The Player of the Year Radio Show was held Tuesday night on KNUJ AM and FM and worldwide at knuj.net. 47 area athletes were recognized and Players of the Year were announced for Girl’s Basketball, Boy’s Basketball and Wrestling.
The Girl’s Basketball Player of the Year is Madison Mathiowetz from SE/St Mary’s. Mathiowetz scored a school record 817 points helping the Knight’s to a runner up finish in the Section.
The Boy’s Basketball Player of the Year is Wyatt Olson from St Peter. Olson helped the Saints win 19 games by scoring 522 points, Wyatt is also the school’s all time leading scorer and rebounder.
Co Wrestler of the Year is Trevor Eisfeld from TMB/WWG. Eisfeld finished the year 51 and 0 and won the 182 pound Class A Individual Championship.
Co Wrestler of the Year is Kaleb Haase from Redwood Valley/Cedar Mountain. Haase finished the year 41 and 0 and won the 285 pound Class AA Individual Championship.
Sleepy Eye girls basketball coach Ryan Hulke announced his resignation from the program with the following letter released to the press:
I’d just like to let everyone know that with a very somber heart I have announced my resignation as the Head Girls Basketball Coach at Sleepy Eye High School as of Monday.
It simply comes down to I want to be a Dad and watch my son the next two years until he graduates from Byron. I love everything about the Community of Sleepy Eye, the School, Our Basketball Program, the Parents and the Athletes we have there, but I don’t want to miss watching my own son play for the next two years.
I appreciate all that everyone has done for our basketball program and myself throughout my ten years of coaching girls’ basketball at Sleepy Eye as I have memories I’ll never forget and friendships for a lifetime. I will miss everyone every day, but I need to make this decision for me as you all know I put a little bit of time into this .
Once Again Thanks for All the Memories,
Hulke led the Sleepy Eye girls’ program to three state basketball tournaments including a second place finish in 2018.
Sleepy Eye/St. Mary’s High School golf coach Crystal Ibberson has been named the Minnesota High School Coaches Association 2018 Class A Boys Golf Coach of Year. Ibberson led the Indians to the co-state championship this past spring. She also coached the individual champion, Ben Laffen. During the season Ibberson was also awarded the Tomahawk Conference Coach of the Year.
Ibberson will be honored during a banquet held Oct. 13 at the Sheraton West in Minneapolis.
June 16th
at Target Field
No. 1 seed Heritage Christian Academy (23-3) used the bat and arm of senior right handed pitcher Seth Halvorsen to defeat No. 2 Sleepy Eye (18-6) 8-0 on Saturday afternoon in the 2018 MSHSL Class A Baseball Championship at Target Field. The game started four hours and 22 minutes late due to heavy rain.
Just over a week after being drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 30th round of the 2018 MLB Draft, Halvorsen became the fifth player in MSHSL Baseball Tournament history to produce a two home run performance. He was also the game’s winning pitcher, striking out 16 in the shutout including his last six outs via the punch out.
The University of Missouri commit went 3-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and the two home runs. He drove in and scored four runs from the leadoff spot.
Halvorsen went 2-0 across 9.0 shutout innings in his two state tournament appearances, striking out 21 while allowing just five hits and three walks.
He finished his senior year with 117 strikeouts in 52 innings with an 8-1 record.
The shutout was the ninth of the year for the Eagles, who captured the state championship in the program’s first-ever state tournament appearance.
It was a bumpy start in the first inning for Halverson as a light rain continued to fall in downtown Minneapolis. Sleepy Eye loaded the bases in the first inning, but its second out was recorded on an errant pitch with junior catcher Taylor Broderson making the toss to Halvorsen for the tag. He struck out the final batter of the inning as Sleepy Eye left runners on second and third with a chance to take the game’s first lead.
He also stranded a Sleepy Eye runner on third base in the second inning after junior first baseman Jacob Berg led off with a double down the left field line. Berg moved to third on a sacrifice bunt but Halvorsen struck out the next two batters to erase the threat. He only allowed a runner into scoring position one more time in the game, a runner on second with one out in the fourth inning which he once again worked out of with back-to-back strikeouts.
Halvorsen wasted no time giving himself run support, putting the first pitch he saw into the left field bleachers.
The Eagles extended their lead to 3-0 in the second inning when Brodersen hit a two-run double to left field. Batting behind Halvorsen, Brodersen went 2-for-4 with three RBIs as the two players combined to drive in seven runs from the top of the lineup.
Broderson and Halvorsen were joined by sophomore shortstop Jonny Flynn on the All-Tournament Team for the Eagles.
The middle of the Eagles’ lineup also produced, as the 3-4-5 hitters each went 2-for-4.
Carter Brinkman, a senior centerfielder for Sleepy Eye, went 2-for-3 to lead the club from the third spot in the order. Berg and Brinkman each made the All-Tournament Team and were joined by senior Avery Stevens.
Kyle Domeier took the loss for Sleepy Eye as the senior right hander worked the first three innings before senior Zach Haala relieved him for the final three.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sleepy Eye | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 |
| Heritage Christian Academy | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | X | 8 | 11 | 1 |
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zach Haala | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Nathan Walter | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Carter Brinkman | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Landon Strong | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Avery Stevens | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jacob Berg | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paco Eliserio | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kyle Domeier | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Luke Mielke | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Ethan Fischer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Parker Neid | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Palmer Hittesdorf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | 24 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 16 |
