2020 Sports: Champions All Around

The early months of 2020 BC (Before COVID) saw full prep sports schedules, packed gyms and arenas, and state tournaments. Local athletes and teams won conference and section titles. Several local wrestlers won state titles. The Blooming Prairie boys basketball team earned a trip to the state tournament on the day before our world changed.

Owatonna High School gymnastics led off the post-season for KRFO-area sports teams with their fifth straight Big Nine Conference title. While their string of section titles was halted by Northfield, the Huskies still sent three gymnasts to state.

Local wrestlers filled the brackets at the state meet. Medford's Willie VonRuden and Charley Elwood captured state titles, as did Colton Krell, a Blooming Prairie athlete wrestling as a member of the Westfield Razorbacks. The Huskies took fourth place at state as a team.

OHS hockey had a memorable winter during 2019-2020. The girls won a share of the conference title with an overtime victory at Northfield, but lost to the Raiders in the section tournament. The OHS boys finished second in the conference race to Century and lost to the Panthers in the playoffs.

Basketball highlights included BP's first section title since 1966, a Gopher Conference championship for the Medford girls, and a stellar late-season run by the Owatonna boys. The BP girls finished as section runner-up.