Before we get to the college athletes portion of this week's installment of Lots O' Stuff are a couple of other items.
If you were listening to Fairmont cross country coach Bob Bonk on the KSUM Sports Roundup Saturday you learned some history of the I-90 Invitational that the veteran coach of the Cardinals shared with his team this week.
In the early years of the meet, the site rotated between Fairmont and Jackson.
At one point, the Blue Jays had a change in coaches and that coach wasn't interested in the responsibility of hosting the meet so Fairmont became the permanent host.
Bonk also said that long-time Fairmont Athletic Director Tom Mahoney gave the the meet its name.
The meet is a benchmark in the cross country season as it's a sign that the season is beginning to wind down.
After the I-90 meet, Jackson County Central will compete at Adrian on Oct. 12 before the Big South Conference meet in Pipestone on Oct. 19. The Section 3A meet is at Madison on Oct. 28 and state meet is Nov. 6 at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
Respected meterologist Rafe York, who is also JCC's cross country coach, says ignore Thursday's National Weather Service forecast that actually now calls for mostly sunny with a high near 74.
Martin County West is also at the I-90 meet.
The Mavericks then compete at Madelia on Oct. 14 and host the Valley Conference meet at Fox Lake Golf Course on Oct. 19 before the Section 2A meet Oct. 28 at Riverside Town and Country Golf Course in Winnebago.
Looking for Schuller
I had an opporunity Saturday to visit with Mat Mahoney, the latest Mahoney to serve as athletic director and football coach at Fairmont.
His Cardinals are 5-0 on the season after a 35-6 win at New Ulm Friday.
Mat said after that game he kept looking over his shoulder expecting to see Jackson County Central coach Tom Schuller. He said Friday was the fifth time his team had played at New Ulm's new facility but only the second time they'd played the Eagles there.
Each of the other three times, Fairmont played the Huskies in the Section 3AAA championship game.
Meanwhile, JCC actually has never played New Ulm in its new digs.
The Huskies have played the Eagles in New Ulm twice, but both games were at their former home, Johnson Field.
As it stands, JCC and Fairmont won't be meeting on a football field anywhere until the 2023 season at the earliest. The Huskies moved to Class 2A this season while the Cardinals are in Class 3A and they're not scheduled to meet during the regular season.
That means that the Old Oaken Bucket is in the Huskies' possession. Jackson County Central won 22-7 at Fairmont in the final game of the condensed 2020 regular season.
Fairmont will be playing a trophy game this season as the Cardinals play at Blue Earth Area for the Little Brown Jug on Wednesday, Oct. 20.
The teams did not meet the past two seasons. Fairmont won the last meeting 41-12 in 2018.
That game is shaping up to be one of the biggest games of the regular season.
Fairmont is rated third in Class 3A by The Associated Press and is 5-0 with games vs. Worthington and Luverne before meeting the Buccaneers.
BEA is second in Class 2A and is also 5-0. The Bucs meet Maple River and Norwood Young America before hosting the Cardinals.
College athletes
Volleyball
Jackson County Central graduate Molly Brinkman is a 5-foot-6 senior defensive specialist at Mount Marty College.
She had eight digs and one kill as the Lancers ended a couple of streaks in a 3-2 win over Hastings College on Friday.
Mount Marty ended a 66-match Great Plains Athletic Conference losing streak that dated back to Sept. 22, 2017 and had lost 20 straight matches to Hastings.
JCC grad Megan Gallagher is a 5-6 freshman setter at Bethany Lutheran College.
She had 28 set assists, seven digs, two service aces and one kill Friday in a loss at North Central and then had seven assists and eight digs Saturday in a loss at No. 15 University of Northwestern.
Bethany will play in Storm Lake Tuesday to play Buena Vista University. Her uncle Tim, a former Jackson resident, is Assistant Director of Communications at BVU.
Alaina Wolff is a 5-6 freshman libero for NCAA Division II 7th-ranked Wayne State, which is 12-2 after winning two matches without dropping a set in North Dakota.
In Bismarck on Friday she had seven digs and two set assists in a win over the University of Mary and then she had nine digs, three service aces and two set assists Saturday at Minot State.
The Wildcats will host Northern State and Minnesota State Moorhead next weekend.
Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield graduate Lindsey Wilber's Dakota Wesleyan squad cracked the NAIA ratings for the first time last week at No. 13. Since the ratings came out, the Tigers have lost 3-1 at No. 15 Northwestern and defeated Morningside 3-0.
DWU hosts No. 1 Jamestown Friday and is at No. 10 College of Saint Mary Saturday.
Cross country
Martin County West graduate Jake Lewis, a freshman with the Iowa Central Community College men's cross country team, placed 96th out of 167 finishers at the Steve Johnson/Dan Huston Invitational hosted by Wartburg University in Waverly with an 8K time of 28:17.84.
Fairmont grad Hannah Neusch, a freshman at South Dakota State, was 58th of 130 finishers at the Briar Cliff Invitational in North Sioux City with a 5K time of 20:24.33.
Football
JCC graduate Rudy Voss, a freshman quarterback at South Dakoota State, led the Jackrabbits to a field goal and a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Jackrabbits 55-7 win over Dixie State at the Beef Bowl in Brookings Saturday night.
Voss ran the ball twice for 23 yards that included a 20-yard gain that gave SDSU a first-and-goal at the one.
The 4-0 Jackrabbits host Southern Illinois next Saturday.
Two local grads are seniors at Dakota State, which is 3-2 after a 26-21 loss at Waldorf Saturday.
Linebacker Nico Feroni had five tackles for the Trojans.
Defensive end Connor Tordsen had eight tackles including two quarterback sacks. He had three tackles for a loss of 27 yards.
Shooting
Fairmont graduate Carter Leiding is a freshman on the sports shooting team at Iowa Lakes Community College. He shot 93x100 Saturday in a shoot Saturday at Ackley.
The Lakers host Ellsworth Oct. 16 at Palo Alto Gun Club near Cylinder.