I have to start the Feever column with an important shout-out. It is my wife’s (Tiffany Nichole Fee) 50th birthday on Friday, January 28. She is my best friend, she is the best wife, mom, and friend a person could ever ask for. Plus she is smoking hot, and I definitely outkicked my coverage. She has put up with me for all these years, so that shows she has some big-time patience, or she is crazy.
If you see her, wish her a happy birthday.
— — —
Last week’s column seemed to be appreciated by people all over northwest Minnesota and the state, for that matter.
I have had a bunch of comments, texts, emails, and even a few phone calls from A.D.’s, coaches, and parents thanking me for the article. I will include a few below. I have taken the names out.
Chris,
Thank you for explaining how hard scheduling and rescheduling is. But you forgot to include bussing. With a shortage of bus drivers, we can’t just reschedule a road game without knowing we have bussing too. Most school districts are in the same situation we are in with a lack of bus drivers so that is another thing that makes scheduling a nightmare, especially rescheduled games.
Another thing. Most Activity Directors in the area aren’t full-time. The only full-time A.D.’s in far northwest Minnesota is Thief River Falls, East Grand Forks, and Crookston. So most of us are part-time and either teach, are the dean of students, etc and that takes up most of our time and we don’t have time to quickly reschedule something because of that.
Thanks,
An area A.D.
—
Chris,
Thank you for the information and comments in the Feever. I didn’t realize there are so many things that go into rescheduling. Nice to know and hopefully we don’t have to worry about any more weather.
A proud hockey mom!
—
Chris,
Great stuff in your column this week. While games are important to see what we need to work on before sections, practice is the MOST important thing we do. Without practice, we don’t get better. The most improvement happens from what the student-athletes do in the off-season and in practice, as you know.
Thanks again,
An area coach
Those are a sample of what I got and they were edited to not give their identities away to protect the innocent. I am sure a few are upset, but oh well…..life goes on and I will continue to bring the truth and facts to the masses! I don’t do fake news like FOX, MSNBC, and CNN.
— — —
On Wednesday morning, Crookston Public Schools held a long-range planning committee meeting to discuss Building, Planning, and Financial Status.
Crookston Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Olson led the meeting. The most important topic was discussing and reviewing an upcoming referendum for a potential new Track and Athletic Complex that would feature an all-turf field instead of grass. The referendum will be held on August 9, 2022, and Olson spent most of the conversation discussing and hearing from the committee on how and when information should be shared with the public leading up to the vote. An overload of information will be shared in the months leading up to the vote, including the project’s benefits, how it will affect the taxpayers, and answers to any questions the public may have. There will also be public meetings held and other ways the School District will be sharing the information.
Olson said kicking off the campaign with this meeting will help layout a clear understanding of timelines and goals the district wants to accomplish to make sure the public is as informed as they can be before the vote takes place. “With any strategy, you have to have some planning behind it. Our biggest goal is getting the information out to the public,” said Olson. “Thinking through how we are going to communicate it, what order we’re going to communicate it in, and why we’re going to communicate it is essential for any public campaign. That’s why it was crucial to meet this morning to start getting the ball rolling on this.”
The project’s estimated cost is $3.8 million, which could change as building costs increase/decrease. A portion of the project will be covered locally, while some state funding will be included. It is still uncertain at this time what the amounts will be. The decision to pursue a new Track & Athletic Complex came for a couple of reasons, one being that the School District could not come to an agreement with UMC on purchasing their field, as there was not a desire to make a deal.
The different ways the School District will be sharing information on the campaign is broken up into several parts.
- Public information: This will begin being shared by the School District in February and will become more in-depth in the months leading up to the vote.
- Public Meetings: This Will be held once a month in the last four months leading up to the vote (May, June, July, August). This will allow Superintendent Olson to learn more about questions raised at each meeting and bring back answers.
- KROX/Crookston Times: The last four months before the vote, Superintendent Olson will be intentional about sharing information about the referendum to KROX and the Crookston Times. (May June July August) He will also post other informational items in the form of articles beginning in February.
- Social Media: The School District’s social media platforms will be used in the final four months leading up to the vote to answer questions raised at the public meetings. (May June July August)
- Groundwork: Groundwork will include dropping off pamphlets of information at citizens’ doorsteps and knocking on doors to make sure everyone is aware of the vote. There is not a set timeline for the groundwork.
Olson also discussed when/where the information for the project can be seen and big reason for wanting to put the new complex in. “We are still fine-tuning a few things and asking the opinion of various people,” said Olson. “We are looking at February as the first time that we are going to get this information out to people. We will also have this information at all our home athletic events where people can see pictures and view handouts of the project. As far as the purpose of this, we are looking at a multi-use facility where Football, Track, Soccer, Softball, and Baseball can all practice. We also are going to have PE classes out there, so there are just a lot of uses that we can open up for our students if we go this route.”
The vote on August 9, 2022, will both be available for those who want to vote in person, as well as those who would prefer to do an absentee ballot. Other ideas discussed by the committee at the meeting for sharing the information included using the electronic sign in front of the Crookston High School to share information on the project over the course of the summer before the vote takes place. Olson believes if they are not repeatedly sharing the information over the next several months, they are not doing their job correctly.
There will be more information in the coming weeks and months before the vote in August, so make sure to stay tuned to KROX as we will provide you with new updates as we receive them.
Outside of the referendum discussion, the committee also briefly heard the Quarter Two numbers for the School District this year, and Olson believes they are in good financial standing. “We are looking good right now, and things are tracking well,” said Olson. “We are looking at a balanced budget which is always a good thing, and will just keep monitoring it four the next quarters.”
Pictures and the entire presentation of what is being proposed can be found down below –
— — —
Crookston High School graduate, Emma Borowicz, is running track at Minnesota State Mankato and she won her first collegiate event on January 14 with a first-place finish in the 400 meters with a time of 61.30.
— — —
SECTION 8A GIRLS HOCKEY
We are getting down to the final week and a half of the season and I am going to pick how I think the seeding will go for the tournament.
1.Warroad 16-2-1 (duh)
2. Crookston (they will get the seed by beating EGF twice in the final two weeks)
3. Thief River Falls (beat EGF twice during the season)
4. East Grand Forks (beat Crookston once – they only have to beat them one more time in the two meetings to make seeding extremely interesting)
5. Detroit Lakes
6. International Falls
The seeding meeting could become very interesting if East Grand Forks beats Crookston twice (they already have one win) because they would have beaten Crookston twice and Thief River Falls would have beaten EGF twice, and Crookston beat TRF twice! How in the world do you seed that? Crookston could make it easy with two wins over EGF, which if they play like they have been, won’t be a problem. The only problem I see is it will be Crookston’s fourth game in five days, but that is what Coach Emily Meyer, who has done a heckuva job, has been preparing them for with conditioning and hard practices. It isn’t a coincidence that Crookston had about three weeks of practice and has played significantly better since Christmas break and has five straight wins! You have to give the coaches and players a lot of credit on their improvement. Hopefully, as a Pirate fan, it continues!
— — —
SECTION 8AA BOYS BASKETBALL QRF STANDINGS –
1. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 9-3 83.2
2. Perham 7-4 76.9
3. Thief River Falls 10-3 70.3
4. Warroad 14-3 70.0
5. Fergus Falls 7-6 66.4
6. Pelican Rapids 10-4 65.5
7. Barnesville 9-4 63.6
8. Hawley 8-3 61.3
9. Park Rapids 9-3 58.2
10. Menahga 8-6 47.0
11. East Grand Forks 7-7 42.8
12. Red Lake 4-7 32.1
13. Wadena-Deer Creek 4-9 31.2
14. Frazee 3-8 27.4
15. Crookston 2-12 24.4
16. Roseau 2-10 21.5
SECTION 8A BOYS BASKETBALL QRF STANDINGS –
West-Subsection –
1. Sacred Heart 13-0 66.9
2. Warren-Alvarado-Oslo 10-4 50.7
3. Goodridge/Grygla 10-2 49.4
4. Badger-Greenbush-Middle River 7-8 42.7
5. Red Lake County 6-6 41.4
6. Northern Freeze 4-7 38.2
7. Stephen-Argyle 3-11 26.5
8. Kittson County Central 2-9 24.1
9. Climax-Fisher 2-11 18.0
10. Lake of the Woods 1-10 13.4
East Subsection –
1. Cass Lake-Bena 13-0 78.0
2. Mahnomen-Waubun 10-3 65.2
3. Fertile-Beltrami 12-3 61.6
4. Fosston 11-2 57.8
5. Blackduck 9-4 51.8
6. Ada-Borup-West 7-5 43.3
7. Northome/Kelliher 5-7 34.0
8. Win-E-Mac 5-9 33.6
9. Clearbrook-Gonvick 3-8 27.4
10. Bagley 0-14 16.5
— — —
SECTION 8A BOYS HOCKEY QRF STANDINGS –
1. Warroad 16-3 91.8 (#2 QRF in the state)
2. Detroit Lakes 11-4 63.3 (#12 QRF in state)
3. Red Lake Falls 11-6 53.7
4. Thief River Falls 8-9 50.4
5. East Grand Forks 5-11 46.3
6. Bagley/Fosston 9-9-1 37.3
7. Park Rapids 8-8-1 36.4
8. Lake of the Woods 5-9-1 31.5
9. Crookston 2-13-1 29.3
10. Kittson County Central 4-12-1 25.7
Since Section 8A Boys Hockey doesn’t use the QRF and they do a coaches vote, here is where I think teams are as of Wednesday.
1. Warroad
2. Detroit Lakes
3. East Grand Forks
4. Thief River Falls
5. Red Lake Falls
After the top five, I really have no clue with 6-10 beating each other. There is a few weeks left with a lot of big games to be played.
6. Bagley-Fosston (They have beaten everybody below them except for Crookston)
7. Park Rapids (tied and beat Lake of the Woods, lost to Bagley-Fosston, lost to Crookston)
8. Lake of the Woods (Beat Park Rapids and tied, beat KCC)
9. Kittson County Central (beat Crookston and tied)
10. Crookston (has a win over Park Rapids and Bagley/Fosston in OT, but has lost to KCC and tied, so KCC gets the nod. But they are playing much better lately and I see them moving up to an eight seed if they continue)
Big section games with implications on seeding coming up –
January 29 – Park Rapids at Crookston (a Crookston win would have to move them up)
January 31 – KCC at LOW and Red Lake Falls at Park Rapids – two big games for seeding
February 7 – Bagley-Fosston at Park Rapids
February 8 – Detroit Lakes at Park Rapids, East Grand Forks at Warroad, and LOW at KCC
February 10 – Red Lake Falls at Thief River Falls
February 11 – Lake of the Woods at Crookston
February 12 – KCC at Park Rapids, and Detroit Lakes at Red Lake Falls
February 15 – Bagley-Fosston at KCC, Crookston at Red Lake Falls, and EGF at TRF
February 16 – Seeding meeting in TRF at 10:30 a.m.
February 22 – Section play-in games at high seed
— — —
SECTION 8A TEAM WRESTLING
The QRF wasn’t right because they had Frazee without a section win when they have beaten Crookston so I will do my own standings –
1. United North Central (Right now the heavy favorite to win the section)
2. Frazee (They beat Crookston)
3. Crookston (beat Fosston-Bagley, Mahnomen-Waubun, and Fertile-Beltrami)
4. Fosston-Bagley (Beat BGMR)
5. BGMR
6. Mahnomen-Waubun
7. Fertile-Beltrami
8. Barnesville
— — —
The University of Minnesota Crookston softball program was picked to finish 16th out of 16 teams in the NSIC Preseason Softball Coaches’ Poll.
Augustana was picked to finish first in the poll for the third consecutive season, while Minnesota State and Winona State were picked second and third, respectively. Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State round out the top five.
Minnesota Crookston enters a new era of Golden Eagle softball, as Nick Weinmeister takes the helm as Head Coach.
The Golden Eagles return Dana Zarn (Jr., IF, Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Jordan Peterson (R-Sr., UT, Lakeville). Zarn led the team hitting .325 and was tied for second on the team with three home runs. Peterson was the only other Golden Eagle to hit above .300 last season, finishing the season with a .302 batting average. The Golden Eagles will be young, but Alina Avalos (Jr., IF, Chino, Calif.) and Shaelyn Grant (So., C/OF, Grand Junction, Colo.) are both expected to make giant leaps and help out an offense that could be solid this season. Emerson Thompson (Fr., 1B/C, Lincoln, Neb.) is a freshman that should see the field early on in her career as well. Twin sisters Leah and Hannah Macias (Sr., OF, West Covina, Calif.) are also back and are in the mix in the outfield as seniors this season.
In the circle, the Golden Eagles will be new. Only Kamryn Frisk (R-Sr., P/1B, Anchorage, AK) returns for the pitching staff. Freshman Evie Stuck (P/1B, Papillion, Neb.) and sophomore transfer Thayda Houser (P, Seymour, Iowa) will more than likely be the 1-2 punch for the Golden Eagles in the circle. Pitching will go a long way to determine the success of the Golden Eagles.
Minnesota Crookston will take the field for the season opener on Friday, Feb. 4 against Valley City State from the Minot State Bubble. First pitch with the Vikings is set for 7:30 P.M.
Poll results –
1. Augustana (15) 225
2. MSU-Mankato (1) 209
3. Winona State 198
4. Minnesota Duluth 176
5. St. Cloud State 162
6. Concordia-St. Paul 160
7. Minot State 135
8. Southwest Minnesota State 128
9. Sioux Falls 117
10. Northern State 108
11. Upper Iowa 83
12. Bemidji State 62
13. University of Mary 58
14. MSU-Moorhead 37
15. Wayne State 33
16. UMC 29
— — —
In alignment with the University of Minnesota’s temporary vaccination policy, all home Gopher Athletics events between Wednesday, January 26, 2022 and Wednesday, February 9, 2022 will require attendees to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative, third-party COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the event. The COVID-19 vaccine requirement applies to all attendees age five and older. This policy may be extended, and Athletics will work with campus leadership to determine if an extension is needed. Any extension of this policy will be announced prior to Feb. 9. Minnesota’s indoor mask / face covering mandate also remains in effect for all home athletic indoor events.
The policy applies to tennis, swimming and diving, track and field, women’s basketball, men’s basketball, women’s hockey and men’s hockey games, as these sports meet the criteria (indoor event with more than 200 attendees between Jan. 26 – Feb. 9) for individuals to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative, third-party COVID-19 test.
The following are ways attendees can comply with this policy:
For Current University of Minnesota Students, Faculty and Staff:
You need to show a valid UCard as proof of compliance with the University’s already established vaccine policy to gain entry to events.
For All Others:
Individuals ages five and older must show proof of vaccination or a negative, third-party COVID-19 test taken in the previous 72 hours along with a photo ID with a matching name, for anyone 18+, to enter the events described above. At-home, self-read tests do not meet the requirement as proof of a negative COVID-19 test result.
On-site testing will not be available at Minnesota athletic events.
— — —
JOKES –
— — —
How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST email me at [email protected]
Emma Borowicz is a freshman running track at Minnesota State Mankato.
Ben Trostad is a senior playing Men’s Golf at UMC.
Kaleb Thingelstad is a freshman playing golf at Kansas Wesleyan University. KWU is done for the fall season.
Joslynn Leach is a freshman playing golf at Concordia College in Moorhead. The Cobbers wrapped up the Fall season.
Brady Butt is a sophomore playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Rachel Hefta, is a junior playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.
Ty Hamre is playing football at Bemidji State University.
Paul Bittner is playing professional hockey in Sweden. He is the only American playing for Mora IK of the Allsvenskan league.
Gretchen Theis is a sophomore at NDSU on the Equestrian team.
Kate MacGregor is a senior swimming at Minnesota State Moorhead.
Aleece Durbin, is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.
Nick Garmen is a junior playing tennis at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Crookston School District Coaches –
Emily Meyer is the Pirate head girls hockey coach and softball assistant coach.
Lacia Hanson is the Junior High softball coach.
Jeremy Lubinski is a Pirate 8th Grade Football coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Cody Brekken is the Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach
Brock Hanson is a Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Ben Halos is a Pirate Baseball assistant coach.
Alex LaFrance is a Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Jeff Perreault is the Pirate Girls Golf head coach
Wes Hanson is the Pirate Wrestling Head Coach and assistant boys golf coach
Kevin Weber is a Pirate Boys Basketball volunteer assistant coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Sam Melbye is the Pirate Boys J.V. Hockey coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Colton Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching –
Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.
Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown
Kaylee Desrosier is a softball coach for Fargo Davies Middle School.
Josh Edlund is an assistant football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach in Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is Head Wrestling coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Katy Westrom, is Head Girls Tennis Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Monticello High School.
Matt Harris, is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming
Mike Hastings is the Minnesota State Mankato Men’s head Hockey coach
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Thief River Falls High School
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football and volleyball and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for the Bison media relations
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College
Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Ben Andringa is serving our country with the Army in New York.
Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy
Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.
Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and also a grad of West Point and is currently is serving in the U.S. Army.
Erik Ellingson is serving our country with the U.S. Air Force at Minot.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004 from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail [email protected] or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.
