Articles

Willmar notebook: Willmar's band on the run

The Cardinals track and field team is something like a rock band. Willmar is their base but the performances are all on the road, excepting the Optimist concert, err, meet.

• Willmar Cardinals track and field
• Baylie Young
• Chris Oden
• Boys hurdlers

College softball: Warriors walk off, head to nationals

The Warriors conquered the long and winding road back to the national tournament on Friday. Ridgewater climbed out of the elimination bracket, belting Anoka-Ramsey and then whipping Rochester Community and Technical College twice to gain a seat at the NJCAA Division III table.

• Celebration
• Andrea Krause

Willmar Notebook: Catching Up with Megan

The experience of growing up with a sibling with a disability has made Brooke and Dean Stier more sensitive to the plight of others

• Sibling affection

Willmar notebook: Pride in boosting all sports

Cardinal Pride held its annual Red and White meeting Monday evening on the upper floor of the Pioneerland Library. I was able to attend, perhaps on your behalf, between ballgames and telephone calls.

• New outfield fence
• Jackrabbit up

Motorsports: What the area has to offer in 2012

The three area stock car tracks — at Willmar on Thursday, Montevideo on Friday and Madison, now moving to Saturday — belong to the Wissota sanctioning organization which touches on six states and two Canadian provinces

• Race season begins

Willmar Notebook: Brady Damhof comeback on course

After a devastating hunting accident, the Willmar High School sophomore is coming back strong and playing well

• Damhof comeback on course

Boys golf: Litchfield weathers field to win Invite

What would the Willmar/Litchfield Boys Golf Invitational be without weather? Just another standardized test of club control and course management! But throw in rain and cold and a little wind and it’s also an exam on character and wardrobe.

• Creek rising

Barber, Jacobson wowed by ‘Bubba Golf’ in early years

The nation’s hottest and freshest sports property this spring is a young man called Bubba. His father, a Green Beret during Vietnam, nicknamed his little boy after Bubba Smith, the All-America end at Michigan State University in the mid-1960s. The boy’s given name is Gerry Lester.

• Bubba Watson
• Aaron Barber
• Andy Jacobson

Willmar notebook: Tennis sets course to make a racket

Here’s the idea — build tennis for young and old in the Lakes area. Get kids and adults off the couch and swinging. The Willmar Lakes Area Tennis Association formed this year to promote, support and grow tennis in the city and the surrounding area.

Boys Basketball: Notes from 100th state tournament

The Minnesota State High School League website lists the best of 100 years of state basketball tournaments. The lists have been compiled with the assistance of a committee of basketball historians and experts from around Minnesota. Here some Tribune Area mentions, dominated by 1981 Hengstler-Ranweiler award winner Barry Wohler.

Columns

Krause glad she ended up in Willmar

Andrea Krause took a roundabout route to Ridgewater College. The 2010 graduate of Bloomington Kennedy first went a little east to Rosemount to attend Dakota County Technical College.

• Andrea Krause

Swimmer gets a weight off his heart

Brace yourself. That’s what Robert Brau had to do.

• Robert Brau

Crowe ending his pool years

You might refer to Steve Crow in this town as “Mr. Youth Swimming.” For 26 years he’s coached competitive swimming for kids starting as young as five years old.

Ex-Cardinals guide team to Big Show

Dave Aus, whose Blaine Bengals played here in early December winning 6-4, takes the school from the Metro’s north suburbs back to the boys Class AA state tournament a sixth straight year.

No place like Nome for Ridgewater wrestler

When Lonnie Booshu, an Eskimo by birth, went home for the holidays, it was a 15-hour-plus trip via Alaska Airlines. He’s back now, in Willmar, admittedly a little homesick already.

Ridgewater's Kampsen signs with St. Cloud State

Shane Kampsen, a first-team All-America catcher at Ridgewater College, signed a letter of intent during the early signing period to play for St. Cloud State University starting in the fall of 2011.

Willmar boys hockey ready to scrap with big dogs

The Willmar Cardinal football team didn’t always win, but they were never boring.

After 2-and-out, Willmar football will reload

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a football team take a loss as hard as Saturday night in Marshall.

Willmar gets another shot at Tigers

A year ago in the final round, the Willmar Cardinals got pounded at Hutchinson in the section semifinals.

Lady Warriors red-hot with local flavoring

The hottest team in town, not the hottest ticket — that would be Cardinal football — is the Ridgewater College women’s volleyball team. Crowds are small, but growing as the victories mount.