King commits to MSU

Senior running back Kenthen King of Mankato East High School has given a verbal commitment to Minnesota State to play football there this fall. King indicated on Thursday that he will sign his letter of intent on Feb. 3, the first day of the signing period.

King had narrowed his choices to MSU and the University of Minnesota Duluth but cancelled a visit to UMD for this weekend.

"This seems like a good fit for me," King said. "It's a better fit financially because my mom (Sandra) works up there. I knew a lot of people up there, and my parents and friends can see me play."

King, 6-feet, 195 pounds, rushed for more than 1,000 yards in two different seasons with the Cougars. He finished with career totals of 2,554 yards and 30 touchdowns. Last season he was an all-Big Nine Conference, all-city and honorable mention all-state selection.

-- Chad Courrier

Butorac, Ram eliminated in Australia

Eric Butorac and Rajeev Ram were eliminated from the doubles draw of the Australian Open this week but not before throwing a scare into the No. 1-ranked doubles team in the world.

Butorac is a former Gustavus Adolphus College standout and an NCAA Division III national tennis champion. He is ranked No. 43 in the world.

Butorac and Ram took on the Bryan brothers - identical twins Bob and Mike - on Tuesday. The Bryan brothers won the first set 7-5 and Butorac and Ram came back to win the second 6-4. The decisive third set went to a tie-breaker which the Bryan brothers won 7-2.

All four players in the quarterfinal match hail from the U.S. The Bryans went on to win their semifinal match and will now take on Daniel Nestor (Canada) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) in the finals.

-- Jim Rueda

Waseca is No. 1

Kudos go out to the Waseca High School's fall sports programs. Earlier this month, the Minnesota State High School league announced that Waseca was the overall points leader (132 points) in Class A for the 2009-10 Challenge Cup.

The Challenge Cup is an award bestowed by the MSHSL to the one school in Class A and once school in Class AA that has most overall success in athletics and fine arts over the course of the entire school year.

Waseca was tops after the fall season on the strength of qualifying four teams to state tournaments as well as the girls tennis doubles team of Lexie Ulfers and Hannah Flor. The girls cross country was the biggest point-getter, earning 10 points for qualifying and 50 points for winning the Class A state title.

The Bluejays football and boys cross country teams also qualified for state. The girls tennis team also qualified for state and received an additional 40 points for finishing second.

-- Jim Rueda

Cougars, Scarlets swimmers headed to state

The boys swimming and diving teams from Mankato East/Loyola and West have qualified for the Class A State True Team Meet as wildcards.

The East/Loyola Cougars finished third in their true team section meet Saturday while the West Scarlets placed fourth. The top two teams in the section automatically qualify for state and the two Mankato teams were notified on Sunday that they had also been selected.

East/Loyola is currently ranked fourth in Class A while West is rated seventh. This year's true team state meet begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 30, and will again be held at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

For more information go to www.pantherboosters.org.

-- Jim Rueda

Butorac reaches Australian Open quarterfinals

Former Gustavus Adolphus College men's tennis standout Eric Butorac has reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in doubles.

The 2003 Gustavus graduate combined with partner Rajeev Ram to defeat Leonardo Mayer and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in a third-round match on Sunday. Butorac and Ram knocked off No. 7 seed Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 in a second-round match late last week.

Butorac, a native of Rochester, is ranked NO. 43 in the world in men's doubles. He has won six ATP tour titles, including two with his current partner Ram.

To follow Butorac at the Open, log on to australianopen.com

-- Jim Rueda

4th-ranked Mavericks wrestle tonight

Looking forward to tonight's 7 p.m. wrestling meet at Bresnan Arena between MSU-Moorhead and fourth-ranked Minnesota State, Mankato.

The Mavericks have looked good of late, finishing third at the national duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa and then trouncing UW-Eau Claire at home last week.

Particularly looking forward to seeing Robby Fischer wrestle at 141, Travis Elg at 149 and Ben Becker at 174. Fischer is off to a strong start in his first year and Elg is transitioning down from 157 pounds where he wrestled last year. Becker is ranked eighth in the nation and is 4-1 in his last five matches.

Andy Forstner (4th, 125) and Brady Wilson (1st, heavyweight) are the only other two MSU wrestlers in the most recent rankings. After taking on MSU-Moorhead tonight, the Mavericks entertain 10th-rated Augustana at 7 p.m. Saturday at Bresnan.

--Jim Rueda

Weekly College Awards

Mankato native Tommy Saffert of Bethany Lutheran College has been named Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week. The senior guard was instrumental in the Vikings 76-65 victory over Martin Luther on Jan. 12.

Saffert scored 31 points, making 55 percent of his shots from the floor and draining 6-of-12 attempts from behind the 3-point line. Saffert is currently third in career points at Bethany Lutheran totaling 1,106, just 56 points away from the school record. Alfonso Mayfield is the current all-time leading scorer with1,162 points in his two seasons from 2005-07.

Saffert and the Vikings will play at conference rival Northland Friday at 7 p.m.

At Gustavus, senior Maggie Hansvick has been named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's Women's Swimming & Diving Co-Athlete of the Week. Hansvick played a big role in Gustavus upsetting defending conference champion Carleton on Friday night in St. Peter.

Hansvick swam the breaststroke leg in 30.70 aiding in the victorious 200-yard medley relay, with a conference-best time of 1:50.46. She also won the 200 breaststroke win a season-best time of 2:30.25 and took second in the 100 breast posting a season-best 1:08.94.

Also for the Gusties, junior post Molly Mathiowetz has been named the MIAC Women's Basketball Co-Athlete of the Week. The Sleepy Eye native and graduate of Sleepy Eye St. Mary's helped Gustavus post a 2-0 record last week.

She led the team in scoring with average of 20 points per game. She led all scorers in the 77-63 victory over St. Thomas Wednesday night with 22 points, while leading the Gusties with 18 points in the 60-53 victory over Bethel Saturday afternoon. Her defense was key in both victories as she recorded four steals and two blocks against St. Thomas and a game-high six steals against Bethel.

Mathiowetz also posted an impressive all-around performance against St. Thomas as she shot 67% from the field (8-12) and 5-6 from the free throw line.

Mathiowetz shared the POW honor with Nicollet native Shannon Renne of Augsburg. Renne, a junior guard, set an Augsburg and MIAC single-game record for 3-pointers in a game, connecting on 9-of-13 from beyond the arc in Augsburg's 78-66 win over Carleton on Saturday.

Renne scored a career-high 35 points in the win, a single-game high for any MIAC women's basketball player so far this season. Her total was just two points shy of Augsburg's single-game school record.

She also had seven rebounds and two assists in the win, which broke an 18-game Augsburg losing streak to Carleton. She also had six points and five rebounds in Augsburg's 65-52 loss to Bethel on Wednesday.

Sophomore goaltender Emily Klatt of Gustavus has been named the MIAC's Women's Hockey Athlete of the Week. She helped the Gusties go 2-0 last week with victories over fifth-ranked UW-River Falls on Tuesday night and Saint Mary's on Saturday afternoon.

Klatt gave up one goal and made 30 saves while playing a total of 90 minutes. In the 2-1 upset win over UW-River Falls, Klatt gave up one goal and made 24 saves for her second win of the season.

In Saturday's 1-0 win over Saint Mary's she played 30 minutes and made 6 saves. Klatt has given up seven goals on the season with a .915 save percentage and a 2-1-2 record.

-- Jim Rueda

High school tidbits

A couple of quick high school notes to start the week.

Over in New Ulm, senior boys basketball player Galen Holzhueter of Minnesota Valley Lutheran is 22 points away from breaking the school scoring record.

Dan Unke is MVL's current record holder with 1,662 career points. Holzhueter hast 1,641. Minnesota Valley Lutheran's next game is Tuesday, Jan. 18, at Sleepy Eye St. Mary's High School.

In Mankato, standout girls soccer player Danni Steele of Mankato East is getting ready to sign a national letter of intent to continue her career at Bemidji State University. Steele is expected to sign her letter in a ceremony at East High School on Feb. 3.

-- Jim Rueda

WEM's Barton headed to UNI

Had a conversation with Waterville-Elysian-Morristown senior Amanda Barton this week about her future. Back on Nov. 11, the basketball standout signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Northern Iowa next fall.

Barton is believed to be the first player from WEM to be given a scholarship to attend a Division I college out of high school. The 6-foot-2 post is WEM's career scoring leader with 1,270 points. She is averaging 16.6 points and 11.8 rebounds per game.

Barton also has 29 blocked shots this season. The senior said she narrowed her choices to UNI, MSU-Moorhead and the University of Evansville in Indiana before opting to go to Iowa.

"They started recruiting me last July," Barton said. "I liked the coach and the facilities when I visited and, since it's always been my dream to play Division I basketball, that's where I signed."

To read more about Barton, check out Chad Courrier's prep notebook in the coming weeks. The notebook usually appears on Thursdays.

-- Jim Rueda

Wrestling heats up

College and high school wrestling teams have begun the 2010 portion of their schedules in earnest and this weekend is shaping up as a crucial one.

At the college level, Minnesota State makes its annual trek to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to compete in the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals Meet.

"This has been a good litmus test for us over the years," MSU coach Jim Makovsky said this week. "Last year, just like this one, we went in with a lot of questions about our team and weren't sure what to expect. We ended up in a big match against Central Oklahoma, got some big wins, some key pins, and beat them. That reinforced our belief in our system and what we do."

The bad news for the Mavericks is that they will be without the services of 197-pounder Pat Mahan. Mahan is set to have surgery on Friday on his shoulder and will be done for the season. His back-up, Derek Jacobs, is still coming off a broken hand so MSU may have to forfeit at 197 throughout the tournament.

MSU's lineup in Cedar Falls should be Andy Forstner at 125, Matt Nyvold (133), Robby Fischer (141), Travis Elg (149), Justin Turek (157), Tel Todd (165), Ben Becker (174), Aaron Norgren (184) and Brady Wilson (heavyweight).

MSU goes into the competition ranked 11th nationally and will see the top teams in Division II. Nebraska-Omaha, Newberry of South Carolina, Nebraska-Kearney and Central Oklahoma are the top four teams in the country and will all be wrestling in Cedar Falls. MSU is slated to take on sixth-ranked Western State of Colorado in Saturday's first round. The tournament concludes Sunday.

"We're excited," Makovsky said. "With the exception of Mahan and Jacobs we're about as healthy as we've been all season."

At the high school level, Montgomery-Lonsdale/Le Center will host the Coyote Invitational Saturday in Montgomery. The six-team meet includes Class A's seventh-ranked Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial and a United South Central team that is honorably mentioned in the latest Class A poll by The Guillotine.

The other teams are Lakeville South, Blooming Prairie, St. Clair/Mankato Loyola and host MLLC. Lakeville South brings three Class AAA-ranked wrestlers to the competition in Kevin Bright (160 pounds), Eric Hensel (171) and Zane Peterson (215).

LCWM's Class A-ranked wrestlers are Taner Trembley (112), Paul Norgren (5th, 135), Cody Tibbetts (3rd, 152) and Nate Meixell (6th, 171). USC's two-rated wrestlers Preston Staloch (7th, 145) and A.J. Dreyer (2nd, 215). Chase Levos of SCML is ranked third at 119 pounds.

The tournament begins at 10 a.m.

-- by Jim Rueda