SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
congratulations to Red Lake County’s Connor Duden on committing to play basketball at Bemidji State University!
it will be fun to see him take on Owen Chervestad who is playing at UMC.
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Crookston High School Activities Director Evan Pederson has announced hiring Jadin Hams as the next Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball coach, pending school board approval.
Hams is a 2020 graduate of Grand Forks Central and a current Mayville State University student. Hams was a multi-sport athlete in high school, playing basketball, football, wrestling, and baseball. He has also been coaching basketball, football, and other sports since graduating high school. Hams has been coaching AAU basketball and actually coached several of the Pirate Girls players, and that is one of the reasons why he applied for the job in Crookston. “I would say that kind of helped the decision a little bit, kind of knowing the playing style and knowing the way that the girls work and the work ethic that the girls have and the amount I know that I can get from them that they gave me from playing AAU that I know that they’ll give me more than what they probably gave me for AAU,” said Hams. “Coaching them in high school will make it better, and having that connection already will make it easier for me to kind of adapt the team, hopefully.”
Hams knows of Pirate Girls Basketball’s successful and storied tradition and wants to get the program back at the top. “I’ve kind of been keeping an eye on the Crookston girls basketball for the past couple years and it’s kind of something that’s really been intriguing me to kind of try to come and help out the best I can because I know that in the past the program used to be a really solid powerhouse program and then it kind of went downhill from there,” said Hmas. “I’ve played basketball for a while and I’ve been a really big fan of Minnesota basketball and Crookston was kind of a place that I seen that I thought was kind of a good place to start and try to get my feet in the water when it comes to coaching higher level basketball, stuff like that, and trying to help build the program and make a program back to what it used to be and back on top.”
Hams knows they have some great athletes and pretty good players. “I watched some of their games last year, and I’m super excited for the team that we’re going to have this year. I know we’re going to be able to compete with some of the bigger schools that they kind of seem to struggle with back in the times and stuff like that,” said Hams. “And it’ll be nice to have some of the most of the girls coming back from last year. And I know that they had a decent season last year. They competed with some of the bigger schools and were able to hang with the big time schools. And hopefully we can kind of do the same thing this year and, you know, with improvement and try to improve the best we can with the best of our abilities and hope for a great season and hope for a good turnout for girls numbers and wise and stuff like that.”
Hams added that he wants the girls to work hard and keep improving, “There’s always room for improvement. So that’s the goal is always try to improve every single day.”
Activities Director Evan Pederson said they are accepting applications for J.V./Assistant and junior high coaching positions. Anyone interested in applying can contact Pederson at evanpederson@isd593.org.
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Speaking of basketball coaching, I have been told by folks in East Grand Forks that former Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball coach Greg Garmen was offered the head Green Wave Boys Basketball coaching job but turned it down. It is too bad, it would have been fun to see what Coach Garmen could do with a team that should be pretty darn good. Coach Garmen is an outstanding coach who got the short end of the stick in Crookston after a great career here.
I also received an email that Crookston offered him the head girls basketball coaching job and I was just getting ready to reach out to Greg to get comments when I received another email saying hold off. I was told Greg turned down the Pirate Girls job as well.
I hope we see Coach Garmen roaming the courtside again. He is a good guy, a great coach, and it seems he still might have the coaching bug in him! But maybe he thought to himself…..why the heck would I want to put myself out there again?
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The Section 8A Girls Tennis tournament will be held on Thursday, October 9 – Saturday, October 11 at Fargo Courts Plus.
Crookston is the two-time defending champion. Can Crookston win its third straight title? Once again, the section champ will come from the winner of the second semi-final match, Crookston or Thief River Falls. I think it will be Thief River Falls this year, especially with Crookston missing their #1 singles player, Ashlyn Bailey, due to a knee injury. BUT, NEVER ever count the Pirate girls out. You have 10 seniors on the team, and they have shown over the last two years that they are a different team at Fargo Courts Plus!
The seeds are below.
TEAM SEEDS-
1. Staples-Motley
2. Thief River Falls
3. Crookston
4. East Grand Forks
5. Roseau
6. Park Rapids
7. Parkers Prairie
8. Wadena-Deer Creek
FIRST ROUND – Thursday, October 9 at Fargo Courts Plus
8:00 AM – #4 East Grand Forks vs #5 Roseau
10:00 AM – #1 Staples-Motley vs #8 Wadena-Deer Creek
NOON – #2 Thief River Falls vs #7 Parkers Prairie
2:00 PM – #3 Crookston vs #6 Park Rapids
SEMI-FINALS – Thursday, October 9 at Fargo Courts Plus
4:00 PM – EGF/Roseau winner vs Staples-Motley/WDC winner
6:00 PM – TRF/PP winner vs Crookston/Park Rapids winner
CHAMPIONSHIP – Friday, October 10 at Fargo Courts Plus
SECTION 8A INDIVIDUAL TOURNAMENT SEEDS – Tournament starts Friday, October 10.
SINGLES-
1. Ronnie Noska (SM)
2. Ruby Leach (EGF)
3. Tegan Pray (TRF)
4. Haley Larson (PR)
5. Logan Brekken (Crox)
6. Josephine Hensen (Ros)
7. Callin Jensen (PP)
8. MaKenna Maanum (PR)
9. Lauren Tull (Crox)
10. Emma Weniget (WDC)
11. Charlie Noska (SM)
12. Mackenzie Lee (TRF)
13. Hattie Truax (PP)
14. Lola Bina (EGF)
15. Lizzy Desrosier (Ros)
16. Lydia Helmbrecht (WDC)
DOUBLES SEEDS-
1. Fiemeyer/Endres (WDC)
2. Wienen/Green (TRF)
3. Madison Perius/Holst (SM)
4. LaPlante/Chloe Boll (Crox)
5. Helling/Schilling (PP)
6. Dunham/Kennady (Ros)
7. Morris/Brandt (PR)
8. Hanson/N. Perius (SM)
9. Dahlin/Rodahl (TRF)
10. Svendsen/Wallace (EGF)
11. Hoerner/Martin (Crox)
12. Himango/Gauthier (PR)
13. Lehukul/Phillipy (WDC)
14. McDonald Robles (EGF)
15. Swanson/Holmgren (Ros)
!6. Lanegager/Koep (PP)
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We are down to the last week of the high school volleyball regular season with seeding taking place next week! Below is a look at Section 8A and 8AA.
SECTION 8A West Sub-section –
Sacred Heart is going to be the top seed in the west and I am picking them as the favorite to win the championship this year. Ada-Borup-West,the #1 seed in the east is right there too. Sacred Heart beat East Grand Forks Senior High this week 3-0 and have won 22 straight matches. They have outscored opponents 60-5 (in terms of sets).
KCC will be the second seed with Red Lake Falls at three, BGMR will be fourth. It doesn’t look like much will differ from the current standings, but there are some tournaments this weekend and things could change with that and head to head tie-breakers. I know one thing, Climax-Fisher and Red Lake Falls are two teams nobody will want to play.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ada-Borup-West | 9-0-0 | 18-8-0 | 99.2 | 21 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 5-3-0 | 15-5-0 | 95.5 | 25 |
| Blackduck | 7-3-0 | 16-6-0 | 70.2 | 58 |
| Northome/Kelliher | 3-5-0 | 11-8-0 | 59.5 | 70 |
| Bagley | 7-9-0 | 11-10-0 | 58.8 | 71 |
| Fosston | 5-6-0 | 8-14-0 | 52.5 | 89 |
| Mahnomen/Waubun | 3-12-0 | 7-17-0 | 46.1 | 102 |
| Red Lake County Central | 5-9-0 | 7-12-0 | 44.3 | 106 |
| Win-E-Mac | 1-11-0 | 3-14-0 | 33.2 | 126 |
| Clearbrook-Gonvick | 0-10-0 | 3-12-0 | 30.4 | 130 |
SECTION 8A East Sub-Section –
There are two teams that have seperated themselves from the rest and if Ada-Borup-West and Fertile-Beltrami aren’t in the final four of the section, I would be surprised. They are the top two teams in the subsection by a pretty large margin.
Blackduck and Northome/Kelliher are having solid seasons and have some nice players and will try to prove me wrong and have the capabilities of pulling off an upset.
Section 8A – East Standings
Seeding is by QRF on October 15
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ada-Borup-West | 9-0-0 | 18-8-0 | 99.2 | 21 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 5-3-0 | 15-5-0 | 95.5 | 25 |
| Blackduck | 7-3-0 | 16-6-0 | 70.2 | 58 |
| Northome/Kelliher | 3-5-0 | 11-8-0 | 59.5 | 70 |
| Bagley | 7-9-0 | 11-10-0 | 58.8 | 71 |
| Fosston | 5-6-0 | 8-14-0 | 52.5 | 89 |
| Mahnomen/Waubun | 3-12-0 | 7-17-0 | 46.1 | 102 |
| Red Lake County Central | 5-9-0 | 7-12-0 | 44.3 | 106 |
| Win-E-Mac | 1-11-0 | 3-14-0 | 33.2 | 126 |
| Clearbrook-Gonvick | 0-10-0 | 3-12-0 | 30.4 | 130 |
SECTION 8AA VOLLEYBALL –
The question everyone is asking is…..Can anyone beat Hawley? Two letters…..NO. Hawley has dominated every section team they have played. Seriously….can anybody beat them? Of course someone can and if anybody were to beat them it would be Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton or Roseau. Hawley is the defending state champ, they are an amazing team and are the heavy favorite. But DGF is having an oustanding season and have the firepower to battle Hawley as they showed earlier this year. Roseau is also having an amazing season and they are playing some solid volleyball right now.
Section 8AA Standings
QRF Seeded – October 18
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawley | 12-0-0 | 21-1-0 | 149.5 | 1 |
| Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton | 7-1-0 | 20-7-0 | 120.9 | 12 |
| Roseau | 5-2-0 | 16-4-0 | 112.0 | 18 |
| Perham | 5-5-0 | 13-8-0 | 99.2 | 35 |
| Frazee | 4-3-0 | 18-4-0 | 96.6 | 38 |
| Wadena-Deer Creek | 4-3-0 | 12-9-0 | 94.3 | 40 |
| East Grand Forks | 7-8-0 | 15-13-0 | 89.6 | 44 |
| Thief River Falls | 6-6-0 | 16-8-0 | 86.7 | 50 |
| Barnesville | 1-9-0 | 11-13-0 | 78.9 | 56 |
| Menahga | 1-5-0 | 8-12-0 | 54.9 | 97 |
| Park Rapids | 2-6-0 | 5-16-0 | 51.1 | 103 |
| Warroad | 2-4-0 | 5-19-0 | 37.6 | 118 |
| Crookston | 0-4-0 | 1-19-0 | 27.9 | 125 |
| Red Lake | 0-0-0 | 2-13-0 | 20.7 | 126 |
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The Minnesota State High School League board of directors met last week and here are some highlights from the meeting.
9B: Spring Advisory Proposals
Baseball and Softball
The Board of Directors approved a proposal that creates an option for adding up to four regular-season games in baseball and softball. The approval provides scheduling flexibility, especially in case of inclement weather that often presents challenges in the early spring. The approved proposal will allow teams to count in-season tournaments, doubleheaders or triangulars as one event, instead of the two or three games that might be played on that day. Tournaments held on a paired Friday and Saturday will count as one event. Teams will be permitted a maximum of two in-season tournaments.
Golf
The Board of Directors approved a proposal that permits coaches to make lineup changes between Days 1 and 2 of a two-day, 36-hole singular event without counting the event as two separate events.
The Board of Directors approved a proposal that permits each team to list two alternates on their section tournament roster. These alternates could be used when a section team advances to the state tournament, in addition to the six players from the section roster. Once the state tournament begins, alternates may only replace a rostered player if that player cannot participate because of a justifiable non-injury/illness and non-violation reason.
A motion was made to approve a proposal that sought to adjust the number of teams in each of the three classifications in golf, but there was no second to the motion was made. The proposal, therefore, did not move to a vote.
Speech
The Board of Directors approved a proposal that amended the statement related to physical contact between two participants in Duo Interpretation and adjusts the language to read: There shall be no intentional body contact between speakers, except during the introduction.
The Board of Directors approved a proposal that clarifies the material selection rule by specifying that selections used in Humorous Interpretation must be cuttings from a single work unless poetry is used. The second part of the approved proposal is that a student may not use a cutting from the same literary work in more than one school year.
Track and Field
The Board of Directors approved an adjustment to the regulation discus weight for Category 1 male wheelchair students from 1.6KG (3.5 pounds) to 1KG (2.2 pounds) to align with national adaptive standards.
9C: Basketball Replay Policy
The Board of Directors approved a proposal on an adjustment to the protocol for the Basketball Replay Policy which only applies to semifinal and final state tournaments to include basket interference as a reviewable play.
9D: Girls Wrestling Section Tournament Format
The Board of Directors approved a proposal that will expand Girls Wrestling at the section level, growing from four to eight sections with two qualifiers from each weight class in the section. This increases the number of section state qualifiers in each weight class from eight participants to 16.
10A: Eligibility and Enrollment Ad Hoc Committee
League Staff and committee members shared updates from the committee’s work on analyzing possible options for the eligibility of students who are open-enrolled in an online public school district program. Board members spoke in support of students having some academic connection to their school of participation in nearly all scenarios to maintain one of the pillars in education-based athletics.
10B: Classification and Competitive Section Placement Process
League Staff shared updates to potential model options to determine MSHSL Enrollments, and ultimately, the classification of teams. Work continues in identifying the best model for determining enrollments for member schools ahead of the initiation of this process that is scheduled for the 2026-2027 school year.
11C: Marketing and Communications Committee
Following Arbiter’s purchase of rSchools, schools are transitioning to Arbiter platforms for athletic and activities calendars, with full implementation expected by the 2026–2027 school year.
A new print bracket feature now generates a ready-to-use PDF, significantly improving the bracket experience for website users.
Each Member School’s website page will soon feature a Section Tournament information block to make event details more accessible to the public.
Informational
- Board of Directors Workshop, virtual: Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2 p.m.
- Next in-person meeting: Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, at the League Office.
- The Board of Directors Meeting adjourned at 12:03 p.m.
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The 2025 Valley Plains District Football stat leaders have been released by Statistician extraordinaire Dave Peterson, and they are below-
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The 2025 9-West North Sub-district football stat leaders have been released by Mr. Dave Peterson and they are below.
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Perham will host a youth 3-on-3 Basketball tournament on Saturday, November 15, for Grades 2-8 (boys and girls divisions)
Our Goal: Run a 1st-class tournament with strong officials, beautiful facilities, get you in & out quickly, play different teams from all over, and awesome prizes for the winners!!!
*Please fill out a form for each team registering.
*Please submit a separate registration for each team.
($100 per team, 3 games guaranteed, possibly 4 depending on schedule).
*Please bring your own basketballs. 2nd & 3rd grade “might” play on lower hoops.
Email one of the coaches listed if you’d like to register a team. Hoops at the Hive may need to combine grade levels (using team ability levels) to fill some brackets. If needed to combine, players will play teams within one grade level.
*Cost is $100 per team. Please send payment immediately after registration to reserve your spot.
Payment Methods:
Venmo: @PerhamBBB (2349) (You must include the following info)
GRADE of PLAYERS (‘25-’26, max of 5 per team):
GENDER: B or G
TEAM NAME:
1 Parent/Guardian CONTACT CELL NUMBER
Check: Perham Boys Basketball (add below info on check)
Mail to: Arly Ohm 810 2nd Ave SW. Perham, MN 56573
GRADE of PLAYERS (‘25-’26, max of 5 per team):
GENDER: B or G
TEAM NAME:
1 Parent/Guardian CONTACT CELL NUMBER:
*No refunds after November 2nd.
*Registration deadline is Sunday November 2nd at 7:00 PM (or until filled) Brackets will be emailed the week prior to the tournament.
*Efficient scheduling. Expect some back to back games. Get in, play,
get on your way.
*Questions? Contact:
Arly Ohm at arlyohm@perham.k12.mn.us Cell: (701) 640-3850
Garry Grewe at ggrewe@perham.k12.mn.us Cell: (320) 241-4877
Grant Dierkhising gdierkhising@perham.k12.mn.us Cell: (218) 252-2349
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JOKES
Returning home from work, a blonde was shocked to find her house ransacked and burglarized. She telephoned the police at once and reported the crime. The police dispatcher broadcast the call and a K-9 unit patrolling nearby was the first to respond.
As the K-9 officer approached the house with his dog on a leash, the blonde ran out on the porch, shuddered at the sight of the cop and his dog, then sat down on the steps.
Putting her face in her hands, she moaned: “I come home to find all my possessions stolen. I call the police for help, and what do they do? They send me a BLIND policeman!”
— —
Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car.
Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally.
‘What in bag?’ asked the old woman. Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, ‘It’s a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband.’
The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said, ‘Good trade.’
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Morris walks out into the street and manages to get a taxi just going by. He gets into the taxi, and the cab driver says, “Perfect timing. You’re just like Dave.”
“Who?”
“Dave Aronson. There’s a guy who did everything right. Like my coming along when you needed a cab. It would have happened like that to Dave.”
“There are always a few clouds over everybody,” says Morris.
“Not Dave. He was a terrific athlete. He could have gone on the pro tour in tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star.”
“He was something, huh?”
“He had a memory like a trap. Could remember everybody’s birthday. He knew all about wine, which fork to eat with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and I black out the whole neighborhood.”
“No wonder you remember him.”
“Well, I never actually met Dave.”
“Then how do you know so much about him?” asks Morris.
“Because I married his widow.”
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Ron, an elderly man in Australia, had owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond at the back.
It was properly shaped for swimming, so he fixed it up nice with picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some orange and lime trees.
One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn’t been there for a while, and look it over.
He grabbed a five-gallon bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee.
As he came closer, he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond. He made the women aware of his presence, and they all went to the deep end.
One of the women shouted to him, “We’re not coming out until you leave!”
Ron frowned, “I didn’t come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked.”
Holding the bucket up Ron said, “I’m here to feed the alligator.”
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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Teagen Lubinski is a freshman playing football at St. Scholastica
Addie Fee is a freshman playing tennis and hockey at Wisconsin-Superior.
Kambelle Freije is a freshman playing hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Riley Helgeson is a freshman playing football at Northern State.
Emily Bowman is a freshman playing Softball at North Dakota State College of Science.
Halle Winjum is a sophomore playing basketball at Minnesota Crookston.
Blake Melsa is a sophomore playing soccer and baseball at Alexandria Tech
Jackson Reese is a sophomore playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Matt Contreras is a freshman playing baseball at Concordia College.
Naomi Johnson is a freshman playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.
Reese Swanson is a sophomore playing hockey at St. Olaf.
Carter Coauette is a sophomore playing football at Minot State.
Isaac Thomforde is a sophomore playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Halle Bruggeman is a Junior on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.
Ethan Boll is a Sophomore on the University of North Dakota Football team.
Breanna Kressin is a Junior on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.
Jacey Larson is a Junior playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Aleah Bienek is a Senior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Ty Hamre is Senior playing football at Bemidji State University.
Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.
Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Jason Cassavant is a Jr. High Baseball Coach and Head American Legion Baseball coach
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc
Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.
Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball
Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.
Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.
Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.
Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida.
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown.
Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Matt Harris is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of North Dakota.
Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.
Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Jaren Bailey is serving our country and is currently in the Marines’ Boot Camp.
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004, from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments, and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.
