Alumni Tracker: Bridges off to fast start

Jordan Bridges

Former Tiger Jordan Bridges' junior season for the Jamestown College (North Dakota) women's basketball team is off to a flying start. Bridges has started all seven games for the Jimmies (6-1) this season, hitting 60 percent of her field goal tries while averaging 10.9 points and six rebounds a contest.

2012 FHS female Athlete of the Year Taylor Meyer scored four points and pulled down two rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench as her University of Minnesota-Duluth team beat Bethel 80-71 in its season opener this week...Another ex-Tiger, Elena Koch, is a junior on the College of St. Benedict team that opens its 2013-14 campaign this weekend. Koch played in all 27 games for the Blazers last season.

2011 Tiger male Athlete of the Year Carl Elmer holds down the 149-pound slot in St. Olaf College's wrestling lineup. Elmer finished 16-10 as a sophomore for the Oles last winter.

Former Tiger hockey scoring machine Krystal Baumann who played one season for the University of Vermont and another abbreviated season with Minnesota State, Mankato, has landed at Gustavus Adolphus College where she is a junior forward for a Gusties team that is rated seventh in the most recent NCAA Division III national poll...2012 Tiger grad Betsy Anderson is a starting defender for the women's puck team at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

2009 Tiger grad Josh Zitzmann will play in a bowl game this fall. Zitzmann led Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) in receiving during its 10-1 regular season (36 catches for 601 yards and nine touchdowns). The Yellowjackets will play Iowa Western in the Graphic Edge Bowl Dec. 8 in the UniDome on the campus of Northern Iowa University in Cedar Falls.

To qualify for the bowl game RCTC had to defeat Central Lakes College (Brainerd) to win the Minnesota state title. 2013 FHS grad Athen Ashton played for Central Lakes this season, gaining 229 yards on 79 carries and scoring three touchdowns.

Tyler Barnes

Another ex-Tiger football player, Bubba Friedlund will also be going to the post season. The senior offensive lineman has helped unbeaten Bethel University to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Conference (MIAC) championship and a No. 5 ranking in the NCAA Division III national poll...Former Tiger Tyler Barnes has helped Minnesota State, Moorhead build a three-game winning streak heading into its season finale Saturday at St. Cloud State...

CJ Record has seen increasing playing time for Southwest Minnesota State University this fall. The ex-Tiger has been in on 14 tackles as a defensive back and special teams player for the Mustangs...Nick Albano, who played a year at RCTC with Zitzmann, has been in on five tackles for Idaho State this fall.

1989 FHS male Athlete of the Year Matt Walter guided his Annandale football team to the Section 3AAA championship game this fall. The Cardinals who won the section last season finished the 2013 season campaign with a 7-4 record...2004 Athlete of the Year Matt Simon is the tight ends coach for Rutgers University who will be moving to the Big Ten Conference in 2014.

Sydney Eckert of the FHS class of 2013 played in 15 of 17 games for Vitebro College (Wisconsin) who won the Midwest College Conference women's soccer championship this fall...Ex-Tiger Sam Leske started 15 of 17 games on defense for Gustavus Adolphus College (13-3-1) who lost to St. John's in the semifinals of the MIAC post-season soccer tournament but will play in the NCAA Division III post-season tournament.

Bailey Opsal

Former Tiger track and cross country standout Kaitlin Mincke finished 37th in a field of 104 runners to help the University of Minnesota to a third place finish at the Big Ten Conference Cross Country Championships held Nov. 3 at Purdue...Ex-Tiger Bailey Opsal was a member of the College of St. Scholastica women's team that won the 2013 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) cross country title this fall.

Danielle Dombeck who helped the Tigers to their only state volleyball tournament ranks third in digs as a senior defensive specialist for the North Dakota State University women's team.

Former Tiger  girls' basketball coach Jim Schreffler is now the assistant boys' hoop coach at Northfield...Ex-Tiger Ryan Pietsch is an assistant girls' hockey coach for the Raiders.