Sports

Sports Wrap: St. Michael-Albertville Swimmers Make a Splash

A tour of the winter sports scene so far in St. Michael-Albertville.

St. Michael Patch takes a tour of the winter sports scene, as almost all programs are out of the gate now in mid-December. The wrestling team continues to lead the pack, but the boys' swim team made a splash with its first meet of the season.

Boys’ Swimming 

The boys’ swimming and diving team finished an impressive second place at the nine-team Hutchinson invite on Saturday.

Find out what's happening in St. Michaelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 The best event for the Knights was the 200 IM where Grant Moser and Brandon Richardson first first and second.  Moser set a new school record in the event.  Moser also finished fourth in the 100 butterfly breaking his second school record of the day.  Noah Dalluge finished third in the 50 freestyle.  Brandon Richardson placed third in the 100 freestyle.  The 200 freestyle relay team of Richardson, Moser, Kyle Kackman, and Dalluge placed second, pushing the Knights ahead of perennial power Breck/Blake.

Results

Find out what's happening in St. Michaelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

St. Thomas Academy 599, STMA 378, Breck/Brake 353, Mankato East 238, Mpls Southwest 205, Montevideo 169, Mankato West 149, Hutchinson 127, Dassel Cokato 107. 

Wrestling

The boys’ wrestling team remained unbeaten with a win at the Coon Rapids Invite – Dec. 10. In placing first, the Knights tallied the following dual results:

Saint Michael-Albertville 40 Cambridge-Isanti 28
Saint Michael-Albertville 42 Ellsworth 13
Saint Michael-Albertville 70 Minneapolis South 4

In the head-to-head match vs. Ellsworth, Tommy Thorn, top ranked at 113 pounds, lost a 3-1 decision to the top ranked 113-pounder from Wisconsin in what many considered the match of the tournament.

The boys will travel to Monticello Friday to take on what may be on of the tougher opponents in the Mississippi 8 Conference. However, the Magic graduated their top two wrestlers from the 2011 State Meet.

Boys’ Hockey

After a solid start with a win over Cooper, the STMA boys’ hockey team has been outscored 15-1 in its last two outings.

Forest Lake showed the Knights they have a long way to go before competing in Section 7AA, with a 10-0 rout of STMA on their home ice. Andrew Semo was solid in net, but couldn’t stop the Forest Lake onslaught.

Last Thursday, Delano skated to a 5-1 win over the Knights on their home ice. David Anderson had the lone goal for the Knights, and Semo stopped 29 shots in the loss, dropping STMA to 1-2 on the season.

St. Michael-Albertville is home to Mound-Westonka Thursday, Dec. 15. The puck drops at 7 p.m. at the STMA Ice Arena.

Girls’ Basketball

After being dominated in the first week of December by the two best girls’ basketball programs in the state – No. 2 Bloomington Kennedy (an 82-28 loss) and No. 1 Hopkins (78-32 loss), the Knights have bounced back.

In a “moral victory,” the Knights fought to the wire against Mounds View, a perennial power on the Twin Cites’ east side, falling 51-49 Thursday on the road.

They’ve now strung together back-to-back wins, after dominating Bemidji and Brainerd in the Knights’ last two outings.

The Knights’ backcourt tandem of Christine Thorn and Natalie Van Wyhe has led the way, with the two both reaching double figures in the 65-45 win over Bemidji.

Tuesday night, at home versus Brainerd, STMA dominated the second half, to the tune of 32-12, in a 66-34 win over a Section 8-4A opponent.

Thorn led the way again with 19, Van Wyhe had 14, and every Knight got into the scoring column in the victory.

Now, the girls will focus on the Mississippi 8, diving right in with a game vs. Monticello set for Friday night in Monti. The Magic are a solid team at the 3A level, returning its top three scorers from 2010-2011. Tip is at 7:15 p.m.

The girls return home Thursday, Dec. 22, with a matchup vs. Cambridge-Isanti.

Boys’ Basketball

The Knights’ boys team has also reeled off two wins to improve to 3-2 on the season.

After dropping back-to-back games to Maple Grove and St. Cloud Tech (a 73-60 loss where the Knights actually had the lead at halftime), STMA has dominated its last two outings vs. Sartell and Hutchinson.

In a 65-39 pounding of Sartell, Michael Mooney led the way with 17 points and grabbed four rebounds. Mike Wiese, the team leader in stats, grabbed eight boards and poured in 13 points. He also had a team high three blocks. Cole Krutzig had five assists, joining Mooney. Brian Ferry had 11 points off the bench.

Tuesday, STMA dominated Hutchinson 80-53, using a 47-21 second half run to sort of turn the tables on the Tech defeat.

Herbert Tapeh had his biggest night of the year, scoring 20 points. Wiese led all players with 28, while four Knights reached double figures.

STMA heads to Eagan Friday night for a shot at another big school. Then, Section 8-4A foe Bemidji comes to town Saturday. That game is set for a 3 p.m. tip at the STMA gym.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from St. Michael