Sports

Hutchinson girls' tennis team came up just short in a bid for the state tournament in the team competition Wednesday. Five individuals still have shots in doubles and singles competition in Section 2AA.

The doubles teams of Emily Seller and Kate Byron along with Emily Klitzke and Anna Rasmussen both advanced with one win in the south sub-section Saturday. Taylor Reiner also advanced with two wins in the singles competition.

The final portion of the Section 2AA individual tournament concludes at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Lakeville Matchpoint.

Trailing 7-0 after an opening drive touchdown from Shakopee, Hutchinson scored 34 unanswered points to win their fourth straight game and fifth overall, securing at least one home playoff game and extending the winning record streak to 37 straight years.

Jacob Brusehaver rushed for 97 yards and three scores, while Jaedon Scott and Brad Muckenhirn added one touchdown each. Scott led the team with 148 yards on the ground before leaving the game late in the third quarter after getting dinged up earlier in the game.

Billed as the state's top player, University of Minnesota recruit Ashley Wittman was all that and more for Class 3A No. 1 ranked Shakopee Thursday in a 3-0 win over Hutchinson.

Still, the Tigers remained competitive, even taking a 21-18 lead in game two. Still up two at 23-21, Hutchinson commited four straight unforced errors to fall in game two, 25-23.

Shakopee won game one 25-20 and game three 25-16.

Minnesota State Athletics has announced plans to memorialize former Maverick women’s cross country team member Caty Delwiche this Saturday.

Delwiche, a freshman member of the MSU women’s cross country team last fall, was on a training run when she was struck and killed by a vehicle Oct. 2, 2007.

Hutchinson fell one point short of defending its title in the Missota Conference Boys’ Cross Country Meet last fall. This season, the team hopes to contend once again for a spot in the top three.

The conference meet is scheduled for 4 p.m. today at the College of St. Catherine’s in St. Paul.

The girls’ team, which finished fourth a year ago, could move up a spot in the pecking order with the anticipated return of state-ranked runner Alissa Retterath, who has been out since early September with an abdominal strain.

Whenever a team loses by a point or two in a swimming and diving dual, a reversal of the outcome could have come in a number of situation.

Maybe it was taking one more fifth-place finish. Or a touch at the wall for a third- or fourth-place finish.

For Hutchinson, Tuesday, at rival Red Wing, it came down to the 200 freestyle relay, in which Red Wing won two touches at the wall in both the A and B relay teams.

Wingers senior captain Dana Hoffman hit the wall at 1:44.56 — three-hundredths of a second ahead of Hutchinson’s anchor Rebecca Lauer.

The first meeting between Hutchinson and Orono featured nine sets that were won by three games or less. The Tigers won five of those sets en route to a 5-2 win Aug. 26.

In the Section 2AA semifinals Wednesday at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, it was the Spartans that dominated the close points. Of the sets that were decided by three games or less, Orono won nine of 11.

Winning the close sets led to a 5-2 win for North No. 6 seed Orono, who advanced to the section finals later in the day to face Class AA No. 3 ranked Minnetonka, who defeated South No. 2 seed Mankato West 7-0.

Welcome to the Leader Web site's newest feature - Tigers Talk sports podcast. Each week sports editor Eric Kraushar puts the spotlight on one of the Tigers teams as well as talks about some of the other teams in action this week.

This week, Eric talks some gridiron action — Hutchinson went to 4-2 with a 19-18 win over Prior Lake last Friday. There was some key interceptions and first down runs. This week's match up is Shakopee.

Click here to listen:
http://www.hutchinsonleader.com/audio-podcast/tigers-talk-episode-4-oct-...

League Name: Men's Volleyball

STANDING TEAM NAME WINS LOSSES POINTS

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1 Lamplighter 7 3 9

2 Spectralytics 7 3 8

3 Slobberknockers 6 4 7

4 Symbolic Pours 0 10 0

Prior Lake quarterback T.J. Larson brought his team back from a 13-0 deficit, but trailing 19-18 in the fourth quarter, he made two critical mistakes, throwing interceptions on potential scoring drives as Hutchinson held on for the win - the third straight for the Tigers (4-2).

The final pick of the game came on a first-and-10 from the Tigers 41 with 1:23 left in the game. Brad Muckenhirn stepped in front of the pass, sealing the Missota Conference win and sole possession of second place behind Farmington.