Girls Tennis: Youth Movement

Senior ShyAnne Sprzem should land a spot in the Tiger doubles lineup (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Although last year's team won but two dual meets and graduated six of its top eight players, veteran coach Jack Olwell is hoping an infusion of youth will help guide the Tigers to an improved 2012 season.

"We have some excellent ball strikers and will be very athletic in both singles and doubles," Olwell said. "We have the strongest group of incoming players we have had in many years with several eighth and ninth graders who might crack the starting lineup."

Olwell expects seniors Eilzabeth Adams, Rachel Rees, Natasha Sinha and ShyAnee Spurzem to be fixtures in the doubles lineup with last year's Player of the Year Megan Stivers the heir-apparent to the No. 1 singles position.

Freshmen Callie Olmscheid and Molly Rudorfer, both from familiar tennis families, also seem likely to fill two of the three other singles positions

Olwell added seniors Sydney Guenther and Heather Lelzenberg, juniors Savannah LaKose and Emily Lathrop and a large group of returning sophomores should also be in the hunt for varsity playing time this fall.

"All of our players will have moved up at least two places in the lineup and consequently will have to adjust to the higher level of competition," he said. "We will also have a number of players who will be playing varsity tennis for the first time. They will be thrown into the fire right from the start."

Olwell said the always-tough Missota Conference will provide stiff competition with Red Wing, Northfield, Holy Angels and Chanhassen all expected to return strong teams. State power Rochester Mayo should again be the team to beat in Section 1AAA.

"We are looking to improve our victory total and get out of the conference basement," Olwell said. "It's also our goal to get a higher seed in the section so we don't draw the Rochester teams in the first round like we have in previous years."

Joe "Doc" Emond returns as varsity assistant coach with Brian Engebretson working with the middle school program.

The girls kick off the 2012-13 sports year Monday, Aug. 19, with their annual trip to the Mound Doubles Invitational.

Beenken 2012 Tiger Iron Man

Darren Beenken totaled 4810 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Senior quarterback Darren Beenken finished first in two of of seven events and piled up 4810 total points to win the Tiger football team's annual Iron Man competition held on Monday, Aug. 13, the first day of fall practice.

Beenken placed first in one of the weight lifting categories, cleaning 255 pounds, and also tied for the top spot with Josh Boatwright in tire flips with 34, a new Iron Man record.

Other event winners included Alex Chadwick and Mac Bassett in the L-drill (7.1 seconds); Jack Erickson in the 40-yard dash (4.64 seconds); Reid Taubenheim in the vertical jump (33.5 inches); Nick Ruark in the bench press (278 pounds) and Jake LeClaire in the back squat (375 pounds).

Erickson's clocking in the 40-yard dash ranked fifth all-time in the event.

Beenken also recorded the highest aggregate total in the lifting events (clean, back squat and bench) with 891 pounds.

Fourth place finisher Jack Erickson recorded 30 tire flips

Ranking behind Beenken in the top ten in total points were Taubenheim 4541, Chadwick 4365, Erickson 4339, Mason Auge 4266, Mason Gaylor 4162, Ruark 4119 Kevin Clifton 3995, Athen Aston 3991 and Boatwright 3951.

Tiger strength and conditioning coach Scott Meier seemed encouraged by  some of the results from the annaul rite of fall practice.

"Definitely better than the last two years," he said. "In terms of team average for total points, this was the best team average since we moved to the new school.

Ninth place finisher Athen Ashton clocked 4.82 in the 40-yard dash

"The team average in the clean was the best out of all the tests. This was the one area that ranked above average for the 12 years we've done the competition.

"The vertical jump was average as well. L-drill times look like they improved quite a bit compared to the last couple of teams, but the back squat numbers were the lowest they have ever been."

Alumni: Rowan chasing dream with Twins

Minnesota Twins broadcast intern Nate Rowan

When Nate Rowan was serving stints as football and boys hockey manager and baseball public address announcer at FHS he had little idea what career path he might follow.

As it turns out, those experiences helped lay the foundation for his current position as a broadcast intern for the Minnesota Twins as well as his plans for the future.

Rowan, a 2005 Farmington grad, worked after high school but got turned on to college after trips to Moorhead to watch Tony Webber, one of his high school friends, play hockey for Concordia College.

"I knew when I decided to go school the only thing I lived and breathed every day was sports," Rowan said, "and I swore to myself that I was going to chose a career that I was going to enjoy every day of my life."

Rowan selected journalism as a major and that choice led to a reporter position for the Concordian, the campus newspaper. Then he secured a part-time job with the school's Sports Information Department keeping stats, doing public address announcing and eventually providing play-by-play for the school radio and website.

"I got thrown into that fire pretty fast," Rowan said of his play-by-play duties, "and I'm not going to lie, it was pretty bad the first time. But like most things, the more I did it, the better I got."

While working for the Sports Information Department, Rowan also volunteered to help Fox Sports North with its coverage of the annual Hockey Day Minnesota, a move that would eventually help him meet veteran Twins baseball announcer Dick Bremer.

For his final college credits, Rowan took an internship with the Kansas City T-Bones, a member of the American Association, the same minor league as that of the St. Paul Saints. There he was a jack-of-all trades, an experience that re-enforced his career choice.

"It showed me that working in sports was the only thing I was going to enjoy getting up for every day," he said.

Rowan thinks his earlier brush with Bremer didn't hurt his selection as one of two broadcast interns for Minnesota's 2012 season as the long-time play-by-play voice of the Twins gave him as sterling recommendation.

Rowan hits Target Field about four hours prior to game time each day and writes "drops" that radio broadcasters read during the game. He also researches the prior day's games and pulls out highlights from teams in the Twins minor league teams.

He interviews players before the game and edits tape to be used during that day's broadcast.

During the games Rowan monitors other games around the country and selects highlights to be used by Kris Atteberry in his "Scoreboard Update" segments during Twins broadcasts.

After the game, he records manager Ron Gardenhire's press conference and cuts snippets to be used in the post-game show.

"Recently I have had the opportunity to produce the game," Rowan said. "That is essentially controlling most of what happens in a broadcast, things like cuing the broadcasters back from breaks; communicating with the board operator and on-site engineer and cutting up highlights from the game."

Rowan's internship ends on October 5 after which he plans to look for more work in the sports industry.

"I plan on attending the baseball winter meetings and securing a job doing play-by-play in the minor leagues," he said. "Many of those jobs come with media relations work and I enjoying doing both."

One thing is for sure. Rowan is confident his career path is heading in the right direction.

"I love baseball and I have really enjoyed my time with the Twins," he said. "Before I went to college I had jobs where I would say 'I have to go to work today'.

"With the Twins, that has changed to "I get to go to work today.'...It doesn't get much better than that."

Youth prevails in first Alumni Game

Team Alumni: First Row: (l to r) Paige Marschall, Rachel Ripley, Sydney Silk, Jamie Christopherson Second row: (l to r) Jess O'Leary, Sabrina Siple, Mal Betzold, Kelsey Betzold, Sam Jensen  Not pictured: Dani Muelken

Ten former Tigers returned to town to play in the first annual Alumni game played Saturday afternoon at Tiger Field against a team of current high school players. The veterans more than held their own but when all was said and done youth prevailed by a score of 2-1.

The alums took an early lead, scoring an unearned run in the top of the third but the prep players answered with solo scores in the third and fourth. Team Alumni put runners on first and second in the top of the seventh but relief pitcher Ashley Betzold wiggled out of the jam to seal the win.

Toni Hunsinger pitched the first two innings for the school-age team with Maddie Muelken and Hailey Franks working the third and fourth innings respectively. Betzold worked the final three frames.

Former Tiger and St. Mary's University standout Mal Betzold lets it fly

Mallory Betzold, the coach of the alumni team said her band of ex-Tigers, could probably have fared a little better if it had a little more pre-game preparation.

"Lack of practice," she bemoaned. "That definitely hurt us. We'll be more prepared next time."

Mallory's father and coach of the school team, Daren Betzold, said the alumni may have taken his team for granted.

"I think they may have come into the game thinking they could just step out on the field and win," he said. "It was really a pretty good game all around."

Although the returnees came up short on the scoreboard they had their moments. Mallory Betzold and Jamie Christopherson handled the pitching chores and gave up just two runs. Former all--state performer Sam Jensen showed she could still swing the bat, collecting two hits, including a double to right-center in the first inning.

Jess O'Leary of the 2003 state Class AA runner-up team

Rightfielder Rachel Ripley made the defensive play of the day with a running catch of in the sixth inning.

Darren Betzold, one of the primary organizers of the inaugural event, said he thought it went very well.

"The weather was great and we had a good turnout of parents who enjoyed watching their kids play again," he said. "I would like to see some of the older alumni there next year, possibly some of the kids off of the 2003 state tournament team."

Betzold said he plans to hold the second annual alumni game on the same weekend of August in 2013.

Alumni Sofball game set for Aug. 11

For the past couple of decades girls' softball has been one of the most successful programs on the Farmington High School sports menu.

Saturday, Aug.11, the rich history of Tiger softball will be celebrated with the first annual alumni game. The contest between a group of younger players and ex-Tiger performers will start at 1:00 at Tiger Field.

Daren Betzold, one of the organizers of the alumni get-together, said rounding up the former players and putting some structure to the event took awhile but he is confident all of the effort will pay dividends.

"Hopefully, it will add to the tradition of Farmington softball," Betzold said. "This will be a nice reunion for coaches, players, parents, and supporters of the program... It is open to anyone and everyone."