In this week’s edition of Lots O’ Stuff we have information about the big wrestling event in Jackson Friday, news about some college athletes, a southwest Minnesota native has been named GM of an NFL team and I didn’t forget about this week’s Something Completely Different.
There’s a lot of information here. Hope it’s not too long for you.
Night of Champions
Jackson County Central’s wrestling team will host the long-awaited Night of Champions Friday.
The triangular, which starts at 5 p.m., will bring together all three state team champions as the Class 1A champion Huskies will host Class 2A champ Simley and Class 3A winner St. Michael-Albertville.
JCC will wrestle the first two duals, facing Simley at 5 p.m. and then STMA. Simley and STMA wrestle the final dual of the night.
Simley and STMA were ranked first in their classes by The Guillotine again this past week. JCC slipped to second in 1A after leading every previous poll this season.
The Huskies’ final competition before the big night saw them win their second straight Big South Conference championship Saturday in Pipestone, winning seven of the 14 weight classes.
How about the other teams?
Simley won a pair of duals late last week, beating South St. Paul 74-0 on Thursday and Farmington 63-8 Friday. The Spartans don’t have anything on their schedule before coming to Jackson.
STMA wrestled in a triangular in Stillwater Saturday that brought together the top three ranked teams in Class 3A. The Knights defeated No. 2 Stillwater 57-9 and No. 3 Waconia 48-16.
The Knights host Hopkins and Maple Grove in a triangular Thursday.
Look for a little more about the event in a future newsletter.
A large crowd is expected on Friday as all three schools will have a good following and the event has created interest across the state.
Advance tickets are being offered at JCC High School.
If you have an activity pass, stop in the high school office during the school day (after 8:30 a.m.) to obtain a ticket. If you do not have a pass, you can stop in to a purchase a ticket. Prices are $7 for adults and $5 for students (K-8).
The JCC Post Prom committee is serving a meal that night with a pulled pork sandwich, cheesy potatoes and cookie available for $8.
Men’s wrestling
Jackson County Central graduate Kie Anderson, a freshman at Concordia College, placed sixth at 125 pounds at the Al Hanke Invitational in Elmhurst, Ill.
Anderson went 3-3 on the day including recording his first college fall.
The Cobbers finished second of 18 teams, trailing only UW-Lacrosse.
Martin County West grads and twins Blake Jagodzinske and Lucas Jagodzinski both competed for Augsburg College at the Mike Duroe Invitational at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
Blake, a sophomore, earned his third tournament title of the season as he won the 157-pound title. He went 4-0 with two pins. He improved to 26-4 with 11 pins this season.
Lucas, a first year wrestler, shared seventh-place honors at 149. He was 3-2 with one pin. For the season Lucas is 24-6 with seven pins.
JCC graduate Keegan Moore was in Oklahoma’s lineup for the first time since Dec.11 as he went 1-2 for the Sooners at the Virginia Duals. Oklahoma was 3-1 as a team in the tournament.
Fairmont graduate Jacob Rahn went 1-1 in his two matches at heavyweight for Iowa Lakes Community College at the NJCAA Coaches Duals in Miami, Okla.
Women’s basketball
Martin County West graduate Alyssa Williamson is a 5-foot-6 senior guard with the Hamline women’s basketball team.
She had seven points and eight rebounds in a 79-49 win over Macalaster and also had nine points and six rebounds in a 73-59 loss to Concordia.
The Pipers are 10-3 overall and tied for third place in the MIAC with a 7-3 mark. Hamline has a key game tonight at Gustavus. The Gusties are second in the conference at 8-2.
Hockey
Two Windom graduates are members of the Dordt University club hockey team.
Sophomore forward Alex Espenson and freshman defenseman Zach Espenson each had an assist in a 4-1 loss to Missouri on Friday. Alex then had two goals and an assist on Saturday in a 5-4 overtime loss.
The Defenders are off until hosting Missouri State Feb. 3-4.
Indoor track and field
JCC grad Andrew Boyum, a freshman at Iowa Central, competed in his first meet for the Tritons track and field team, the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City.
Boyum placed sixth place in the men’ 800 meters Premier with a time of 2:08.11.
Two area graduates competed in the inaugural Bearson/Gathje Classic at Minnesota State University.
JCC grad Olivia Anderson is a freshman at MSU. She was 10th in the mile run with a time of 6:06.17.
Also, Fairmont graduate Sabrina Segar, a sophomore at Minnesota-Duluth, was 10th in shot put with an effort of 35-3 ¾. Segar also competed in the pole vault.
Two Fairmont graduates competed at the Bison Team Cup on Saturday in Fargo
Alli Lardy, a senior at the University of North Dakota, had a first-place finish and a PR in the meet.
Lardy won the shot put title with a PR toss of 47 feet, 1 inch, which is the third-best mark in school history. She was also third in the weight throw with an effort of 55-11.
Also, Andrew Moeller, a junior at South Dakota State, placed fifth in the 600 meters in a time of 1:24.42.
Another Fairmont grad, Wyatt Quiring, a senior at Gustavus, won the 55 meters in 6.70 seconds at the Black & Gold Showcase Saturday in the Lund Forum in St. Peter. It was the first home indoor meet for the Gusties since 2006.
Luverne native named Arizona GM
The Arizona Cardinals have named a Luverne native as their new general manager.
Owner Michael Bidwill tabbed Monti Ossenfort, who has been the Tennessee Titans director of player personnel, to the position on Monday.
Bidwill said he "preferred" to have the new GM hired and in place to help pick the new coach.
Ossenfort, 44, has been in the NFL for 21 seasons and was with the Titans for three seasons after 15 with the New England Patriots. In New England he started as a scout and eventually climbed to be the team's director of college scouting. He was with the Patriots for four of their Super Bowl wins.
He also has time spent with the Vikings and Texans as an intern.
Ossenfort was with the Patriots while Brian Flores -- who the Cardinals will reportedly interview for the coaching vacancy -- was a coach on New England's staff.
Ossenfort is a graduate of Minnesota-Morris, where he was a two-year starter at quarterback for the Cougars.
After ballyhooing this new feature as part of Lots O’ Stuff two weeks ago I immediately forgot last week.
Well, it’s back. I’ll try to do better going forward.
This week it’s from the Brady Bunch Hour. The show ran on ABC from Nov. 28, 1976 until May 25, 1977.
The premise of the show is that Mike Brady gives up his architectural career and moves his family into a beach-side home in Los Angeles so they could star on a musical-variety program.
Well, on the Jan. 23, 1977 episode of the show for the kids sang Car Wash, written and recorded for the 1976 film, Car Wash. And for some reason they sang dressed up like characters from the Wizard of Oz.
Enjoy!