June 23, 2011 at 9:13 a.m.
After tough spring seasons, NB still has plenty of winners
After tough spring seasons, NB still has plenty of winners
Boys Golf
Both Joe Fairbanks and Jared Houle earned All-Conference awards for the Vikings' golf team.
Both nearly went to the state tournament, and both were near the top of NSC meets all year. They led the Vikings to the championship in the North Suburban Conference finals.
Houle was sixth in the conference in scoring average while Fairbanks was ninth. Only Spring Lake Park and Benilde-St. Margaret's also had two golfers in the top 10.
Another factor that really helped the golf squad this year, though, was their depth. That was evident when Mitch Barg and Jon Buboltz also earned All-Conference Honorable Mention.
Barg was 24th in the conference in scoring average while Buboltz was 26th.
The boys also won the conference academic award for their fine performance in the classroom.
Girls Golf
Lauren Ibinger, the only golfer on the North Branch team was older than a sophomore, earned All-Conference Honorable Mention for the Vikings.
Although the team struggled at times because of their youth, Ibinger was a steady beacon for the younger girls, shooting a consistently good score and setting a great example.
Boys Track and Field
Despite only one All-Conference accolade among the competitors, the boys still earned plenty of spots on the All-NSC Honorable Mention list.
Senior Ben Besch was the lone All-Conference performer. He earned the award in the pole vault event. Besch also qualified for the state tournament in the event, competing at Hamline University in his final high school track and field meet.
The impressive pole vaulting didn't end with Besch, either. Senior Zack Smith and junior Carl Neumann each earned All-NSC Honorable Mention for their jumps throughout the year. In most meets, the gang of NB vaulters was usually clumped together at the top of the standings.
David Leason earned All-Conference Honorable Mention in the triple jump. His talents, much like Besch, allowed him to qualify for the state tournament at Hamline just a few weeks ago.
The field events were strong for North Branch all year. Outside of the vaulting and jumping, Seth Eastwood brought some power to the team.
He earned All-Conference Honorable Mention in the discus event.
Senior Kaj Johnson was a stud in the 300 meter hurdles all year, and for that, he earned All-Conference Honorable Mention.
All-NSC Honorable Mentions also went out to Erik Fitcha and Colin Charpentier. Fitcha earned his in the 800 meter run, and Charpentier was the lone double-award winner as he was honorable mention in both the 1,600 meter run and the 3,200 meter run.
Girls Track and Field
There was plenty of multiple winners on the girls half for track and field, including five girls who earned awards in three different events.
The relay teams is what really got the awards churning in for North Branch. Both their 4x200 meter relay and 4x400 meter relay teams earned All-Conference on the year.
The 4x200 meter team included Maria Gozzi, Sadie Kolke, Sherahlynn Linkert and Becky Ramberg.
The 4x400 meter quarter consisted of Gozzi, Maddie Kunshier, Kendra Norman and Ramberg.
Gozzi earned her other award as an All-NSC performer in the 400 meter dash. Kunshier also was All-Conference in that event, and she also added an All-NSC Honorable Mention award in the 200 meter dash.
Ramberg, the only girl on both relay teams, completed her trio of awards with an All-Conference Honorable Mention in the triple jump.
Norman, a senior who has been running on the track and cross country team for years, finished out her career with All-Conference awards in the 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs.
Linkert was the last girl to win three awards, and she may have done so in the most impressive fashion. She earned her other two accolades as an All-NSC performer in both the 100 meter and 300 meter hurdles, but she was the only girl who capped off the performance with a trip to the state tournament, as the sophomore competed at Hamline in the 300 meter hurdles a few weeks ago.
Nearly all the other awards came from field events for the North Branch girls. Katherine Helbig and Haley Huset both earned All-Conference Honorable Mention in the discus event and Kadie Mattson earned All-NSC Honorable Mention in the high jump.
The impressive vaulting wasn't just quarantined on the boys side. Both Teagan Anderson and Kassie Salo earned All-Conference awards as pole vaulters. Salo also earned a trip to Hamline to be part of the state meet at the end of the season.
The last award for the girls went to Emma Haas, who earned All-Conference Honorable Mention in the 100 meter hurdles.
Baseball
Despite a very up and down season for the starting nine on the diamond, the baseball team still had plenty of awards to give out.
Senior Tanner Danks and junior Brett Klun earned All-Conference awards for North Branch.
Danks ended the year batting .474 with 17 runs and 16 RBIs. He had five doubles, one homerun and only struck out six times in 68 plate appearances. He also added six stolen bases in seven attempts.
Klun was a model of consistency at the top of the order for North Branch. The ideal leadoff hitter gets on base, no matter what the cost, and Klun did just that. He hit .462 with 24 hits in 52 at-bats. He drew a team-high 17 walks and also had a team-high .583 on-base percentage, which is one of the best barometers for leadoff hitters. He scored 23 times and stole seven bases in eight attempts.
A trio of other players earned All-Conference Honorable Mention accolades. Senior Christian Ehrnriter was effective at the plate, hitting .276 with 16 runs and 16 RBIs. He was the only member of the team to hit multiple homeruns, going yard twice on the year. Ehrnriter also was named to the Academic All-Conference team for the Vikings.
He also pitched 20 innings, going 2-1 with a 3.44 ERA and 20 strikeouts.
Thoms Kinsella, a junior, was the pitching workhorse, leading the team in innings pitched with 45. He struck out 46 batters and went 2-5 on the year.
He also hit .276 with nine runs and 16 RBIs at the plate.
Tyler Zondlo earned his Honorable Mention by hitting at a .327 clip with 16 runs and nine RBIs. He had nine walks and an impressive .433 OBP.
Softball
The Vikes got four All-Conference Honorable Mentions from their roster.
Sisters Alley and Mikayla Carlson both earned the honors for their work on the offensive side of the ball while Kari Berggren and Kelci Lofboom got theirs for their pitching prowess on the diamond.
The nice thing for the Vikes is that three of the four award winners are underclassmen. Lofboom is the lone senior to win the award, but Alley Carlson is a junior, Berggren is a sophomore and Mikayla Carlson is a freshman.
Comments:
Commenting has been disabled for this item.