Krista Duhamel Of Bemidji will again represent the state in the Junior Olympic air pistol and small bore competition at Colorado Springs, March 8-10.
The BHS junior is competing for the fourth year being the gold medalist in air pistol and competing for the third year in small bore.
In each of her previous years she finished in the top 10. She has been on the women's All-American team the past two years.
At the training center, she will be shooting with members of the U.S. Developmental Team and members of the 2008 Olympic teams in practice.
In April Duhamel will be qualifying for the pellet rifle team along with teammates Emily and Sarah Lawrence and Jordan Schumer for the national meet at Bowling Green, Ky.
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The girls are coached by Mike Porter.
Fuller to Mayville
While the Cass Lake-Bena boys basketball team is known statewide, the Panthers' football squad is also capable of producing college talent.
Jake Fuller has signed a letter of intent to play football at Mayville State next fall.
Fuller's major is undecided but he expressed interest in returning after college to help coach his alma mater.
Among other colleges he was considering were St. Thomas, UMD, Itasca and Moorhead State.
He becomes the first Panther to sign a college letter. Cage star Brady Fairbanks has verbally committed to BSU and can not sign a letter until April 11.
Larson leaves Apollo
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Boys hockey coach Craig Larson has resigned as Apollo boys hockey coach.
The 31-year-old Grand Rapids graduate will become general manager and head coach of the Granite City Lumberjacks, a Junior B hockey team that will open play next year at the Municipal Athletic Center.
He hopes to use the position to prepare to become a college coach.
The Lumberjacks will play in a 6-9 team league that will include Little Falls.
The team plans a 60 game schedule with 30 at St. Cloud. Tryouts will take place in July.
Larson hopes the team will be successful enough to move up to Junior A in the coming years.
Larson has guided the Eagles for seven seasons after previously coaching at Duluth Marshall.
Academic matmen
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A number of area matmen were listed on the Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic team.
Among them were Shane Bratan, Barnesville (103); Kirk Anderson, Barnesville (125); John Amundson, Alexandria (135), Ben Anderson, Frazee (140), Mike Gurhna, Perham, (152), Trent Sovde, BGMR (160), Phil Moenkedick, Perham (171), Hakan Ripek, Staples (215) and Kyle Christopherson, Perham, (Hwt).
Embretson dies
Long-time Brainerd head track coach and assistant football mentor died of cancer this week at the age of 61.
He headed the track program for 24 seasons and was a grid assistant under Ron Stolski for all 31 years he taught at Brainerd.
He was instrumental in founding the True Team track program along with Bemidji's Dick Phelps, a program that emphasizes team depth as opposed to individual performances.
He was known for his key motto "Better your Best", encouraging his athletes to always strive for improvement.
He was head football coach at Braham for seven years before joining Stolski's football staff in1975 where he remained through last season.
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Mason at nationals
Bemidji's Brent Mason went 1-2 for Ridgewater C.C., at the National Junior College wrestling tournament at Rochester.
The Warriors sophomore went 1-2 at 197, losing his opener 13-1, winning his first wrestleback 8-3 but getting pinned in his second.
Ridgewater produced three place winners who finished third, seventh and eighth. The Warriors finished 11th in the team totals.
Bemidji's Chris Miller won the national heavyweight title for Itasca C.C.
Bemidji's Greg Skerik, a regular much of the year, was not included on the Ridgewater tournament team.
Spring sports open
Starting dates for spring practice have been announced by activities director Harvey Crable.
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Boys and girls golf, softball and boys and girls track will open drills March 12.
Baseball drills begin March 19 and tennis March 26.
Before an athlete may practice he must have a current sports physical on file, have a parent permit/eligibility form on file, have an athletic insurance waiver form on file and paid the participation fee for the spring season which is $60 for grades 9-12.
The physical is required once every three years. The parent permit form is required once each school year as is the insurance waiver.
No athlete may begin drills or draw equipment until they have been cleared do so by the athletic office. Forms may be obtained from the office from 7:30-3:45 each day.
Mat record
The state has a new all-time wrestling win leader.
Kirk Anderson of Barnesville won his first two bouts at the state meet Thursday raising his win total to 244 topping the old mark of 243 held by Nate Matousek of Glencoe-Silver Lake since 2005.
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Beau Penk of Litchfield (235), Adam Aho of Frazee (225) and Eric Sanders of Wabasha-Kellogg (223) round out the top five.
Anderson's final season dropped Bemidji's Greg Skerik into ninth place on the all-time state list. Skerik ended with 216 last year.
Uscola hits 100
Park Rapids' Colter Uscola reached a milestone when he recorded his 100th wrestling win during the 8AA tournament at Cass Lake.
It was a bittersweet victory for Uscola, however, who finished 3-1 at the meet and took third place, missing a return to the state where he went 2-2 in 2006.
He bowed in the semifinals 8-4 to Kevin Fynboh of Thief River Falls. He came back to take third but missed the state trip when Fynboh lost to Alex Burkel of Roseau in the 135 pound title match.
The 100 victory mark, while no longer the achievement it once was in the days of limited schedules and mostly dual matches, it is still recognized as an event. Uscola finished his year at 28-5.
