Caden Grinde, for the second straight season, was voted Most Valuable Player by his 2021 Spring Grove basketball teammates. And the for the third consecutive year, he also received the Hustle Award, determined by his season total of hustle points. Tristan Hammel was voted the Lion Award while the Most Improved Player recognition was shared by Jaxon Strinmoen and Tysen Grinde. … [Read more...]
Eight runs not nearly enough for Lions in Legion loss at Lewiston
Eight runs had been enough for the Spring Grove American Legion boys in the 8-4 summer season-opening win against Lanesboro, but eight was far from sufficient in a deflating 29-8 runaway loss at Lewiston on June 14. A June 20 encounter with Mabel was rained out. The Lion Legion lineup is mostly the same as in the just-completed school season. SG Legion 8, Lewiston … [Read more...]
Cal/SG high jumper Pieper is All-State, places sixth at state
Chris Pieper, of Caledonia/Spring Grove, is an All-State track athlete by virtue of earning the sixth-place medal among 15 high jumpers at the Class A State Track and Field Championships on June 17-19 at St. Michael. The junior jumper cleared the bar at 6-feet, 2-inches, which was one inch higher than he had achieved while advancing at the sub-section (first place) and … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Plentiful, fertile and affordable – but an ocean away
Norwegian emigration, part 2 Before becoming a Houston County resident in Black Hammer, Gunhild Tiegen - after 16 years of marriage - had become a widow in Norway in 1860 with no money, no land, few skills and six children, ages 13 to 1. Before farming his own land near Riceford, Ole Gunderson Treangen had been a Norwegian tenant farmer and son of a tenant farmer, who saw a … [Read more...]
Legion baseball Lions open with win against Lanesboro
Seven days after closing the school baseball season, the Spring Grove boys launched their summer Legion schedule with an 8-4 home win over Lanesboro on June 10. The Burros out-hit the Lions 13 to 5, but the Grove guys did not get as many good pitches to hit, reaching base 12 times with walks. Meanwhile Lion pitchers, starter Jaxon Strinmoen and reliever Isaac Griffin, walked … [Read more...]
Pieper to represent Cal/SG in high jump at state track meet
Junior Chris Pieper of Caledonia/Spring Grove qualified for the Class A State Track & Field Meet as the section runner-up in high jump. Junior Reid Bjerke had advanced to section in three events, medaling twice and earning team points in all three. He earned the fourth-place medal in the 200-meter dash and the fifth-place medal at 100-meters. Junior Logan Banse claimed the … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Leaving Norway for America? Pack a lot of lunches
Many residents of Houston County in 2021 are descended from settlers who arrived in the middle-to-late 19th century (1800s). Annual Syttende Mai (Norwegian Independence Day) celebrations in Spring Grove honor the area’s Norwegian heritage. There are approximately four and half million Norwegian Americans, the 10th largest European ancestry group in the United States. Most live … [Read more...]
Same-script, walk-off win precedes Spring Grove’s season-ending loss
“Just eerie,” was how Spring Grove baseball coach Chris Strinmoen described the second walk-off win over Fillmore Central/Lanesboro on the same field within six days. The same three Lions played exactly the same three roles in both remarkable, celebration-inducing sequences. The second decision, a 2-1 Lion win, came in the May 31 section opener in front of a great crowd at … [Read more...]
Pieper is champion; 13 Cal/SG athletes advance to section track meet
Chris Pieper won the sub-section high jump crown as Caledonia/Spring Grove track had nine boys and four girls advance to the Section 1A Track and Field championships after qualifying at the Sub-section 1 Meet on June 3 at Rushford. Junior sprinter Reid Bjerke advances in three events with junior Pieper, junior sprinter/thrower Logan Banse and eighth grader Fischer Wait each … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Horsepower, cornhusking and the Houston County Matrimonial Bureau
Fifth of a series Portland Prairie had the first 4-H club in Houston County, organized in 1923 by Gladys Lapham, said one of the charter members, Elmer Thies. His 4-H project that first year was a heifer calf named Nancy. At the county fair, young Elmer and Nancy won a trip to the state fair, but as it turned out, young Elmer was too young. “I was only nine years-old. One … [Read more...]