Tribune Notebook: Three Willmar Cardinals earn Central Lakes honors

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Jan. 6---- Three Willmar Cardinal athletes have picked up Central Lakes Conference Performer of the Week honors in the past two weeks.

This week's winners are boys basketball player Hudson Sjoberg and girls hockey player Bryn Behr.

Sjoberg, a junior guard/forward, picked up 32 points and 16 rebounds in three wins.

Behr, a junior goal, had 50 saves in a 3-2 victory over River Lakes.

Samuel Sheets, a senior on the Cards' boys swim team, won last week. He won the 100-yard breaststroke at the Brainerd Invitational and also took second in the 50 freestyle.

The Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association does a state poll weekly and the Willmar Cardinals have moved into the No. 9 spot in Class AAA. Its the first time the Cards have been in the MBCA poll.

Central Minnesota Christian has moved into the No. 9 spot in Class A with an 8-0 record. Dawson-Boyd, the defending state Class A champion, is sixth with an 8-1 record .

Montevideo is 7-1 and No. 4 in the Class AA poll.

The complete polls:

* Class AAAA — (1) Wayzata (10-1) ... (2) Tartan (7-0) ... (3) Maple Grove (7-2) ... (4) Eagan (8-0) ... (5) Cretin-Derham Hall (7-2) ... (6) Farmington (7-1) ... (7) Buffalo (9-0) ... (8) Moorhead (9-0) ... (9) Eden Prairie (8-1) ... (10) Hopkins (6-3) . Receiving votes: Blake, Lakeville South, Apple Valley, Alexandria, East Ridge, Osseo and Rosemount.

* Class AAA — (1) Richfield (9-0) ... (2) Totino-Grace (5-2) ... (3) DeLaSalle (6-2) ... (4) St. Paul Johnson (6-0) ... (5) Mahtomedi (6-1) ... (6) Northfield (8-1) ... (7) Mankato East (6-3) ... (8) Becker (6-1) ... (9) Willmar 8-0 ... (10-0) Orono (5-3). Others receiving votes: St. Peter, Stewartville, Princeton, South St. Paul and St. Cloud Apollo.

* Class AA — (1) Belle Plaine (7-0) ... (2) Morris/Chokio-Alberta (6-0) ... (3) Goodhue (9-1) ... (4)

... (5) Holy Family (5-2) ... (6) Winona Cotter/Hope Lutheran (9-1) ... (7) Caledonia (6-3) ... (8) Pequot Lakes (7-1) ... (9) Albany (7-1) ... (10) Zumbrota-Mazeppa (8-1). Others receiving votes: Cannon Falls, Southwest Christian, Rushford-Peterson and Minneapolis North.

* Class A — (1) Henning (7-0) ... (2t) Cherry (9-1) ... (2t) Red Lake County (7-0) ... (4) Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (11-0) ... (5) Hills-Beaver Creek (6-0) ... (6)

... (7) Nevis (7-0) ... (8) Pelican Rapids (8-2) ... (9)

... (10) Wabasso (8-0). Others receiving votes: Madelia, Breckenridge, Liberty Classical, Southland, Lewiston-Altura and Deer River.

James Pettit keeps track of Section 6A boys hockey. That's Willmar's section. Pettit sends out weekly reports of section leaders. The Cards are making appearances in the report more frequently than in recent seasons.

Willmar is 2-1 in Section 6A games and 6-3 overall.

The rest of the section includes, in alphabetic order, Breckenridge/Wahpeton (1-7-1 overall, 1-3 section); Fergus Falls (5-6, 2-0); Little Falls (3-7, 1-2); Morris/Benson Area (3-7, 0-3); Northern Lakes (6-4-1, 1-0); Prairie Centre (6-2, 4-1); Sartell (10-3, 0-0) and Wadena-Deer Creek (3-8, 0-1).

Willmar senior Gibson Horyza is fifth in the section in scoring with nine goals and 11 assists. The Cards' Blake Grimsley, also a senior, is tied for seventh with eight goals and 10 assists.

Sartell juniors Preston Deragisch (11 goals, 24 assists) and Devin Jacobs (13 goals, 20 assists) are the top two 6A scorers.

Gibson is tied with Jacobs for first place with four power-play goals.

Here are area wrestling milestones over the month of December, according to The Guillotine, a statewide wrestling website.

175th win: Dawson-Boyd/Lac qui Parle Valley/Montevideo United senior Kameron Sather on Dec. 16;

150th win:

junior Miles Wildman on Dec. 11 and Benson senior Max Nygaard on Dec. 13;

100th win: Minnewaska junior Landon Schiffler on Dec. 4, United senior Holland Schacherer on Dec. 13, Paynesville junior Roman Roberg on Dec. 13 and Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg junior Taytan Nielsen on Dec. 20;

75th win:

sophomore Jamison Meagher on Dec. 13, KMS senior Cole Froehlich on Dec. 16 and United junior Gavin Mortenson on Dec. 20;

50th pin and 60th win:

sophomore Ava Kiecker on Dec. 13;

50th win: Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield junior Owen Culbertson on Dec. 30.

College of St. Benedict volleyball player Mackenzie Knofczynski, a senior from Willmar, has been named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team.

Knofczynski earned her third straight academic all-district honor. Knofczynski is a nursing major who helped lead the Bennies to back-to-back MIAC tournament championships and their second consecutive NCAA Division III tournament appearance. She led the MIAC with 0.98 blocks per set and averaged 1.84 kills per set.

To make the team, players have to excel on the court and in the classroom. Honorees also are considered for All-American status.

Mia Post, a junior at

, has committed to play volleyball at the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota. Sioux Falls is an NCAA Division II school in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

She's the second volleyball player from the West Central Tribune area to make a commitment from the Class of 2027. Willmar's Ellery DeBoer is committed to Michigan State University.

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