Sports

SPORTS & SCHOOL

Ruter takes unbeaten record to state tourney

Woelfel ends on a high note at state

Buffalo Mock Trial qualifies for state

Journal-Press Sports Editor Heather Reinhart may be reached
by phone at 763-682-1221 or click here to email her

Wrestler Timmy Ruter has had one goal in mind all season long: winning a state title. Now, the Buffalo High School senior is just a few matches away from making that dream come true.

Ruter qualified for his second individual state tournament in as many years when he won the Section 8AAA title at 140 pounds on Saturday. He won a 10-4 decision in the semifinals, then defeated Chase Morlock of Moorhead 14-3 in the finals to keep his undefeated record in tact at 37-0.

Bison Coach Paul Arens said that Ruter had defeated Morlock 4-2 earlier this season, but this time around was a different story.

Ruter is following the footsteps of older brother Danny Ruter, who went into the state tournament his senior year (2003) with an undefeated record. The older Ruter went on to place fifth at 130 pounds that year, but younger brother Timmy has higher goals in mind.

“I’m definitely nervous because last year it was all fun and this year I want to make a statement,” Ruter said. “My goal right now is to win it.”

Ruter will be the lone Bison competing in the state tournament this week at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. He is the only wrestler in the 140-pound weight class with an undefeated record. Last year, Ruter failed to reach the medal round after getting a tough draw and losing an early match.

This year, Ruter has a good state draw. He was scheduled to take on senior Dan Tyler of Forest Lake (24-15) in the opening round on Wednesday, March 3. Matches continue on Thursday and Friday, with the medal rounds (top 6) taking place on Saturday.

Ruter was given the No. 3 rating in his weight class by The Guillotine Magazine. No. 1 was given to Apple Valley senior Devin Scott (37-5) and No. 2 went to senior Chad Mack of Coon Rapids (39-4). Scott and Mack are in the opposite half of the bracket from Ruter and would face each other in the semifinals. If Ruter keeps on winning, he wouldn’t face either one until the championship match.

Buffalo had three individuals in the Section 8AAA finals on Saturday, but Ruter was the only one to earn a spot in the state tournament.

Freshman Mike Simeon, who qualified for state last year, lost the 125-pound championship match to Seth Pollock of Willmar by a score of 6-4 in overtime, then lost the true second match to Grant Nehring of St. Cloud Apollo (8-4) to finish third. Only the top two wrestlers in each weight class advance to state.

“In the true second match, he fell behind right away,” Arens said of Simeon, adding that Simeon beat Nehring by major decision earlier this year.

The same thing happened to junior Tanner Robasse at 160 pounds. He was pinned in the championship match by Corey Huber of Bemidji, then lost the true second match by a 7-6 decision to Tyler Kohlmeier of Brainerd to finish third.

Arens said Robasse is light for his class and expects big things from him next season.

Two other Bison wrestlers placed in the top six at sections. At 171 pounds, sophomore Tanner Maus earned fifth place at sections after earning a 3-1 decision over Brett Morlock of Moorhead. Sophomore Lucas Mock also took fifth place in the 112 pound weight class. He defeated Brady Brouwer of St. Cloud Tech 4-2.

The Buffalo boys swimming and diving team will be sending three individuals to the state meet this weekend. Senior Tanner Bauman will represent the Bison in diving and junior David Zaske will compete in the 100 breaststroke after both placed second at sections. The most interesting story from the meet comes from Buffalo junior Blake Solberg, who danced his way into the state meet with a come-from-behind performance in diving.

The top four divers from each section qualify for state and Solberg was 20 points behind with three dives left.

“I decided to get a little pumped up and danced around a little bit in front of everyone,” said Solberg, who turned on “Symphonies” by Dan Black on his iPod and strutted his stuff in front of the entire crowd.

Crazy as it may have been, it seemed to do the trick. Solberg earned the highest score of the meet on his inward double (51.80 points) and scored a combined 95 points on his last two dives to pull into fourth place (363.20 points) and secure a spot in the state meet.

“For him doing that dance, that was just what he needed to do,” Coach Pam Brophy said. “I never count Blake out.”

Solberg said his goal at state is to make it into the finals (top 16), but added that he also has the podium in his sights.

“If I make it to finals, I’ll dance in front of all the hundreds of people,” he declared.

Bauman also qualified in diving with a second-place finish at sections and a school record score of 384.20. The score was enough to earn him All-American consideration.

“I had a couple really great dives that were better than I’ve ever done before,” Bauman said. “I wasn’t really paying attention to the scores, I was just paying attention to every dive.”

Bauman also has his sights set on making the state finals and reaching the podium (top 6) on Saturday.

Bauman and Solberg said it is nice that they can push each other in practice. The two have taken turns holding the school record in both the 6 and 11-dive events.

Diving Coach Richard Lugeanbeal pointed out that the Bison recently added a new recording device to the pool that the athletes have been using to better their performances. The divers can do a dive in practice, then replay the dive on a television screen to see where they need to improve. The swimmers can also use the equipment for starts and turns.

The equipment was paid for by the Bison Swim Association, Bob Marketon and the Graco Corporation, and ISD #877. Lugeanbeal also contributed to the equipment, and the maintenance department at the middle school helped with the installation.

“They have improved exponentially in the last two weeks,” Lugeanbeal said of the divers.

Zaske also has a tie to the diving world as he started as a diver in seventh and eighth grade before moving over to the swimming side. He earned his state tournament spot by placing second in the 100 breaststroke at the section meet with a school record time of 1:03.82.

Zaske and the third-place finisher were just a couple tenths of a second apart, but Zaske got the job done and earned his spot at state.

“Coming into sections I was really nervous just trying to make it,” he said. “Now all the pressure is off and I’m going to go out there and try to do the best I can.”

Zaske hopes to break into the top 16 in the prelims and earn a spot in the finals. He also hopes to better his section time.

“I think they all have a chance of making it to the second day,” Brophy said.

Bauman and Solberg will take part in the state diving prelims on Thursday, March 4. The Class AA swimming prelims will be held on Friday, with the swimming and diving finals taking place on Saturday. The Class AA competition will begin at 6 p.m. all three days at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

The Buffalo team finished in fifth place at the section meet with 262.5 points. Brainerd was the Section 8AA champion with 409.5 points, and Alexandria finished second with 339 points.

Coach Brophy said the team had a 90 percent taper and did a great job at sections.

In addition to their state-qualifying performances, Bauman and Solberg were also on the fifth-place 200 medley relay team with Austin Mann and Charlie Peterson. Their time was a season-best 1:47.59. Bauman also performed well in the 100 freestyle and in the butterfly, and Solberg finished eighth in the backstroke (59.74 seconds).

Zaske swam a school record time of 2:08.73 in the 200 IM and placed fourth, and was also a member of the sixth-place 400 freestyle relay team with Solberg, J.D. O’Donnell, and Alex Ryan. Their time was 3:30.74.

Ryan came away with four medals at state. In addition to earning two relay medals, he earned sixth place medals in both the 100 and 200 freestyle events and set school records in both events. His 200 freestyle time was 1:52.79 and the 100 time was 51.03 seconds. Ryan placed fourth in the 200 freestyle relay with teammates Jonathan P. Danielson, Mann, and Peterson. Their time was 1:36.28.

O’Donnell’s section meet was filled with disappointment. He had a big drop in his 500 freestyle time (5:04.3), but just missed qualifying for state with a third-place finish. He was a state qualifier in that event last year.

O’Donnell was also scheduled to compete in the 200 freestyle, but was disqualified after breaking a rule he didn’t even know existed. While preparing for his heat of the race, he dunked his swim cap into the water to get it wet while the swimmer in the heat ahead of him was at the far end of the pool. Officials immediately disqualified him for placing a portion of his body into the water (his hand), while another race was going on.

Jack Elliott also earned a medal at sections when he placed fifth in the 100 butterfly with a personal-best time of 57.34 seconds. He also had a personal-best time of 2:14.6 in the 200 IM.

In diving, Patrick Raitor placed seventh and Michael Raitor was 13th with a personal-best score of 208.45.

Also swimming well at sections was Will Elliott, who placed 10th in the 500 freestyle with a personal-best time of 5:26.43.

Other personal-best times were turned in by Peterson (Breaststroke), Mann (50 free and butterfly), Max Ransom (500 free and backstroke), Zac Ransom (butterfly and 200 IM), Jamie Green (200 free), and Connor Mann (200 IM).

The Buffalo girls basketball team was rewarded for its strong regular-season with a No. 2 seed for the upcoming Section 8-4A Tournament. Mississippi 8 Conference rival St. Michael-Albertville earned the top seed with a 20-6 record, while the Bison enter the postseason at 20-5.

Section seeding is based on a point system that incorporates wins and losses and the Class level of the teams that you play.

The top two section teams received a first-round bye in the six-team tournament. Buffalo will take on No. 3 Brainerd in the semifinals at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at St. Cloud State University.

The Bison played Brainerd back in January, and won easily by a score of 58-38. Three Buffalo players scored in double figures in that game.

Brainerd went on a winning streak late in the season and enters the contest with a 16-10 record. The Warriors are 7-1 in their last eight games.

“In this section there are no bad teams and anybody can win,” said Bison Head Coach Sorenson. “For us the big key is that team effort and making sure everybody’s on the same page.”

With the bye, the Bison will have had 12 days off between games, which Sorenson said is a little too long.

“That delay does put us off a little bit,” he said, adding that the team has been doing some fine-tuning during the past week. “The post season is a whole new season and anybody can beat anybody.”

One of Buffalo’s strengths is that on any given night, anyone can have a big game. Sorenson said that more than 10 players have scored in double-digits this season.

“When they have rhythm, any of them are capable of doing big things,” he said.

If the Bison win their section semifinal game, they will advance to the finals on Friday, March 12. That game will be held at 6 p.m. at St. John’s University.

Annandale’s Jenna Woelfel won the state title on the vault last year, and almost traded it in for one on the bars on last weekend’s state gymnastics meet.

Woelfel had the misfortune of being the very first competitor in the vault finals on Saturday, which can often result in a lower score as judges like to save room for the athletes to come. Woelfel was nearly flawless in the air, but took a big step on her landing and ended up with a score of 9.55. Then she had to wait and see what everyone else did as she moved on to her other events.

In the end, Woelfel wound up placing fifth on the vault. Over at the bars, which was her second event of the day, Woelfel was again in top form and earned a score of 9.625. That score was enough to keep her in the lead for awhile until she was overtaken by Perham senior Jenna Schmitz, who ended up the eventual bars champion with a 9.675. Woelfel came home with the silver medal, but was pleased with her state performance as a whole.

“I was very nervous,” Woelfel admitted. “I’ve been nervous since I left school on Thursday. It’s my senior year and it was like my last shot — I’ve got to do something good.”

After putting up two strong scores, Woelfel was among the leaders in the all-around race, but a major bobble on the balance beam and a score of 9.225 (10th place) dropped her out of contention. She went on to earn a score of 9.3 on the floor, and ended up taking fourth place in the all-around with a four-event total of 37.7. Schmitz of Perham was named the Class A all-around champion with a 38.075.

“I was really excited,” Woelfel said of her finish. “It was a pretty good meet all around. There were some mistakes here and there, but overall it was pretty good. I think it’s pretty close to the best all-around I’ve had.”

In the end, Woelfel walked away with second, fourth, and fifth place medals at state, to add to her large collection. This was her fifth trip to the state meet, and one of her best experiences.

“The first few years I went to state I was really shy because I didn’t know any of the girls, but now my senior year I know everyone and it’s so fun to cheer for everybody and get to talk to everyone,” she said.

Woelfel’s gymnastics career isn’t finished. She plans to compete for Winona State University next year.

Delano High School was the lone Wright County school to qualify for the state gymnastics meet as a team. The Tigers competed in the Class A team competition on Friday and finished seventh with a score of 138.525.

Allison Holmes, who is in her fourth season as the Tigers head coach, said the meet was a good experience for her team. The Tigers had only been to state once before back in 2001.

“It’s the first time for all of them at the state tournament and it’s an excellent experience,” Holmes said. “We told them just to go out there and have fun. You’re already one of the top in the state so you can’t ask for anything better than that. They enjoyed it.”

Holmes has previous state meet experience as the former coach at Wayzata, but this was her first trip to state with the Tigers.

“I knew how the girls would react and be nervous, but you never know with them what they’re going to do,” she said.

Perham was crowned the Class A state champion this year with a team score of 149.9. It was their seventh straight team title. Becker came in second place with a score of 144.975.

“They posted one of their high scores of the year so I’m very proud of them for what they came out and accomplished,” Holmes said of the Tigers squad. “It was just an amazing season. They had so many accomplishments.”

Delano went 10-0 in dual meets this season, won the conference, won the section, and was named Section 5A Academic Champions, as well.

On Saturday, four Tigers athletes took part in the individual competition. Sophomore Dabrina Rolf competed in the all-around and finished in 20th place with a total of 34.80. Her best score was on floor where she earned a 9.275 and placed 12th. She scored on 8.7 on vault, an 8.525 on bars (21st place), and an 8.35 on the beam (24th place).

Junior Erin Walters represented the Tigers on vault and placed 26th with a score of 9.1. Eighth grader Amelia Southerland finished 29th on the beam with a 7.875, and senior Katelyn Knudson placed 24th on the floor with a score of 8.875.

“They said they were nervous but excited,” Holmes said of the individual state qualifiers. “They didn’t expect too much from it but just to take in the experience and have fun with it.”

The good news for Delano is that there were only two seniors on the nine-member state team — Knudson and Shauna Pinoniemi.

“We should be strong again next year,” Holmes said. “(It was) definitely a good experience and put Delano’s name on the board here at the state tournament.”

Maple Lake High School sent two athletes to the state gymnastics meet this year. Senior Morgan Wolf qualified in the all-around and placed 17th with a total score of 35.15. Her best score came on vault where she earned a 9.3. She also earned an 8.95 on vault, an 8.45 on bars, and an 8.45 on the balance beam.

Sophomore Courtney Couette qualified for state on the floor exercise and had to wait until the next-to-last rotation to compete. She earned a score of 9.325, which placed her 10th overall. This year’s floor champion was Katelyn Rittenour of Becker, who earned a score of 9.625. Rittenour also placed third in the all-around with a score of 37.725.

After an unusual twist of events, the Buffalo Mock Trial team learned it would be heading back to the state meet for the fourth time in the past five years.

The Bison went head-to-head with Elk River in the region finals last Thursday, Feb. 25, at the Isanti County Courthouse in Cambridge. At the conclusion of the meet, Buffalo felt it was in good shape and would be the lone team advancing to state, but when the judges announced their results, they gave the victory to Elk River by a score of 249-246.

The Elks, who had never been to state before, were elated and erupted in cheers. Bison Coach Laurie Raymond went over and congratulated the Elk River coach, who Raymond said told her “I can’t believe we beat you.”

After the results were announced, the judges handed over their scoring sheets. The father of senior team member Graham Wyatt looked them over and noticed a discrepancy. It appeared the scores had been calculated wrong.

Wyatt and Raymond went up to the judge to discuss the possible error and Raymond informed the Elk River coach.

After the judges met privately to recalculate, they came back and announced that Buffalo had won the meet 253-249. Elk River team members broke into tears, while the Bison showed stunned silence.

As it turns out, one judge had tallied the number of 10s, 9s, and 8s he had given out, but forgot to include one score of seven points.

Coach Raymond said she was shocked by how everything played out and was disappointed by the way the situation was handled.

When all was said and done, Graham Wyatt had five 10s and one 9 for his performance. Michael Porttiin had two 10s and one 9, Kat Randall had two 10s, and Kenzie Haight had one 10 and three 9s. Also earning high scores of nine were Beth Macnab, who had three 9s, and Sam Kemp, who had two 9s.

The state mock trial tournament will be held at the Hennepin County Government Center on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 9-10. The Bison will compete in two rounds on Tuesday at 5 and 7:30 p.m. The third round will be held at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. From there, the top two teams will advance to the finals, which will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

The opponents are determined by random draw during a coaches meeting prior to the first round. Raymond said that the Bison should be in contention for their second state title. The first was earned in 2007. The top competitors are Lakeville North, Lakeville South, and Breck. Last year at state, the Bison lost to Lakeville North by one point in round three. North went on to win the title and the Bison finished seventh.

“State this year is going to be very competitive,” Wyatt said. “It’ll be one of the most competitive years for mock trial.”

“I’m excited, but nervous at the same time,” he said. “It’s fun, but it’s nerve-wracking.”

Senior Lindy Jensen said that it’s difficult to be in her role as a witness because she only gets to actively participate for 10-12 minutes and then has to sit quietly and watch.

“You can’t do anything,” she said. “You can’t look up rules or make objections.”

So far this season, the Bison have a 13-2 record and hope to finish higher at state than last year’s seventh-place showing.

This year’s state tournament will be the final hurrah for Coach Raymond, who is resigning from coaching after this season. She started the program at BHS in 1989 and has been with the team for a total of 16 seasons.

Raymond said that assistant coach Evan Ronken will take over the team next season, and also gave credit to volunteer attorney coaches Karen Wolff and Kari Willis for helping out this season.