This edition of Lots O’ Stuff comes to you from Sanford Worthington Medical Center, where I’m spending my fourth night after two nights in Jackson.
It’s trending positive that this will be the final night of the journey and I won’t have to keep going west on I-90 looking for more Sanford facilities. Will know tomorrow.
It’s kind of unfair in a way, but that’s all I’m going to write about that for now. Just wanted to offer a brief explanation for the lack of newsletters of late.
With that said, in this edition, the Big South Conference is adding a 14th team; Martin County West is scheduled to host softball and baseball tournaments this weekend; and former Truman and Bethany Lutheran standout Hanna Geistfeld will be an assistant women’s basketball coach at Southwest Minnesota State.
There’s a list with some other items that hopefully I can get started on.
And as someone who mostly types with two fingers, this isn’t helping:
TCU joining BSC
Having operated with an uneven number of teams since its inception in the 2014-2015 school year, the Big South Conference will reach an even number in its 11th season in 2024-2025 when Tri-City United makes the BSC a 14-school league.
The Big South Conference announced over the weekend that TCU has accepted an invitation to join the league. Tri-City United is leaving the Minnesota River Conference.
Tri-City United High School is located in Montgomery and serves the communities of Montgomery, Lonsdale and Le Center. TCU will be the fifth largest school in the conference according to MSHSL enrollment numbers.
TCU participated in the Big South Conference Showcase in both girls basketball and boys basketball last season.
JCC played the Titans in the girls showcase and the Huskies boys basketball also played TCU during the season.
MCW tournaments
While it does not look at all favorable that they will get played, Martin County West is scheduled to host softball and baseball tournaments Saturday at the Fox Lake Area Sports Complex in Welcome.
There are varsity and B-squad divisions for both.
The varsity softball tournament is a three-team round-robin affair.
The Mavericks will play Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton at 10 a.m., with JWP and Adrian/Ellsworth meeting about 30 minutes after completion of the first game and then MCW playing AE in the final game.
The Martin County West and Adrian/Ellsworth B squads will play a doubleheader.
For baseball, both the varsity and B squad tourneys will have the same schedule.
MCW and JWP play at 10 a.m., followed by MACCRAY vs. St. Clair. Then it will be the third place and championship games.
At least that’s the hope.
Geistfeld named assistant coach
Truman High School and Bethany Lutheran College standout Hanna Geistfeld has been promoted to assistant women’s basketball coach at Southwest Minnesota State University.
Geistfeld was a graduate assistant for the Mustangs last season.
SMSU reached the NSIC tournament semifinals for the fourth time in program history and finished with 19 victories, tied for the most since 2002-03.
Geistfeld was a five-year standout at Bethany Lutheran College, including earning All-American and conference player of the year accolades during her senior season in 2021-22.
In her final season, she averaged 26 points and 13 rebounds per game in earning D3hoops.com first team All-American. She closed her final season shooting 60 percent from the field and 79 percent from the free throw line.
Geistfeld finished her career scoring 2,276 points, while making 866 field goals and grabbing 1,086 rebounds. During her senior season she became just the 20th player in Division III history to reach 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career.
Geistfeld is pursuing her master's degree at SMSU.