K'Andre Miller have forced a Game Seven in their NHL Eastern Conference first-round playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
New York trailed three games to one, but won Game Five at home 5-3 on Wednesday and then won Game Six by that same 5-3 score in Pittsburgh on Friday.
The deciding game will be at 6 p.m. Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
Miller is the son of 1988 Fairmont High School graduate Amy Sokoloski,
He is fourth among all players in the postseason in minutes per game with 26:21.
In the series Miller has also recorded 12 hits, has 13 takeaways (four in Game 5), nine blocked shots and has a plus-minus of +1.
Miller has three assists in the series.