Sports

The Benson VFW team had three wins and one loss during the second week of action.  The VFW team, which had gone 1-3 to open up the season, swept Ortonville in a doubleheader in Benson last Monday night, 6-5 and 6-1, and then split with the Alexandria 15’s team last Tuesday in Benson, winning the first game 11-1 and losing the second 14-1.  Only the first game of each doubleheader counts for the official league standings.
Benson, now 3-3 overall, was set to host Willmar I at 6 p.m., Tuesday, June 25 (yesterday) followed by a game at Madison, Tuesday, July 2.
During the doubleheader sweep of Ortonville, Benson won the first game in eight innings, getting the tying run in the seventh inning on a steal of home by Jacob Connelly, and then getting the gamewinner in the eighth inning on an RBI-single by Taner Gimberlin.

•  Week four report at Lake Oliver -- It was another evening with a cool east wind that made exposed hands feel like they were fishing in April.  The walleyes did cooperate by earning the teams 119 points for the 39 total walleyes measured.  The biggest fish was a 21” walleye caught by Bill Dineen, gaining his team 6 points.  No northerns were caught, as is normal for Lake Oliver.  Five teams brought in the league limit of 5 walleyes.  First place for the evening went to the Rod Busters (Tom Hollingsworth and Jeff Erickson), earning them 19 points.  They measured a basket of 5 walleyes ranging from 17.25 to 19 inches  Second place went to the team Googan with 18 points from 4 fish.  The third place team was the Sheepshead Slayers with 5 fish and 16 points.  The league leading team,  Quarter After, was on a fishing trip, so was not able to attend this event.  Even without attending, they retained first place in the overall stands as a result of the big lead they put up during the fir

3200 meter relay team edges Waseca by .29

by John Fragodt, Sports Editor

The Benson-KMS track and field teams came home with another gold medal following the State Track and Field Championships at Hamline University, Friday and Saturday.
Winning a gold medal was the 3200 meter relay team of juniors Leah Tessem, Emily Tostenson, and Bethany Rosemeier, and sophomore Jessica Goff, which ran a time of 9:38.56 to edge a team from Waseca by 29/hundredths of a second for the Class A gold medal.

by John Fragodt, Sports Editor

The Benson Chiefs are 3-1 overall after falling to Montevideo, Saturday.  Benson opened up the season with a win over Montevideo, May 18 (14-4), and then took two more games from Appleton (11-5) and Ortonville (4-3) last weekend before falling to Montevideo (7-2).

Benson, 3-1 overall and coached by John Reardon, was set to play at 7 p.m., Wednesday (today) in Morris followed by a game in Benson at 4 p.m., Saturday against Dumont, and Sunday at 6 p.m. at Dawson.

by John Fragodt, Sports Editor

The Norway Lake-Sunburg Lakers amateur baseball team raised its record to 4-2 overall with a 7-3 victory at Starbuck, Friday night.

Starbuck outhit the Lakers 10-6, but Norway Lake-Sunburg made the most of their hits, scoring two runs in the first and sixth innings, and three more in the third.

Chris Braaten earned the win with relief help from Jonah Johnson.  Braaten allowed six hits and three runs over 5 2/3 innings, while Johnson gave up just four hits and one walk over the final 3 1/3 innings.

Offensively, James Cortez had two big hits for the Lakers, going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.  Chad Searcy added a two-run single, while Jonah Johnson, Kent Gjerde, and Kyle Baker also had hits for NL-Sunburg.

Celebrate the end of the school year with a potential angler-to-be by fishing for free with a child 15 or younger, June 7-9, during Take-A-Kid Fishing weekend, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said.

“This is a great opportunity to discover fishing,” said Mike Kurre, the DNR’s mentoring program coordinator. “Minnesotans 16 or older who take a child 15 or younger fishing don’t need a license that weekend. Opportunities for beginning anglers abound throughout Minnesota.”

by John Fragodt, Sports Editor

The KMS softball team is headed back to the state tournament for the third-straight year after beating Edgerton-Southwest Minnesota Christian, 3-0, in the Section 3A championship game, Thursday in Marshall.

The Saints improved to 22-0 for the season, giving the team a 70-2 record over the past three years with one third and one fifth-place finish at state the past two years.

KMS earned a berth in  the finals by beating Clinton-GB (12-0), Wheaton-HN (15-1), Wabasso (9-4) and Edgerton-SWC (6-2), earlier in the tourney.

KMS is set to begin state action against the Section 8A winner at 1 p.m., Thursday, June 6 in Mankato.

by John Fragodt, Sports Editor

The Benson-KMS girls track earned a second-place finish at the Section 3A Track and Field meet in Benson last Thursday afternoon.  The girls team, one of the best in the area for at least the last 5-10 years, earned 69 points and qualified five entries to the State Track and Field Meet, set for this Friday and Saturday, June 7-8 at Hamline University.

Luverne, one of BKMS’ main nemesis, won the overall title with 89 points and 4-of-18 event titles while Benson-KMS was second with 69 points, and Lac qui Parle/Dawson-Boyd was third with 60.

Qualifying to state for the Benson-KMS girls were Emma Peterson in the high jump (second place) and 300 meter hurdles (first); Hannah Ricard in the shot put (second); the 1600 meter relay team of Peterson, Sydney Walsh, Bethany Rosemeier, and Emily Tostenson (first); and the 3200 meter relay team of Leah Tessem, Jessica Goff, Tostenson, and Rosemeier.

by John Fragodt, Sports Editor

The Benson-Hancock softball team lost its first two games of the season last week.  The Brave-Owls were shut out by Sauk Centre in the opener, Thursday night in Benson, 12-0, and Benson-Hancock also lost a close game with Montevideo, Friday night in Benson, 6-5.
The Brave-Owls have four more games scheduled this week, beginning with a home game with Atwater-CGC, Monday, and continuing with a game at Minnewaska Area, Thursday (tomorrow), and a doubleheader at BOLD, Friday, May 3.

by John Fragodt, Sports Editor

The Benson-KMS boys and girls track and field teams were set to get the season underway Tuesday, April 2 at the Benson Invitational, but that meet was cancelled a few weeks ago because of poor weather.  The Fighting Braves were then set to get going outside Tuesday, April 9 at the Morris Invitational, or Thursday at the Minnewaska Invitational.  However, the Morris meet has been postponed and the Minnewaska meet has been cancelled.  That means the “newest” opener for the track team is Tuesday, April 16 at the ACGC Invitational followed by the Benson Invitational Thursday, April 18.  

The girls team, coached by Lisa Manska and CeCe Terlouw, won three meets during the 2012 season (Benson Invitational, MACCRAY Invite, and Melrose Invitational), while the boys team, coached by Chad Carroll and Bob Jerdee, won the first meet at Benson.