With fall sports starting up, hopefully we’ll get back to the weekly routine of these Lots O’ Stuff newsletters.
One of the main features of LOS is an update on what local graduates are doing on the college level and sometimes beyond.
Following are updates on several local grads who are playing or coaching on the collegiate level. As always, if there’s someone I’m missing, be sure to let me know.
Here we go.
Volleyball
We’ll have a separate newsletter this evening on a pair of JCC grads who met up this weekend when South Dakota played Iowa State in Ames.
Alaina Wolff is a junior libero for the Coyotes and Michelle (Van Epps) Aggen is director of volleyball operations for the Cyclones. Both are Jackson County Central graduates. Again, there is more on them in another newsletter.
The next meeting of JCC grads will come Wednesday in Orange City when Northwestern hosts Briar Cliff in the Great Plains Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
Lacey (Wacker) Reitz is an assistant coach for the Red Raiders, while Georgianna Wenzel is a sophomore right side hitter.
Reitz was a three-time NAIA all-American setter in her playing days at Northwestern and had more than 5,000 set assists, second in school history. The Red Raiders, who are rated fifth in the country, are 4-0 to start the season.
Wenzel has started two of Briar Cliff’s four matches to date and has played in 12 of the 13 sets. She has six kills and four digs for the Chargers, who are 0-4.
JCC graduate Alicia Brandt, a 6-foot junior middle blocker at Waldorf University, leads the undefeated Warriors in blocks with 22, an average of 1.57 per set. She also has 18 kills, five digs and one set assist.
Waldorf is 4-0, with four more matches at the William Penn tournament next weekend.
Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield grad Lindsey (Voss) Wilber is starting her tenth season as head coach at Dakota Wesleyan University. The Tigers are 4-4 on the season, going 4-0 in a tournament in Florida and 0-4 in a tourney at Columbia, Missouri.
Jackson County Central grad Alexis O’Reilly is a 5-3 freshman defensive specialist at DWU. Wesleyan is at Dakota State Tuesday and then plays four matches in Omaha next weekend.
JCC grad Sadie Voss is a 5-10 sophomore outside hitter at the University of Sioux Falls, which opens its season at the Kansas City Klassic, hosted by Rockhurst University, next weekend.
Voss was the Freshman of the Year in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and a second-team all-conference selection last year.
Martin County West graduate Alyssa (Taylor) Maires is associate head coach at Gustavus Adolphus College, which is the defending Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season and tournament champion. She played for the Gusties and was a third-team all-American and MIAC Player of the Year as a senior.
The Gusties, rated 17th in the country in NCAA Division III, open their season with three matches in California next weekend as they play in a tournament hosted by UC-Santa Cruz. Gustavus will play Cal Lutheran, George Fox and Willamette in addition to the host Banana Slugs.
Yes, UC-Santa Cruz’s teams are called the Banana Slugs.
Cross country
Two Jackson County Central and two Fairmont grads are competing in cross country.
From JCC, Olivia Anderson is a sophomore with the Minnesota State women’s team and Andrew Boyum is a sophomore with the Iowa Central men’s squad.
The Mavericks and Tritons will both be in Sioux Falls Friday night for the Augustana Twight meet.
A pair of Fairmont graduates are sophomores for the Hamline men’s team.
Connor Artner and Will Saari are running for the Pipers, who open their season in Northfield Sept. 16 at the Carleton Running of the Cows.
Football
JCC graduate Will Freking is a 6-1, 240-pound sophomore defensive lineman at Concordia College in Moorhead. He transferred from St. Olaf College, where he played in all 10 games last season, recording six tackles, one quarterback hurry and blocked a kick of special teams.
The Cobbers open at Wisconsin-Eau Claire Saturday. Freking also plans to wrestle at Concordia.
Martin County West graduate Joseph Forsberg is a 5-7, 160-pound freshman running back at the University of Jamestown.
Women’s golf
Fairmont graduate Bergen Senf is back for her senior season with the St. Olaf College women’s golf team. She’s been an all-MIAC golfer each of her three years with the Oles. Senf had a team-best average of 78.9 last season.
St. Olaf opens its fall schedule in Sartell next weekend.
Off to Arizona
Nico Feroni, who graduated from Jackson County Central and Dakota State, where he played football for the Trojans, will be teaching in Arizona this year.
Nico is strength and conditioning coach and a physical educator at Higley High School in Gilbert, Ariz.
He had been teaching middle school PE in New Prague, where he was also the head strength coach. Feroni was also head strength coach for the Madison, S.D. school district in his last two years at Dakota State.
Four-Ball Championship
JCC grad Brett Benson and his partner recently finished in third place at the Minnesota Golf Association Four-Ball Championship at Pebble Creek Golf Club in Becker.
Benson, representing Olivia Golf Club and Trent Peterson of Bunker Hills had a 36-hole total of nine-under 135 on rounds of 66 and 69. The pair had tied for third at last year’s tournament in LeSueur.
Benson and Peterson finished behind two teams that finished at -10 134, with Ian Simonich of Rush Creek and Josh Galvin of Moorhead Country Club winning the title on the first hole of a playoff.
If you’re of a certain age, did you watch Moonlighting in the 1980s?
Here’s the opening from the first show of its fifth season: