Sports

It was a fitting end for the senior trio of Kendall Huhnerkoch, Hailyn Ourada and Cali Johnson as all three were recently named to the All Big South Conference West First Team.The Cardinals finished as Section 3AA runner-ups and were 5-1 in Big South West action behind unbeaten Marshall (6-0).Huhnerkoch was first or second in every stat for the Cards this season, finishing first in kills (415) and blocks (68) and second in ace serves (31), digs (272) and set assists (46).

The Redwood Valley football team had eight players recently named to the All-Conference squad for the 2024 campaign.Ethan Louwagie, Andrew Peterson, Jordan Matson, Lane Cooper and Ryder Crawford were all named to the first team while Zach Wilson, Kooper Johnson and Duran Kramer earned Honorable Mention honors.Senior signal caller Louwagie capped off arguably the best two-year run statistically in Cardinal history.

Former Redwood Valley and Gustavus Adolphus standout Trevor Wittwer was recently inducted into the Gustavus Athletics Hall of Fame at a banquet held in St.

With a State title and a State runner-up finish this past weekend at the Class A State Cross Country Meet in Minneapolis, the 2024 season will go down as the most prolific season in the noted history of the Redwood Valley Cross Country program.The senior lead Redwood Valley boys had three finishers in the top 12 and would edge Section 3A rival Luverne 86-91 to claim the first title in school history.The dynamic senior duo of Will Ahrens (15:35) and Kilen Cilek (15:49) finished second and third respectively after leading the Cardinals the past three seasons while fellow senior Landyn Nordby would finish 21st (16:45) to pace the Cards.All three would earn All-State honors in their final race.Tyler Robinson would finish 51st (17:08), Clayton Salmon 63rd (17:21), Mason Anderson 80th (17:35) and Elway Berg 105th (17:52) to round things out for a deep unit.Erik Semling, a freshman out of Cotter/Hope would win the Individual title with a time of 15:23.It was a fitting end to the careers of Ahrens and Cilek who led the team to a fifth place team finish a year ago while placing second and eighth respectively.Ahrens - a three-time Section 3A champion - will finish his career with four top 20 finishes and three top ten including runner-up finishes the past two seasons.“As a senior I’m so proud of our team and how well everyone performed,” he said, “We could not have done this without our coaches and I’m just so grateful to be part of this team and program here at Redwood Valley.”While he lamented the chance to leave with an Individual title as well, he prioritized team over self.“It obviously would’ve been nice to take home the individual title as well but Eric (Semling) is a great runner and he had a great race,” he said, “If had to choose one or the other I would choose the team title every time and I’m happy that’s the way it played out.”For Cilek - the son of the patriarch of the program over the past 25 years in Shawn Cilek - the Cards strong finish was a great way to cap off a memorable career.“The atmosphere of the team has always been outstanding.

Another strong season for the Redwood Valley girls volleyball team came up just short this time as they fell 3-0 to NL/Spicer in the Section 3AA championship game Saturday night in Marshall.The Cardinals (24-7) topped rival Jackson Co.

It was a dominating afternoon for the Redwood Valley boys and girls cross country teams Thursday in Luverne as they rolled to a pair of titles at the Section 3A Meet.After dominating the regular season the state-ranked Cardinals saved their best for the Section 3A Meet and will now move on to the State Tournament Saturday afternoon at the U of M Les Bolstad course in the Twin Cities.The Redwood Valley girls weren’t even challenged as they finished with 37 team points to easily outdistance runner-up Canby (72) and third place Luverne (119).Junior Addie Thomes (19:06) and senior Ellie Nelson (19:18) finished one-two respectively and Lola Luze (19:40) was fourth to lead the Cards.Reese Prescott battled through a foot injury to finish 15th (20:25), Mary Slavin was 17th (20:40), Madi Munsell was 25th (21:34) and Heather Panitzke 42nd (22:20).The Cardinal girls return to State with five of their seven runners in tact from a season ago.