News

Marshall made volleyball history by winning their eighth state title, more than any school in state history. Teams that have won seven crowns are Bethlehem Academy, Chaska, Eagan, Robbinsdale Armstrong and Tracy-Milroy (Balaton).

Lonnie Morken was in his first decade as a volleyball coach back in 2000 and 2001 when he brought his Mabel-Canton team to the state tournament at the then-new Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul. Now, 21 years later, the Cougars are back.

Barnesville is playing at state volleyball for the first time in 39 years and coach Megan Askegaard admitted that she didn’t expect it. “I think this was one year that my kids really proved me wrong.”

The Marshall High School volleyball team is on the doorstep of history, but you won’t catch any of the Tigers players or coaches bringing it up. They’re just out to play winning volleyball.

When senior Aidan Jones of Minneapolis Washburn and junior Sam Scott of Minneapolis Southwest crossed the finish line in first and second place in the Class 3A boys cross-country state championship race, it made history.

Holy Angels won the 2A girls soccer championship in a “Stranger Things” type of game. Among those things were: 1) The Stars goalkeeper scored on a 55-yard shot in the first half, and 2) They celebrated twice, once before they actually won and once after it was official.

Xander Anderson and his Woodbury soccer teammates will play for the Class 3A state championship Friday morning, and later in the day Anderson will kick for the Royals against Eden Prairie in the football playoffs.

Six autumns ago, a youngster became the starting goalkeeper for the Alexandria High School girls soccer team. For every game in every season since – 102 consecutive games in all -- Sophia Vinje has been there for the Cardinals.

The beginning of Leah Berard’s career as a football official could never have been predicted. If things go the way she wants, that career will take her to the National Football League, which would be sort of a full-circle route from how she started.

Stephanie Dagg and Ingrid Anderson, senior tennis players from Thief River Falls, know how fortunate they are to be part of the team. Both have endured serious physical issues, and both have had surgical screws inserted into their skeletal structures. Wheelchairs and crutches are also part of their stories.

Glass carried a stapled document. It was an eight-page game plan on how to beat Zumbrota-Mazeppa. And there it was, the secret to all that success. "Myron prepares for every game like it's a state championship game."

The head coach’s baby was coming, the plan was in place and everything looked to be good for the girls soccer team from St. Charles/Lewiston-Altura. And then, of course, everything went sideways. That’s how the story began. How it’s ending is a perfect capper to a strange, challenging, unforgettable season as the Saints will play in the state tournament for the first time in history this week.