Sports

Memorable season for Cardinal runners

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.

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Cardinal runners headed to State with a State title on their minds

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.

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Arrows hold on late to top Cardinals

A late INT for a touchdown helped seal the deal for host Pipestone Area as they held off Redwood Valley 23-14 Saturday afternoon in Section 3AA semifinal football action.The Arrows (8-2) now advance to face number one seed and unbeaten JCC (10-0) in the Section 3AA title game.The Cardinals meanwhile end a successful season with a mark of 7-3, two of those losses coming to the Arrows, although this one was much close than their meeting in the regular season (28-6).Down 16-14 with 1:30 to go in the fourth quarter the Cards got the ball back with a chance to win.

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Cardinal trio has left mark on program

It’s been an historic run for the Redwood Valley girls volleyball team as they look to capture back-to-back Section 3AA titles for the first time in school history Saturday night in Marshall.The Cardinals are 24-6 overall and will play in the Section 3AA-South Sub-Section title tonight and most likely the Section 3AA title game on Saturday.A big part of that success the past few seasons has been the play and leadership of the veteran senior trio of Kendall Huhnerkoch, Cali Johnson and Hailyn Ourada.Since their sophomore campaign, the trio has led the Cardinals to a record of 73-22, including a Section 3AA title, 31-4 record and State Tournament berth a season ago.

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Cards head into postseason as Section favorites

With a 3-0 win over New Ulm on Monday the Redwood Valley girls volleyball team will head into the postseason as the Section 3AA favorites.Senior Cali Johnson recorded her 1,000th career dig in the Cardinals 25-11, 25-10, 25-18 win and will be a part of a strong senior group that will be looking to head back to State for the second straight season.Kendall Huhnerkoch had 16 kills and 12 digs, Johnson added 13 kills and 10 digs, Hailyn Ourada added 37 set assists, four kills and six digs, Caitlin Flinn had three kills, Gabby Berg added eight kills and Addison Schmidt had two kills.The Cardinals (23-6) are the top seed in the south half of the bracket and are currently ranked eighth in all of Class AA according to QRF points.No other team in the Section is even in the top 25 (NL/Spicer is ranked 27th out of the North half) and the Cardinals have dominated their way to a perfect 9-0 Section record.

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Cook, Langeland to be inducted into Softball Hall of Fame

Wayne Cook and Brian Langeland will join a number of individuals with local ties to be inducted into the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame at the 34th annual Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame Banquet Saturday evening at Jackpot Junction Casino in Morton.A total of 19 individuals will be honored in the player, manager, umpire, sponsor, promoter, administrator, organizer, volunteer or media category with the event biennially recognizing individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the sport of softball.Along with Cook (Umpire/Promoter) and Langeland (Player), Nick and Ann Guetter (Sponsors), Tony Price (Player) and Jack Reese (Player) of Wabasso and former 1969 Redwood Falls high school graduate Lee Patten (Player/Manager out of Bemidji/Hutchinson) will all be inducted.The notable name Cook will be one of those inducted under the Umpire/Promoter category and locals will recognize “Cookie” as a longtime umpire in the area.Cook began his love for softball as a kid watching his uncles Mel and Don Cook play for Leavenworth in the mid-60s.Later when he was attending Southwest Minnesota State University alongside twin brother Warren, the duo would coach and also play for the East College Drive Merchants in Marshall.In his final years of college at SMSU - after a brief stint in St.

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Cardinal girls nab Big South Conference title

It was another strong outing for the state-ranked boys and girls cross country teams as the girls finished first and the boys second at the Big South Conference Meet held in Blue Earth.The Cardinal girls dominated their way to yet another small school title as they finished with four of the top six finishers on the way to 23 team points, easily outdistancing second place Luverne (23-60) in the seven team race.The Cards top four runners all set personal bests led by junior leader Addie Thomes who finished first overall (third including all the schools) with her time of 18:50.Ellie Nelson knocked 16 seonds off of her prior best to place second (sixth overall) in 19:01, Lola Luze took 21 seconds off of her previous best to finish third (eighth overall) in 19:17 and Reese Prescott added a personal best to finish sixth (17th overall) with a time of 19:47.Newcomer Mary Slavin continued to be a big key for the Cards as the number five runner as she finished 11th with a time of 20:55, Heather Panitzke had her best race of the season setting a personal best by nearly 40 seconds to finish 15th in 21:17 and Madi Munsell was 22nd in 22:32.In JV action, Vanessa Johnson (22:08), Addie Ewald (22:14) and Aleena Vestouvanh (22:22) went 1-2-3 respectively with Annie Lunde fifth and Klaira Horejsi seventh.Big South Conference Small School Girls Team Results - Redwood Valley 23, Luverne 60, JCC 85, Pipestone 125, St.

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