Former Tiger Mallory Betzold got her senior softball season at St. Mary's University (Winona) off to a flying start with a standout performance on the Cardinals recent spring trip to Arizona.
Betzold, an all-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection as a sophomore, hit .370 and compiled a pitching record of 5-1 with a 2.55 earned run average to help her team to a 7-3 record.
Sabrina Siple, one of Betzold's teammates in high school, is a junior infielder/catcher at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.
Two-time all-Missota Conference catcher Kyle Rains is a senior second baseman for the Gustavus Adolphus College baseball team. Rains, who is slated to coach the Farmington VFW team this summer, led the Gusties in hitting last year with a .452 average.
Ex-Tiger Jake Lippert dressed for home games for the University of St. Thomas this winter but wasn't on the traveling roster for the Tommies recent run to NCAA Division III national basketball championship. Lippert was attendance in Virginia, however, when St. Thomas routed Wooster to claim the national title.
Kelli Johnson, the defensive leader on the Tigers Class A state runner-up girls hockey team in 2007, received all-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honorable mention for her play with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire this winter. Johnson, a four-year starter for the BluGolds, finished the season with three goals and eight assists.
Farmington grad Randy Schmitz's Lakeville North boys' hockey team had a lackluster 10-14-1 regular season but rallied in the playoffs to first win the Section 1AA championship and then take two of three games to claim the consolation crown at the Class AA state tourney. The Panthers beat White Bear Lake 4-3 in triple overtime to take home the state hardware.
Dave DeWitt who coached the Tiger boys basketball team for a season led his Anoka-Ramsey Community College women's team to to the 2011 National Junior College Athletic Association Division III national championship. The Rams beat Roxbury (Massachusetts) in the national title game...Basketball is a big deal in the DeWitt family. Son Dan DeWitt was a graduate assistant at the University of Minnesota this winter and daughter Katie DeWitt was the leading scorer in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference for Northwestern College in Roseville.
Kevin Lugowski who played hockey and ran cross country for the Tigers was an assistant coach for the Rosemount girls' puck team that advanced to the Class AA state tournament this winter...Long-time Tiger boys golf coach Gerry Greupner returns as a varsity assistant with the Rosemount boys team this spring.
Rachel Hoeppner, daughter of former Tiger athlete Doug Hoepnner (1976) was the leading scorer for the Rosemount girls basketball team this winter...Al Erickson, son of former FHS standout Jill Horstman (1986) and ex-Tiger boys basketball coach Randy Erickson, averaged 5.7 points a game for Lakeville North's boys team.
Three former Tigers are serving as assistant track coaches at their alma mater this spring: Lisa (Dingman)Lippold (distance); Joe McCarthy (middle distance) and Justyn Helgeson (throws).
