Hutchinson Leader - Blog entry - Comments

Thank you for clarifying. I

arnijodi — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:20:31 -0500

Thank you for clarifying. I did read the article about Marshall, that you linked to, and like you said, it is a good read about the challenges that Marshall has faced with girls soccer. Hutchinson can learn from this also. I'm just surprised with all the other girls fall sports at Hutchinson that the girls soccer program was actually able to field a team with good numbers.

Also, Eric... I just wanted to thank you for your good coverage of the soccer program this year. Even with all the other sports that you cover for Hutchinson, you still made time for the soccer program... and as a soccer enthusiast, I really do appreciate it.

My point wasn't that we

Eric Kraushar — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:36:00 -0500

My point wasn't that we don't have enough girls, but rather that Marshall is a newer soccer program, and yes, sometimes a new program faces challenges such as lack of numbers. It is a good read to see what other districts our size are doing with the addition of soccer and to figure out why they are not working and not do that so our programs grow and succeed.

Girls Soccer at Hutchinson

arnijodi — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:56:39 -0500

Girls Soccer at Hutchinson High School has enough players to make a varsity team, so I'm not sure why you are saying that we have a similar problem as Marshall High School. Marshall soccer has only 7 girls playing on the boys high school soccer team who are between 7th and 12th grade... Hutchinson has about 18 girls on the Girls JV team
(9th to 12th grade) and 20 girls on the Middle School team (6th to 8th grade). With these kind of numbers, the Hutchinson girls will never have to play on the boys team. They will always have enough players to make a girls team... unlike Marshall.

I have updated the 2AAAA

Eric Kraushar — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:56:33 -0500

I have updated the 2AAAA football seeding standings.

Right now, Hutch would face Waconia in both football and volleyball in the second rounds of their sports. That is of course if there is no upsets.

I couldn't have said it any

Big_Daddy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:51:32 -0500

I couldn't have said it any better myself falconalumni. SPOT ON BUDDY!!! Whatever happens...we are proud of all the falcon teams!!!

From an education

falconalumni — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:24:14 -0500

From an education standpoint, McLeod West has one of the highest GPA requirements for athletes in the area. I was in the first class to graduate 7-12 from this school and got a great education. Students also have to be responsible and take part in their education, you can't force someone to learn, especially if their parents aren't supporting them. It does take money to educate. The price of everything has gone up; we all know that, this includes education costs. With the state not providing the money to the schools it has to come from taxpayers. Unfortunately in this case the majority has not stepped up to pay for the educational needs of this community. If athletics can help turn things around then I am all for it!
Good Luck Falcons!

I am proud of these fine

snell — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:02:28 -0500

I am proud of these fine students for coming together as a team in football and volleyball. However, this referendum that is to be voted on isn't about sports. It's about the education and the condition of the buildings in which those children need to attend every school day. There are many other school districts that have very talented children in them as well. We need to stay focused on the education and not about being a small town so that the kids can play sports. There is a reason this district is in this situation. It's great to hear comments about these students being amazing, and great. Good for them as athletes. Now, let's take a look at what they are getting for an education.

My first stop would be to

Eric Kraushar — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:57:50 -0500

My first stop would be to type in McLeod West in our search engine on this site and read some of the all old threads and comments. You should have enough there to get you started.

I'll try to let everyone know when this segement is going to air. My guess would be sometime next week.

Could someone explain to me

Josh — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:16:04 -0500

Could someone explain to me the origin of the bad feelings between the two communities? What's got everyone so upset?

Go FALCONS! We are sooo

MWmom — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:58:56 -0500

Go FALCONS! We are sooo proud of you all!

I also think this is

For the Kids — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:29:52 -0500

I also think this is GREAT!!!! Our kids need this support!! The football team having only 19 guys going up against teams with up to 60 guys on a team is amazing!!!! I think this shows how dedicated these kids are to proving themselves not only on the field but off the field also!!
If its sports that will bring our towns back together than so be it!!

I do also agree with OPEN-MINDED about the 2 towns hating each other!! Our kids get along GREAT and there are friendships old and new from both communities! So its not everyone one hating each other from the communities!

Eric, I would like to thank you for all the years that you have covered our sports teams at McLeod West!! You have done an excellent job!!!

GO FALCONS!!!!

This is AWESOME! I hope

falconalumni — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:10:35 -0500

This is AWESOME! I hope that the voters in Mcleod West school district realize how important these kids are to our community. There is alot of support right now for the football and volleyball teams and I hope to see the levy referendum pass in November so that McLeod West will be around for many more years. This is a great school. Thanks teachers, staff, school board, and administrators for all that you do for these kids! Keep up the good work,
GO FALCONS!

So, it turns out ESPN the

Eric Kraushar — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:35:19 -0500

So, it turns out ESPN the Magazine isn't the only national exposure the McLeod West 19 is getting.

CBS National News of New York will be in Brownton today to talk to kids and school officials. The crew will stay for the big tilt with No. 4 ranked New Ulm Cathedral tomorrow night in Stewart.

Pretty cool. And it all started with my article after week two.

Like I said before, I'll be covering this game tomorrow night. I believe Lyle will be in Grove City for Class AA No. 5 BOLD vs No. 10 ACGC, who are both undefeated. We'll have extended coverage in our region section on both games.

One error I see is: "A new

tobybryan — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:43:11 -0500

One error I see is: "A new tax that's on the November ballot could get it enough money to keep going, but the last four times it's been put to vote, it's failed." The Levy last year was the first one that failed. We had them pass in 2001 and 2002. The other failed votes have been for new buildings and building upgrades. Granted that's still not a good record. Its nice to see that the football team got national recognition. I see the Star Tribune mentioned Tyler Evans not too long ago as well. If this is going to be the last year they play they should go out on top.

I think Mr. Reilly put it

OPEN-MINDED — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:17:48 -0500

I think Mr. Reilly put it perfectly! There are so many angles to this story; it could & should be a movie!
What I didn't like is that he commented how these towns hate each other-I don't feel that is totally accurate. Not everyone from each town hates the other. These communities need to pull together to try and make something work; the state won't help us until we help ourselves. At least having this team plugging away day after day & week after week gives us all something to be proud of! No matter what team the Falcons play the one thing in common is that each is plugging for McLeod West, unless of course we are playing them. This district easily has more support out of it than it does in it. Go Figure.
GO FALCONS! We're behind you all the way!