John’s Journal: 10 Years Later, Maggie Ewen Is Still Throwing

 

On an April day in 2012, high school track and field star Maggie Ewen was being interviewed when she made a statement that says everything about athletes who throw things: “My goals are just to throw an inch farther than my best.”

Fast forward to April 2023, and that remains Ewen’s goal: Simply throw an inch farther than her best.

In the spring of 2012, Maggie was a junior at St. Francis High School who was in the midst of breaking and re-breaking state records in her two events – shot put and discus -- and winning seven state titles. She graduated from high school in 2013 and now, a decade later, her state records remain standing.

“There are so many great memories,” she said last week during the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, where she competed along with many of the best professional track and field athletes from the U.S. and around the world.

After high school Ewen was a standout at Arizona State. She set school and national collegiate records in the shot put and hammer throw, winning NCAA championships in those events and the discus.

Becoming a professional thrower after college, she ranks among the leaders in the U.S. as well as on the world stage. She placed fourth in the shot put behind athletes from China, Jamaica and Germany at the 2019 World Outdoor Championships in Doha, Qatar. In 2020 she finished fourth at the U.S. Olympic trials in the shot put; the top three qualified for the Olympics and Maggie came an inch and a half short of third place in that competition.

She said the possibility of being a professional athlete was not on her radar in high school.

“Track was always something for me that was just a lot of fun. I enjoy doing this,” she said. “And then as I progressed through high school, college, and then I got to the end of college, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, can I just continue to do this?’ So it was a slow realization, but it's been awesome.”

In the shot put, Ewen set the high school state record of 54 feet, 8.5 inches at the 2013 state meet. No. 2 on the all-time list is a distance of 52-4.75 by Liz Podominick of Lakeville 2003. The best mark since Ewen graduated 10 years ago is 47-9 by Alexandrea Hurst of Robbinsdale Armstrong in 2016

Ewen’s state record in the discus is 175-9, also set in 2013 at a True Team section meet. Next on the all-time list are 167-6 by Natalie Manders of Eastview in 2015 and 166-10 by Amanda Anderson of Saint Francis in 2017.

Andy Forbort, who was the head track coach at St. Francis for 10 years through 2015, said Anderson was Ewen’s protégé. “I called her ‘mini Mags’ because was a sponge following Maggie around.”

Maggie first broke the discus record when she was a sophomore in 2011. That throw, during a four-team meet in St. Francis, was 165 feet, 9 inches, breaking the previous state record of 162-4 by Jessica Cagle of Grand Rapids in 2008. Before her high school career ended, Ewen had won four state championships in the discus and three in the shot.

Her early success was framed by training with her dad, Bruce, who was a collegiate thrower at Illinois State and came within a quarter inch of making the 1988 U.S. Olympic team in the hammer throw. Maggie’s mom, Kristi, played volleyball at Columbia Heights and Ohio State.

With throwing circles on their rural property, the Ewens could work out at any time.

“I have fond memories of all the time I was able to spend with my dad with the events, because he was my primary coach,” Maggie said. “There was a lot of Saturday morning throwing and it was just all that great time we spent together. It's just really special.”

Bruce and Maggie were in Des Moines to watch their daughter compete in three events last week. On Wednesday evening Maggie was one of four female and four male shot putters to compete in a unique coed indoor event, with teams of one female and one male using combined distances to determine the finish. Maggie and Tripp Piperi finished first, ahead of two-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser and Jessica Woodard.

On Thursday she was second in the hammer throw behind Brooke Anderson, an Olympian in that event, and on Saturday Ewen finished second to 2022 world champion Chase Ealey in the traditional outdoor women’s shot put.

Ewen lives in Vermillion, South Dakota, where her personal coach, Kyle Long, is an assistant coach at the University of South Dakota. He is a former throws coach at Arizona State, where he worked with Ewen. Maggie works as a volunteer assistant coach with the Coyotes.

Maggie is sponsored by Nike, but much of her income is largely dependent on how well she does in competitions. When she and Piperi won the coed shot put at Drake, they split $3,500.

“Don't get me wrong, but having a performance-based salary can get stressful,” she said. “But if that's my biggest worry, it's not that bad.”

Her schedule follows a pattern every year.

“About seven months out of the year, you're really just hunkered down training, training, training,” she said. “And then for about five months out of the year it’s nonstop traveling and competing. That's really the only way to describe it as you go from hibernating to everything all the time. But it's so much fun. It's opened so many doors. I've got to see so many cool places I never imagined and I’ve seen so many cool things. It's been great.

“I think what's been the most fun is all the people you meet along the way. People from different countries, people with different backgrounds. The men, the women, the different events. I just get to meet so many great people and have so many cool relationships. A lot of us know each other from the circuit, from making teams together, from our college days. Me and Chase (Ealey), we were on the same juniors team, so we all just go back in our own ways. And we're all friends.”

Forbort, now an assistant principal at Grand Rapids High School, said he stays in contact with Maggie, mainly via texts.

“I’ll see meets on TV when she’s competing and shoot her a message,” he said.

Forbort said Ewen is a rare mixture of natural ability, hard work and complete class.

“Obviously she had the genes from her parents, the athletics, the background, but that will only take you so far,” he said. “It was her commitment and attention to detail, and she was humble. She was never arrogant, never cocky, she cheered people on, she wanted everybody else to succeed. And her sportsmanship, the way she carried herself, that was really something for a talent of that level.”

Ewen’s impact on Minnesota track and field is almost unparalleled, and that extends way past how far she throws things.

There is a 9-year-old girl in Grand Rapids who has a special name. Maggie’s full name is Magdalyn Mae Ewen, and Forbort’s daughter is named Madelyn Mae.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

 

John’s Journal: Rosemount’s Manning Reflects On 27 Years As An A.D.

 

Mike Manning is one of the longest-serving athletic directors in Minnesota, having spent 27 years in that position at Rosemount High School. Mike has announced that he will retire at the conclusion of the 2022-23 school year, which will leave big shoes to fill. He has been a role model for many, including coaches and administrators at Rosemount and other schools.

Mike was a guest on my “Preps Today with John Millea” podcast recently and we talked about a range of topics. It was a very interesting discussion, and below are edited excerpts from that discussion.

Question: Can you tell us about your own experiences in high school?

Mike Manning: I had a great experience growing up in in Hopkins. It was Hopkins Eisenhower at the time, and we had the rival high school, Lindbergh. They closed Eisenhower about a year after I graduated. I just had a wonderful experience. I played football, I played basketball, I played baseball, all in the Lake Conference. I was fortunate enough to have Tom Hutton as my basketball coach in high school and he sure taught me a lot. I'm the youngest of six and have just great memories of growing up in a very small town at the time.

Question: What about college?

Mike Manning: I went to St. John's and I didn't play any sports my first year. I had a chance to play some college football, but I made the decision to go to St. John's and not play and I missed it so darn much. My freshman year we had intramurals and what they called “bookstore basketball” but it just wasn't quite enough for me. And some other guys talked me into trying out for the basketball team my sophomore year. So I had three wonderful years with (coach) Jim Smith on the basketball team. Jim was incredibly kind to me. To tell a quick story about Jim, I got a chance to be the head coach at St. Thomas Academy when I was very young in my career, at 27. And I called Jim to just ask advice and things like that. And Jim offered to bring the team down and put on a clinic for all of the eighth-grade boys in the Catholic grade schools in St. Paul. And he also offered to put on a coaches clinic for all of the Catholic grade school coaches. And so for me in my first year, 27 years old and nobody knew who I was, to have somebody of Jim Smith’s caliber go out of his way and load up the basketball team and bring them down and put on a clinic ... It was a incredible night that helped boost my career. And Jim did things like that for me all the time. So, again, I have great memories of being at St. John's and I learned a ton from Jim Smith.

I took a year off after my junior year at St. John's. They had a grant where you did missionary work for a year and I ended up teaching and coaching in Compton (California). That would have been about 1984 and I had kind of an amazing experience. I lived there at the parish and taught in their school. And that really changed my life and I ended up coming back and I was thinking I was going to go to law school and follow my brother into the law. But I decided to teach and coach and went that direction instead. But it was really what happened to me during that year in Compton. That changed all of that for me.

At Eisenhower my athletic director was George Reynolds. He was an incredible golfer. I tell this story but I don't know how true it is, but every time I walked by George's office when I was a junior and senior in high school, he was putting and practicing his putting in his office. And I thought. “You know what? That might not be a bad job for me to go into.” And I ran into Georgia a lot when I started my career as an A.D. I always wanted to end up as a principal and I thought being an A.D. was a good stepping stone to that. I didn't realize I'd get stranded in this job and be here for as long as I've been.

Question: What’s the job description for an A.D.?

Mike Manning: Wow, anything and everything.  I think it varies from place to place. I think in greater Minnesota it's more of a focus just on athletics. Here in District 196 (which also includes Apple Valley, Eagan and Eastview), they want all of the athletic directors to be assistant principals, too. So I'd say about 40 percent of my day is taking care of academic departments. I supervise our buildings and grounds and take care of a number of academic things. And then the other 60 percent is athletics. And fortunately, I've always had two of the most unbelievable assistants that an athletic director could ever have in Marsha Schultz and Mary Hautman. They do the lion's share of my work as an athletic director. And I'm so grateful. I couldn't do the job without what they did for me.

I was at a private school, St. Thomas Academy, for 10 years before I came here, and I had to commute to work 25 minutes each way. And we did some academic studying after school, then had basketball practice. So I learned early on, in my 20s and early 30s, that I had a crushing schedule. Then when I took this job it actually was better for my family because I live about 30 seconds from school. So I could get home, see the kids, have dinner and then come back for evening events. I think that's what drives most people out of the profession. After a short period of time it’s difficult on a family with how many hours you put in in a week.

Question: What are the biggest challenges of the job?

Mike Manning:  I think certainly the schedule is a challenge. And I think fan behavior might be the biggest challenge. I'm not going to miss that. I love so much working with our athletes and watching my coaches. I've been really fortunate, I've hired some good coaches that have been with me, most of them for 20-plus years, and to see them kind of use the art of coaching and how they impact lives, it's a beautiful thing. But gosh, parents have always been a challenge and they continue to be a challenge. I think with a lot of young A.D.s, they just get tired of all of the complaining and all of the problem-solving that a job like this is forced to deal with.

Question: Who has been important in your career?

Mike Manning: You know, it's interesting. As I wind down I've had a chance to reflect on some of these topics. And I think about the people that helped me get through this profession. John, you're an example of somebody that I got to know that was a real positive in my life. And there's been about a dozen of those kinds of people that have come through my life in the last 39 years that have sustained me. You know, (Minnetonka A.D.) Ted Schultz, he and I have been very, very close. Scott Larsen, who was a longtime athletic director (at Apple Valley) and still is involved as running our conference and our section. People like Joe Dolan. He was an A.D. in Bloomington for probably a decade and he passed away too early. But I look at those three, and they helped me so much to just kind of listen to me, give me advice, they helped me through the difficult times, and I really don't know if I could have sustained 27 years as the A.D. without that.

Question: What will retirement be like for you?

Mike Manning: Well, I'm going to try to avoid conflict, if that's possible. That's my goal. I have a cabin up north, I’m very grateful to have spent summers up there. We have four children who are all off in their careers, and I have eight grandchildren. I've tried to buy each of my grandkids a set of golf clubs and my goal was to teach each of the eight grandchildren how to golf. When I told this to my brother, “Don't teach them what an awful swing you’ve got.” I hope to travel with my wife and spend time with our family. I'm going to build a woodshop up at our cabin in the near future, and that's going to be kind of the core of some of what I hope to do.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

 

John’s Journal: Twelve Hours, 420 Miles And Great Baseball Memories

 

On the original schedule for the baseball team from Cromwell-Wright, a game was planned for Tuesday vs. Floodwood, which is barely 18 miles from Cromwell. The Cardinals – who are located 40 miles west of Duluth -- ended up traveling a lot farther than that in order to not only play their first game, but to actually get on grass and dirt for the first time in the midst of ugly spring weather that has upended sports of all kinds across the state.

They played a doubleheader on the road Tuesday, with “the road” being a key part of their day. The Cardinals boarded Cromwell-Wright school bus Number 7 at 10:30 a.m. and drove south for three and a half hours – with a lunch stop in Hinckley -- before arriving in Janesville to meet the Bulldogs of Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton. By the time they arrived home late Tuesday night, they had been gone for more than 12 hours.

All that time, all those miles -- 420 round-trip miles, to be exact … was it all worth it?

“Oh yeah, it was worth it,” said Cardinals sophomore Brady Dahl, who played shortstop and pitcher Tuesday. “It was worth it to finally play on grass.”

The Cardinals had spent most of this snowy and cold spring throwing, catching and hitting inside their gym. They had been outdoors only three times, working out on a school parking lot.

“We've got snow on our field and just tough conditions,” coach Dean Levinski said after the doubleheader in Janesville. “We’d do anything to get outside and this was a great experience for us.”

The doubleheader came together in a hurry. In fact, it wasn’t locked down until Monday … about 24 hours before the first pitch. There is a section on the MSHSL website called Games Wanted, and Cromwell had posted a note that it was looking for games. When Janesville activities director Paul Brunner saw that post on Monday, he called Cromwell-Wright A.D. Dave Foster and before long everything was set.

Before Monday’s practice, Levinski told the players that they would be heading to a town that most of them had never heard of; it’s also safe to say that few if any players from Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton knew anything about Cromwell.

“We were looking for a game down south and I really assumed it would be a weekend deal, but these people called and we're more than happy to get out of there,” Levinski said of the conditions in northern Minnesota.

As in much of the state, but especially up north, the never-ending poor weather conditions have been frustrating for everyone.

“It was really cold in the beginning and then it let up and it was getting nice,” said Cromwell-Wright junior catcher Andrew Kachinske. “And then right as we were about to probably have a game, it snowed again. It’s just disappointing to not be able to play.

“Yesterday, right before practice our coach told us, ‘We’re going to have a game.’ None of us expected it. But we were all pretty happy about that.”

Because of low numbers, Cromwell-Wright didn’t field a baseball team from 2010 through 2021. But the program came back to life last spring.

“There has always been really good Little League in the Cromwell-Wright area but we didn't have any opportunities for the kids after that,” Levinski. “So four or five years ago, my coaches here and myself, we took the seventh-graders and started just playing junior high games, and last year was our first year (of varsity games).”

The Cardinals are a young team, which was evident as the more experienced Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Bulldogs swept the doubleheader. They won the first game 10-0 in six innings, with freshman pitcher Chase Gerdts throwing a nine-strikeout no-hitter – and donning a crown, cape and scepter after being named “King of the Game” -- and Kelton Erler driving in three runs. In the second game, a five-inning affair, JWP won 8-3.

“The bulk of our players are freshmen and sophomores,” Levinski said. “We finished today with seventh grade, eighth grade and seventh grade in the outfield. It's not ideal, our depth is not where we need to be. To be honest with you, that's what shut down the program in the first place.”

After the second game ended, the Cardinals and Bulldogs exchanged handshakes and gathered together at home plate for a dual-team photo, with Cromwell red and Janesville blue mixing nicely.  

The Cardinals left their dugout spotless, with not one gum wrapper or empty water bottle left behind. The Bulldogs provided their visitors with a case of water and a stack of pizzas from the local Casey’s convenience store for the ride home, which was much appreciated.

Levinski and JWP coach Cory Jewison talked about the possibility of making this an annual rivalry, which would be something special.

Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton had played two games before Tuesday, defeating Blooming Prairie (44 miles away) and St. Clair (10). As the bus from Cromwell-Wright pulled away on its 210-mile trip north, one of the JWP players said to his teammates, “Hey! Let’s say goodbye to our friends!”

They waved and hollered as the Cardinals waved back from inside the bus. It had been a fine day of baseball, new friendships and memories.

“I’ve always felt that at every school, every kid should have a chance to play baseball,” Levinski said. “It's too good of a game to not give them a chance at least.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

John’s Journal: Four Schools, One Track And A Dominant Relay Team

--The Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland/Southland girls 4x200 relay team of Lydia Redman, Chantle Reiland, Breeley Galle and Anika Reiland after winning at the Glenn Amundson Invitational in Stewartville.

There were no surprises during the girls 4x200-meter relay at the Glenn Amundson Invitational track and field meet in Stewartville last week. A foursome from the team that has dominated that event on a Class A statewide scale for years won the race easily, as everyone expected.

After anchor runner Anika Reiland crossed the finish line five seconds ahead of the second-place team, she tucked the baton into her waistband. It was a very business-like gesture for a group that has built a business of winning 4x200 state titles.

The team is the GMLOKS Bulldogs, a cooperative group with students from four schools: Grand Meadow, LeRoy-Ostrander, Kingsland and Southland. They are well-known, highlighted by championships in the girls 4x200 at the last four state meets.

If not for Covid wiping out spring sports in 2020, the Bulldogs may now own five consecutive titles in the relay. The GMLOK 4x200 unit finished ninth at state in 2016 and third in 2017 before embarking on their gold-medal run of dominance.

In 2018, the team of Anika Reiland, Emily Hovden, Lauren Buchholtz and Riley Queensland won the state title with a time of 1 minute, 45.12 seconds. In 2019, Anika Reiland, Hailey Hindt, Lauren Buchholtz and Riley Queensland won state in 1:45.27. After missing 2020, the Bulldogs returned to their winning ways at state in 2021, with Anna Oehlke, Hailey Hindt, Chantle Reiland and Anika Reiland winning in 1:44.21, and last year the quartet of Anna Oehlke, Chantle Reiland, Breeley Galle and Anika Reiland again captured gold in 1:44.41. 

Athletes have come and gone via graduation, with current senior Anika Reiland  owning four state titles in the 4x200, beginning when she was in seventh grade. She placed second in the 100- and 200-meter dashes at state last year.

“It's kind of neat because we've never had the same team for more than one year,” Anika said. “It's cool to see the younger people step up and fill those positions when the seniors leave. I think that's super important, to have those younger ones who want to do that and compete hard at practices and meets to fill those spots.

“And the coaches push us super hard, they work with us on starts and handoffs, and then it's just the chemistry between the team, everyone gets along so well. And we all want the best for each other.”

They also compete against each other. Anika Reiland and her cousin Chantle Reiland finished first and second in the 100 meters at Stewartville, Anika won the 200 and Breeley Galle finished first in the 300-meter hurdles. The GMLOKS girls won the team title with 215 points, 44 more than runner-up Chatfield.

Other first-place finishers for the GMLOKS girls at Stewartville were Becca Hoffman in the shot put, McKenna Hendrickson in the pole vault and 800, Katelyn Hauser in the 100-meter hurdles and the 4x800 relay team of Naomi Warmka, Kendyl Queensland, Lauren Queensland and Hendrickson.

GMLOKS junior Lexy Foster, who placed third at state in the shot put last year, is currently sidelined with an injury. The Bulldogs tied for third place in the team standings at state in 2022.

The winning 4x200 team at Stewartville consisted – in order -- of freshman Lydia Redman, sophomore Chantle Reiland, freshman Breeley Galle and senior Anika Reiland. Along with Anika’s four gold medals at state, Chantle has been part of two championships relays and Galle ran on the 2022 title team.

Those three are ready to run for another state championship in June, with Redman the new member as the 2023 season gets going. There are no guarantees about who will be part of the relay team at the end of the season, because those slots will be decided by in-house competition before the postseason.

“We kind of mix and match all season long,” said GMLOKS head coach Aaron Thauwald. “It’s quite a show toward the end of the year because all the girls want to be on the team and we have a runoff right before sections. You’re either faster than someone else or you’re not.”

Anika, Chantle and Lydia go to school at Kingsland in Spring Valley and Breeley is a student at Southland in Adams. Grand Meadow is the only school in the coop with a usable track, so that’s where practices are held. A bus from each of the other schools transports kids to practice and back, and on meet days one or two buses round up the athletes.

‘We just have to wait for everyone to get there at practice, to start warming up and start practice,” said Anika Reiland. “It's just part of what we do.”

“We’ve been very blessed with talent,” said Thauwald, a 2008 Kingsland grad who teaches social studies there. He ran on a school-record-setting 4x100 relay team in high school and also competed in shot put and discus. “A consistent coaching staff has been a huge part of it, and retention and recruiting of athletes from all of our schools,” he said.

In grades seven through 12 from all four schools, this year’s girls and boys track teams have a combined 120 athletes. Half of them were at the meet in Stewartville while others competed at a junior high meet in Lewiston.

“It’s the biggest team we’ve had,” Thauwald said. “And there are only so many coaches and so many running lanes and so many runways.”

Having state-championship experience is important, of course, but so is the motivation of everyone knowing how fast your unit can move the baton.

“There's definitely pressure and it puts a target on our back, especially with new people coming in, like I was new last year,” Galle said. “I was really nervous, especially at state, but eventually it just becomes natural. The whole state experience is really cool. And it’s kind of like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“During this race (at Stewartville) I was thinking, ‘Just run like you're at state.’ ”

GMLOKS assistant coach Jim Hubka, who was the head coach when Thauwald was in high school, works closely with the athletes on speed and handoffs.

“We are very fortunate to have some fast girls,” he said. “They buy into the program and my job is trying to keep them healthy and happy and work on handoffs as much as we can. My main focus is speed; we focus on mechanics and all that explosive stuff.”

The competition at meets sometimes is less intense than what takes place at practice, because the Bulldogs work extremely hard.

“I feel like we all push each other to beat each other, and we like each other,” said Chantle Reiland. “We’re always pushing each other because we know it's going to benefit us in the long run. We just want to kind of show ourselves and show everybody else that we know what we're doing and we can continuously get better.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

 

John’s Journal: After Gym Collapse, Browerville Looks To The Future

 

There are good days and not-so-good days this spring at Browerville High School. One of the good days was Monday, when the Tigers softball team made the one-hour drive to the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph to meet Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley on the Bennies’ artificial turf field. For the C-G-B Wolverines, the travel time for Monday’s game was two hours.

Those types of time commitments are worth it during a spring when the home softball fields for both teams are unplayable due to late snow and sodden soil. The five-year-old St. Benedict facility is first-class, with comfortable seating, a roomy press box, large dugouts and other amenities.

Lauren Schnettler, a junior who plays second base for the Tigers, said playing at St. Ben’s was a good opportunity. “With our field, it’s going to be a while until we get to play on it.”

When the Tigers return to their school in Browerville, a long-term, hometown reality for their students, teams and communities is striking. On April 1, a heavy load of snow and ice caused the roof on the Browerville gymnasium to start sagging, and the gym was demolished. Thankfully, the doomed gym ceiling was noticed on a Saturday as the track team gathered prior to traveling to a meet, and no one was injured.

But the devastation is crushing nonetheless.

“So many things we all take for granted have been impacted,” Browerville activities director Wayne “Ribsy” Petermeier said in an email. “It was a place for gathering for so many more things (beyond sports). It was a community center. Over the years the gym was used for funerals, it held church services during Easter week, was a polling place for elections, held Memorial Day and Veterans Day programs, proms and post proms, one-act plays, Christmas concerts, band concerts, elementary concerts, grandparents day concerts, dances. The gym was used basically seven days a week, 365 days a year.”

The gym was constructed in 1948 with a stage area attached directly to the gym, used for seating during games and for plays and concerts. In 1976 an addition was added to double the gym’s size and seating capacity.

Just a couple years ago, refurbishments were done in the gym. The floor was refurbished and repainted, with new lights, scoreboards, shot clocks and backboards installed.

An immediate issue with losing the gym was finding indoor practice space for the softball, baseball, track and golf teams this spring. The school has a smaller auxiliary gym, but trying to schedule time for junior high baseball, JV and varsity baseball and junior high, JV and varsity softball is a challenge. The track athletes have been running the school hallways as everyone waits for outdoor conditions to improve.

“Everything’s been disrupted,” Tigers softball coach Jeff Myers said after Monday’s game. “We were just telling the girls that we won't know where and when we're practicing until we get to school tomorrow.”

Browerville played a softball game at St. Ben’s last season and has a handful of games scheduled there this year. Myers watched a game there two years ago and contacted Rachael Click, the St. Ben's head coach.

“I just said, ‘Is it available for use?’ And she was like, ‘Yep, no problem. Just let me know when you want to come.’ They've been awesome to work with.”

Myers said the Tigers’ home softball field “is notorious, it's built on a swamp. And I would say if we were out there by the middle of May, we'd be happy. We do have some slow-pitch softball fields outside of town that are kind of sandy and we might be able to get out on those.”

There is no concrete timeline for having a new gym open for business. Will the volleyball, wrestling and girls and boys basketball teams play all their games on the road next season and maybe beyond? Where will school concerts and other performances be held?

Other schools in central Minnesota have offered the use of their facilities to the Tigers, for which all are grateful.

“It really makes you feel the heartfelt sincerity that our ‘rivals’ have all shown,” Petermeier wrote. “It shows just how good people really are and how much everyone cares about each other.

“So many things we all take for granted have been impacted. All we can say is we will take them one at a time and do what is best for our kids.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

John’s Journal: Spring Sports Held Outdoors? Yes, In Southeast Minnesota

 I awakened Monday morning without any specific coverage plans. That was because under the current weather conditions in Minnesota, there was little chance that anything was happening outdoors. My own yard was evidence of that, with snow everywhere after the latest storm dumped inch after inch.

Everything changed at 8:06 a.m. A message from the Pine Island Baseball Twitter account carried the big all-caps news: “GAMEDAY UPDATE!!! PLAY BALL!!!! VARSITY AND JV BOTH WILL PLAY IN LAKE CITY TONIGHT AT 5:00!!”

I had been watching the status of that game for a day or two, realizing that southeast Minnesota had not received any April snow over the weekend and competitions just might be possible. After seeing the baseball game would happen, I looked at some schedules and noticed two other events, a softball game at Dover-Eyota and a track meet hosted by Plainview-Elgin-Millville.

Assuming that the roads would be clear (which they were), I decided to visit all three Monday events -- softball game, track meet, baseball game – as a memorable way to observe my first day of 2023 spring outdoor competition.

I left home at 3:42 p.m. and returned at 8:36 after visiting Eyota, Elgin and Lake City. I drove 177 miles, spent 3½ hours on the road and enjoyed every minute. I saw cows and horses, with the bovines outnumbering the horses at least 20 to 1. There were no farmers in the field, but that will come. I don’t think it was any kind of immediate weather omen, but inside Bennett’s Eyota Market the sound system played “Escape (The Pina Colada Song).”

When I backed out of my driveway, I had to do a slight maneuver to get around a tall pile of snow left by the fellow who had plowed the driveway over the weekend following eight inches of heavy, mean snow. As I drove south from my home in the Twin Cities suburbs, the amount of snow decreased. Entering Olmsted County on U.S. Highway 52, there was almost no snow … other than in some ditches and shady spots near trees. Southeast Minnesota is a rarity right now; games can be played outdoors while the rest of the state waits for snow to melt and ground to dry.

Going through Rochester, I saw zero snow. In Eyota, where the Dover-Eyota Eagles were hosting Pine Island in a softball game, the field was playable despite being at the base of a hill. The saving grace? The field is in an open area on the edge of town with full sun exposure.

A pretty good-sized pile of snow hugged the hillside as a dad and a small boy – wearing a winter jacket with the Batman logo on the back – held hands and walked from their car to the field. Some fans had their dogs with them, which is as normal as it gets.

The temperature was 48 degrees in Eyota and people were bundled up, sitting in lawn chairs and on bleachers, some with blankets over their laps.

Eleven miles north of Eyota, the track meet was taking place in Elgin, hosted by the Plainview-Elgin-Millville Bulldogs. It was 46 degrees, the ground behind the grandstands was muddy in places, there were small mounds of snow, but the meet went on. The first sound I heard when I stepped out of my car was the starters’ pistol. The breeze had picked up and gained steam from earlier in Eyota, and it had a bite to it.

A customer walked up to the concession stand, saw some familiar faces inside and said with a smile, “Is it warmer in there?” The answer: “Maybe a smidge because we’re out of the wind.”

Another 26 miles to the north, the Lake City Tigers hosted Pine Island in the first baseball game of the season for both teams. In fact, the Pine Island Panthers had not even practiced on grass before Monday.

“We have not been outside other than just in the parking lot,” said Pine Island coach Dan Drazan. “We played some catch in the parking lot and took some fly balls out there. But that's been it. We’ve done nothing on the field.”

Their field, in fact, was underwater and absolutely unplayable. That’s why the Panthers were designated as the home team for the game in Lake City; it had been originally scheduled to be played in Pine Island.

The Lake City baseball team had been outside once prior to the first game. Last week they spent some time after school one day on the outfield grass at Bill Kieffer Field, but stayed off the dirt.

Lake City coach Logan Thomas said Monday’s game was possible thanks to groundskeeper Jim Klennert, who worked wonders.

“Jim works hard on these fields and they drain really well,” Logan said. “He was out here bright and early this morning getting it ready. He works really hard for us to get out here and he makes it look awesome.”

Monday’s game was not locked down until 8:30 that morning, when texts went out like warm-weather breezes, informing all the players that the game was on.

“We got the text and we were all hyped, we all had high hopes,” said Lake City senior catcher Riley Forbes. “It felt good to get out of the gym and get some fresh air.”

Coaches, administrators and others in southeast Minnesota know how fortunate they are to be able to play outside; they see the weather conditions in other areas of the state. Talking about northern Minnesota, Drazan said, “I saw the forecast for the rest of the week up there, and I feel bad for them.”

If he followed the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s District 4 Twitter account from western Minnesota, he might have seen this sobering post from early Monday afternoon…

“**Sound of Minnesotans collectively sighing** We know you're tired of winter (so are we), but more is on its way and it's important to be prepared. Use all the tools in your toolbox (511mn.org, weather apps, local media) to make good travel decisions this week.”

The scene in Lake City, with 43-degree temps, was nowhere near as bad as in most of the state. Fans wore winter coats and blankets, sure, but the environment screamed baseball. Two little boys played catch, players shouted encouragement from the dugouts, a fan yelled “Good eye!”  

The grass was greening up, the infield dirt was dry and smooth. The only aspect of winter on the diamond was in right field, where there appeared to be a white warning track. That was the only spot where snow remained – other than on the steep hillside of big bluffs beyond the outfield -- and it was part of the pregame discussion between the umpires and coaches.

“The field is in good shape,” said home plate umpire Jeff Nolte of Pine Island, whose partner was Tony Lehman of Red Wing.

As for the snow in right field, “We talked about it before the game,” Nolte said. “If a fly ball landed in the snow, it would be a ground-rule double. If a ball rolled into the snow, we would use our judgment.”

No judgment was needed because the baseballs had the good sense to stay away from the snow.

The game in Lake City ended at 6:54 pm. Players shook hands with their opponents as well as the umpires. Then both teams gathered together, the Panthers in right field, the Tigers in center field. Coaches offered encouragement, discussions commenced, and both teams ended with an all-hands-in-the middle declaration on the importance of team.

“It's cold, but it's great to be outside,” said Thomas, the Lake City coach. “I was giddy all day.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org