2024 Prep Football Preview The 2024 season is year two of the new district alignment. Hence, nothing changes from last year as it pertains to districts and sections. Three Journal-covered squads enter the year coming off state runs. Kingsland broke a 20-year drought and progressed all the way to the 9-Man state finals before controversially and agonizingly falling. Fillmore … [Read more...]
Soccer
Caledonia/Spring Grove/Houston Soccer Preview The Caledonia/Spring Grove/Houston soccer girls return nine starters from last year’s team that went 4-11-2 (1-8-1 TRC). And that does not include All-Conference, leading scorer Loisah Gay (14 goals), who will miss her junior season with injury. All-Conference goalkeeper/forward Josie Foster is back along with two All-TRC … [Read more...]
2024 Area Prep Volleyball Preview
The 2023 high school volleyball season saw Mabel-Canton (14-0, 36-3) win its second straight Section 1A title and make state for a second straight year. Caledonia (9-1, 28-7) won the Section 1AA title and also made state. Each took fourth on the big stage. Fillmore Central (8-2, 23-8) was 1A runner-up, Chatfield (10-0, 26-3) made the 1AA final four, and Spring Grove (12-2, … [Read more...]
Girls Flag Football Debuts in Two Area High Schools
They arrived at the field with no previous workouts, practiced 45 minutes and then won their first-ever game against a team with previous game experience. Those were the girls from Houston in the Minnesota pilot summer league for girls flag football, which will be an Olympic sport in the next 2028 games. The National Football League (NFL) is promoting it, specifically in this … [Read more...]
Concurrent Enrollment Opportunities Increase at Houston High School
Michael Mangan, director of Educational Success and Innovation at Houston Schools, shared the Report Card on Redefining Ready and Concurrent Enrollment Board Update at the July 11 regular board meeting. Using assorted data and comparing with the previous year’s senior class, Mangan showed that overall, 70% of Houston’s 2024 seniors were college ready, 93% were career ready and … [Read more...]
Baseball
Three Rivers All-Conference Baseball Caledonia (15-0, 19-3) ran the table in the TRC, winning the East over La Crescent/Hokah (12-3, 18-7), Winona-Cotter (9-6, 12-9), Lewiston-Altura (8-7, 9-12), Rushford-Peterson (4-11, 10-15), and Fillmore Central/Lanesboro (0-15, 1-20) while Dover-Eyota (8-6, 13-8) and PEM (8-6, 10-11) shared the West over Chatfield (7-7, 9-11), St. … [Read more...]
Three Rivers All-Conference Softball
Caledonia (14-1, 24-4) won the TRC East softball title ahead of Winona-Cotter (12-3, 17-8), La Crescent/Hokah (8-7, 10-11), Lewiston-Altura (6-9, 12-12), Rushford-Peterson (2-13, 6-15), and Fillmore Central/Lanesboro (0-15, 4-17) while Dover-Eyota (11-3, 15-8) took the East over Chatfield (9-5, 15-9), St. Charles (9-5, 14-11), Wabasha-Kellogg (6-8, 15-11), and PEM (3-11, 5-16). … [Read more...]
Girls Golf: FC Shares Class A Title
It will be remembered because it is a state title. It will also be remembered because it ended abruptly. Fillmore Central girls golf took on their 10th consec-utive state tourney. What looked to be a tense finish was then halted by lightening. Meet organizers then had to do some figuring to determine the state champion, as teams had not completed the final hole(s). FC and … [Read more...]
State Track & Field
Area track and field conglomerates Caledonia/Spring Grove, Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kings-land/Southland, Lanes-boro/Fillmore Central/Mabel-Canton, and Rushford-Peterson/Houston plus standalone Chatfield took on the state Class A meet. Three of those schools had a least one state champion while the lowest top finish for all five was third. Another standout group of area … [Read more...]
Cardinals, Knights, Hurricanes Capture Conference Trap Titles
Eleven Journal area trap teams have completed the spring regular season with three capturing conference championships - Kingsland, Houston and LeRoy-Ostrander. Finishing as conference runners-up were Mabel-Canton and Rushford-Peterson. There was only one conference championship squad a year ago. All 11 clay target teams are currently seeking advancement in postseason action. … [Read more...]
Track and Field: 38 Area Athletes Qualify for State
The Section 1A individual track and field meet was denoted by a couple things. Area teams Caledonia/Spring Grove, GMLOKS, RP/H, LFCMC and Chatfield were all busy, each qualifying at least four kids for state. Making state by standard was a common theme though each squad had a section champ. Warriors Mostly Speed Their Way to State, to Team Runner-up C/SG’s teams … [Read more...]
Hot Shots
Sub-section track and field meets were held. At the Sub-1 event, C/SG’s sprinters were on full display. Both boys’ sprint relays took first. Josh Beardmore (100, L-Jump, 4x100, 4x200) qualified in four events, notching firsts in all but the Long Jump. Gabe Curley (100, 200, 4x100), Eli Staggemeyer (4x100, 4x200, 100), Owen Staggemeyer (4x100, 4x200, 200), and Fischer Wait … [Read more...]
Baseball
Fourth-Inning Eruptions Propel Lions to Pair of Playoff Wins Spring Grove (6-seed, 13-7) advanced through the Section 1A baseball bracket with two very similar wins over Wabasha-Kellogg (11-seed, 6-14), 10-4, and Mabel-Canton (14-seed, 7-14), 8-1. Both games followed strangely similar scripts. Versus the Falcons in the Round of 16, the Lions wiped out a 2-0 deficit with a … [Read more...]
Softball
Warriors Push to Austin and 1AA Final Four Caledonia softball kept its strong season alive courtesy of three post-season wins in four tries. The Warriors (2-seed, 18-2) first took down Lake City (15-seed, 2-17) in the 1AA Round of 16. Caledonia had six extra base hits and a six-run third was their big inning in a five frame 11-1 win. It was their sixth straight victory by … [Read more...]
Baseball
Warriors Run TRC Table Caledonia baseball had the TRC-East title wrapped up entering the final week of the regular season. They capped an undefeated league season and kept up an epic pitching and defensive display in their final two games. Hosting Cotter, Ben Stemper authored a first inning RBI triple. It was all the runs 6’4” junior pitcher Garrett Konz needed, as he threw a … [Read more...]