Four current or former members of the Jackson Bulls are in Florida this week for the annual Roy Hobbs World Series.
Blaise Jacobsen, Andy Wolf, Pat Boggess and Tom Hady for the event, which is held at various locations around Fort Meyers, including the Spring Training sites of the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox.
The four play with RusStar, a team from the Russian Baseball Federation based in Moscow.
Jacobsen’s first trip to Florida to play in the event was in 2014, with the others joining him at various times through the years.
Look for updates on the tournament.
Copley fund-raiser
A few weeks ago we wrote about some of the challenges that 1996 Jackson High School graduate Dan Copley has been facing and the success of his son, Dustin, on the football field for Grand Meadow.
On Wednesday it’s going to be Dan Copley Night at Grand Meadow’s final regular-season football game. There’s a bit of a twist to that as Grand Meadow is playing a road game at Spring Valley vs. Kingsland.
Dan has been a baseball coach with cooperatively sponsored Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland baseball team.
Here’s the Facebook post from the Kingsland Athletic Booster Club:
Last month, Dan was admitted to the cardiac ICU at Mayo Clinic with pneumonia. He has a compromised system after dealing with an illness throughout much of last year.
In May of 2020, he had been diagnosed with a rare central nervous system disease known as neurosarcoidosis. There is no known cure for the inflammatory disease that manifests itself in annoying ways.
And now our update on some area graduates competing on the collegiate level:
Volleyball
Two Jackson County Central graduates were on the same court this past Tuesday when NCAA Division II No. 5 Wayne State hosted Mount Marty College in an exhibition match.
Alaina Wolff, a 5-6 freshman libero, had nine digs, three set assists and three ace serves for Wayne in its 3-0 win over the Lancers.
Molly Brinkman, a 5-6 defensive specialist, had two digs and one assist for Mount Marty.
Wolff then had 22 digs, two assists and one ace in a 3-2 loss at No. 7 Concordia-St. Paul Friday and seven digs, three assists and one ace in a 3-0 win at Minnesota State Saturday.
The Wildcats (16-3) host Upper Iowa and Winona State next weekend.
Brinkman had a team-high 15 digs, two aces and one assist in a 3-1 loss at No. 18 Dordt Friday and six digs in a 3-0 loss at No. 14 Northwestern Saturday.
The Lancers (7-15) are at Dakota State Tuesday.
JCC graduate Megan Gallagher, a 5-6 freshman setter at Bethany Lutheran College, had quite a week for the Vikings.
On Tuesday, she had a career-high 41 set assists in a 3-2 loss at Martin Luther College. She also had five digs, three kills and two ace serves.
Friday, Megan posted a double-double of 30 assists and 11 digs along with three kills and one solo block in a 3-1 loss at Wisconsin-Superior.
Then on Saturday she had three career highs with 48 assists, 19 digs and eight kills in a 3-2 loss at Northland. Bethany set a school-record 127 digs as a team in that match.
The Vikings are home Tuesday vs. North Central University.
Football
Two local graduates played a role as Dakota State upset NAIA 15th-ranked Valley City State 24-10 in Madison Saturday.
Jackson County Central grad Nico Feroni (6-0, 190), a junior linebacker, had three solo tackles, one assist and recovered a fumble for the Trojans.
Fairmont graduate Connor Tordsen (6-4, 245), a senior defensive end, had five assisted tackles.
The Trojans (4-3) have their final home game next Saturday vs. Iowa Wesleyan.
Cross country
JCC grad Jessica Christoffer, a junior at South Dakota State, placed 53rd out of 286 runners with a career-best 6K time of 22:06.2 at the Bradley University Pink Classic Friday in Peoria, Ill.
The Jackrabbits run at The Summit League Championship on Oct. 30 in Tulsa, Okla.
Martin County West graduate Jake Lewis, a freshman with the Iowa Central men’s cross country team, placed 293rd out of 380 finishers at the Jim Drews/Tori Neubuer Invitational at West Salem, Wis.
He had an 8K time of 29:28.73.
Women’s swimming and diving
Jackson County Central Hailey Handevidt is a junior with the Augustana University women’s swimming and diving team, which had a triangular meet with the University of Sioux Falls and St. Cloud State Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, she had a time of 2:15.77 in the 200 freestyle and scores of 124.55 in the one-meter diving and 116.55 in three-meter diving.
Saturday, Haley had a time of 1:02.54 in the 100 free and scores of 120.05 in one-meter diving and 113.35 in three-meter diving.
Augustana travels to Gunnison, Colo. for a quad invite hosted by Colorado Mesa next Friday and Saturday.
Women’s soccer
Three Fairmont grads are on the women’s soccer team at Bethany Lutheran College, which is 9-5 overall and 6-3 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
Sophomore Lexi Kaufman scored top shelf for her second goal of the season and third of her career as the Vikings won 4-0 over Northland College.
On Saturday, all three former Cardinals started for Bethany with Kaufman playing all 90 minutes, sophomore McKayla Chambers 78 minutes and senior Mikayla Stradtman 57 minutes in a 2-0 loss to Wisconsin-Superior.
Bethany hosts Crown College Friday and Minnesota-Morris Saturday.
Bartosh added to staff
Zach Bartosh, a 2014 Windom graduate has been named to the coaching staff of the Rochester Lourdes boys hockey team.
He teaches social studies at Stewartville Middle School.
Bartosh will the JV team at Lourdes and assist with the varsity. He’s been a varsity, JV, and youth football, baseball, and hockey coach in the past.
The Windom Area boys hockey team travels to Rochester Lourdes to play Lourdes on Jan. 15.
Travis Janssen, a 2013 Windom grad, is the Windom Area head coach.
Hedquist takes OT loss
Hobie Hedquist of Heron Lake took the loss in overtime in goal for the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in a 3-2 loss to the Victoria Grizzlies in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League Friday.
He stopped 33 of 36 shots.
Alberni Valley host the Cowichan Valley Capitals Sunday night.