Sports

“Games began last week, but winter could put another hold on the season.”

PICTURED: Ellie Krusemark fields a grounder during a conditioning/fielding drill for the Benson jr. high softball team last week.

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The Benson-KMS boys tennis team opened up the season with a 6-1 win at home against Montevideo, Friday afternoon.  Benson swept the four singles’ matches and also picked up wins at first and second doubles.

The Braves, coming off a 2-11 season from a year ago, return seven players from last year who saw action on the varsity.

Benson-KMS, coached by Jonas Grossman and junior high coach Don Brehmer, was set to play at Minnewaska Area, Monday, in a match moved up a few days due to the upcoming winter storm watch. 

The Fighting Braves were also set to host Foley, Tuesday (yesterday) and host Milbank, SD, Friday.

PICTURED: Pictured are the four seniors on the Benson softball team, Maranda Wieber (left), Matilyn Short, Chloe Collins, and Paige Cain.

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The Benson baseball team opened up the 2019 season with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Yellow Medicine East, Friday night on Chiefs’ Field in Benson.  The Benson baseball team is hoping for a turnaround season this year after going 2-16 overall the last two seasons, including going 2-12 in the WCC.

Mark Grussing takes over as the new head coach of the Benson baseball program as former head coach Eric Hulterstrum left the school district after last school year.

“I’m very excited about taking over as head coach of the baseball team,” coach Mark Grussing said.  “It’s been a fun group of guys to work with this spring.”

CNH Racquetball Tournament results
The fifth annual CNH Racquetball Tournament took place March 14 at the Benson Racquetball and Fitness Center.  Winning the title was Jamil Farhat, while Rex Ruppert was second, John Kennedy was third, and Suhas Varadaramanujan was fourth.  Pictured above from left to right in front are Suhas Varadaramanujan, Puneetha Puttaswamy, Sanjay Kawade, and Rishabh Morey.  Back -- Jamil Farhat, Richard Towner, Taz Israrahmed, Rex Ruppert, Andrew Amundson, John Kennedy, Anish Natu, and Karthick Murugan.

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Although last week’s spring melting at the Northside Rec Area provided a scenic picture, it was a site that was growing tiresome for the Benson and KMS student-athletes.  Most of the snow had melted by early this week, but the ground is still very wet and will take at least another week to dry out.

The long winter and late start to the spring sports season means coaches have to improvise until the teams are able to get outside to practice.

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PICTURED: Jacob Wolter works on an agility drill during Benson baseball practice last week in the auxiliary gym.
 

The KMS boys basketball team finished above .500 for the second-straight season, going 14-11 overall and 9-6 in the Camden North Conference.

Lac qui Parle Valley won a tight battle for the Camden North title, going 10-6 in league play and winning a tiebreaker over RCW and KMS (both 9-6), who were not able to get in their final game against each other this season due to weather.

Prinsburg and Dawson-Boyd (both 8-8), weren’t far behind, while MACCRAY was 5-10.  In the Camden South, Minneota (15-1) won the league title, followed by RTR (12-3), Tracy Area and Lakeview (both 5-10), Canby (4-12), and YME (3-13).

•  KMS won its first playoff game over Wabasso, after earning the sixth seed, but the Saints had their season end two nights later with a 59-51 loss to third-seeded Renville County West in the sub-section quarterfinals.

Westbrook-WG went on to earn the Section 3A title with an 80-72 victory over Dawson-Boyd.

This was the sixth-annual Seniors. vs. Staff fundraising game, sponsored by the BHS Student Council.  All the proceeds of the event went to the Swift County Food Shelf.

Adam Foslien shot a free-throw with the Staff trailing 47-45 with 21.4 seconds left.  He made 1-of-2 to cut the deficit to 47-46, but the Seniors secured an offensive rebound after a missed free-throw at the other end and were able to run out the clock for the exciting 47-46 win, the first for the Seniors.

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PICTURED: Julie McNeill (left) grabs a loose ball in front of senior Paige Cain.  The Staff took an early lead, but the game remained tight the rest of the way before the Seniors rallied for the win.
 

The Benson wrestling team announced its season awards following its team banquet last Sunday night.  The Braves went 13-10 overall this season for the most wins for the Benson wrestling program  in 42 years.

Coaching the team this year were head coach Scott Thompson, assistant coaches Jason Rothers and Grant Ascheman, and volunteer coaches Pat O’Leary, Steve Ricard, Aaron Zosel, Ryan Thompson, and Brett Hoffman.

The highlight of this season was sending five wrestlers to the state tourney.  Competing at the state tourney were senior Hunter Mondor at 120 pounds, senior Wyatt McGee at 152, senior Jared Knutson at 160, senior Dylan Stewart at 182 pounds, and eighth-grader Thomas Dineen at 195.

All five of the Benson wrestlers had placed second at the Section 5A Tourney the previous weekend at Minnewaska Area High School.

Bob Erdman was the winner of the 5th annual Benson Racquetball Club Tournament, which took place Monday, March 18 at the Racquetball/Fitness Center in Benson.  A total of 14 players took part in the tournament.  Placing second behind Erdman was Rob Hoffman, while Jon Hawley was third, and Joe Carruth placed fourth.  From left to right in the front row above are Ron Vadnais, Paul Beyer, Joe Carruth, Jon Hawley, and Bob Erdman.  Back row -- Phil Yost, Rich Miller, Kent Bosch, Abe Miller, and Rob Hoffman.  Not pictured were Jamil Farhat, Hunter Mondor, Rob Anfinson, and Suhas Varadaramanujan.

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