Sports

he Benson wrestling team opened up the season with a home triangular, Thursday night in the senior high gym.  The Braves are coming off an 8-13 season from a year ago, one in which the team went 3-5 in the always-competitive West Central Conference.
The Braves hosted Litchfield and the combined Sauk Centre-Melrose Area team, Thursday and Benson lost both matches, 55-24 to SC-Melrose in the first contest, and 50-22 to Litchfield in the final meet of the night....

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The KMS football team closed  out the season with its second-straight 1-8 season.  The Saints also went 1-6 in the Mid-State Blue sub-district and had their season end with a 28-6 loss to Mayer Lutheran in the Section 4A quarterfinals.
Mayer Lutheran fell to Minneapolis North in the Section 4A championship, advancing to the state tourney.
 

The KMS volleyball team was eliminated with a loss to Kimball Area in the first round of the Section 5A Tourney, Thursday night in Kerkhoven, 25-17, 25-16, 12-25, 25-19.
The Saints came into the section tourney as the second seed from its sub-section, but Kimball got off to a fast start and held off KMS for the upset win.

The Benson volleyball team opened up the Section 3AA Volleyball Tourney with a 25-11, 25-15, 25-11 loss at Morris Area-CA, immediately ending the 2015 season.
The Braves, who were seeded eighth in their half of the section, fell to the Tigers for the third time this season by a 3-0 score.  Benson ends the year 5-19 overall and 2-12 in the WCC.
 

The Benson-KMS cross-country teams competed at the Section 6A Meet, Thursday at Long Prairie and highlighting the local teams’ efforts was a state berth by Benson junior Josh Bailey, who finished seventh place overall to earn his first state berth.
The Benson-KMS boys finished seventh place overall, while the girls team finished 16th.
Morris Area-CA won the girls meet by 16 points over runner-up Eden Valley-Watkins, while West Central Area edged Ottertail Central by five points for the boys title.  The top two teams and top eight other individuals all advance to the State Meet, set for this Saturday at St. Olaf College.
Bailey, one of the top runners in the area for several years, will compete in the State Boys and Girls Cross-country Meet  Saturday morning, Nov. 7 at St. Olaf College.
 

The Benson girls tennis team was eliminated for the season with a 4-3 loss to Montevideo in the first round of the Section 6A Team Tourney.  The Braves, who ended the season 15-6, were the fourth seed in the nine-team section, while the Thunderhawks were seeded fifth.
Six members of the team are still alive in the Section 6A Individual Tourney, which was set for Monday, Oct. 19 and Tuesday, Oct. 20 at Fitness Evolution in Sartell.
Playing for the Braves are Kellie Enderson and Rose McDonald in singles, and the teams of Kelsey Rajewsky-Katie Samuelson and Gracie Grussing-Olivia Vergin in doubles.

The Benson-KMS cross-country teams hosted the Benson Invitational last Monday night at the Benson Golf Course.  Twelve teams competed in the meet with Lac qui Parle/Dawson-Boyd winning both meets.
Morris Area was a close second in the girls’ meet, while Benson-KMS was seventh.  In the boys meet, Montevideo was a distance second and the Benson-KMS boys were right behind in third.
 

The Benson football team ended its season at Paynesville last Wednesday night during the opening round of the Section 5AA Tourney.  The Braves scored 35 points and had over 400 yards of offense, but Paynesville was just a little better, piling up over 600 yards of offense and scoring 64 points during a 64-35 victory.
The loss ended the Braves’ season with a 1-8 record, while Paynesville moves on with its 6-3 record to face ACGC in the next round, Tuesday (yesterday) in Paynesville.  Also still alive in the section tourney are Minnewaska Area and Sauk Centre.
“We were able to move the football against Paynesville’s defense and I thought we did a very good job running the ball,” Benson head coach Scott Gonnerman said.  
 

The Benson girls tennis team closed out the regular-season with three-straight wins to raise its record to 15-5 heading into the postseason.  The Braves are having one of the top 10 seasons in girls tennis history this year with a win total that has been topped only seven times in the past 35 years.
The Braves started out 8-2 this season, but then went 1-3 over their next four matches with losses to Minnewaska Area, Melrose Area, and MACCRAY, before winning their last six-straight to end the regular-season.
Benson is seeded fourth in the upcoming Section 6A Team Tourney, and was set to host fifth-seeded Montevideo at 10:30 a.m., Monday, Oct. 12 at Fitness Evolution in St. Cloud.  With a win, Benson would face top-seeded Osakis at 8 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 14 at Fitness Evolution and the championship is set for noon the same day.
 

The Benson volleyball team lost a heartbreaker to Minnewaska Area last Tuesday night despite winning the first two games and leading game three.  When coupled with a three-game sweep to state-ranked Sauk Centre, Thursday at home, the Braves are 4-16 overall and 1-10 in the WCC heading into the final two weeks of the regular-season.
This week, Benson is set to play at Atwater-CGC, Monday, before taking the rest of the week off, including MEA break.  The next week, Benson has home games against Morris Area and Montevideo.
The Section 3AA Tourney is set to begin Friday, Oct. 30, and right now, the Braves are still looking like the eighth seed in their half of the section and a first-round match at NLS or Morris Area.