Coaches Shows

Owatonna football rallied from a 9-0 deficit to beat Mayo 37-9 with an electrifying run by Williamson and an epic third-quarter drive.

For Owatonna girls' basketball coach Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa, saying goodbye to the nine seniors on the 2017-18 roster is a difficult thing to do. The group has been there from day one for her. Many of them were members of the junior varsity team that she coached when she first arrived in Owatonna.

With a well-balanced, athletic group of seniors, Owatonna boys' basketball had the best season in a number of years. On Monday night, coach Josh Williams announced that the team Most Valuable Player Award would be shared by all five. Abe Havelka, Andrew Jackson, Dalton Kubista, Nolan Malo and Alex Raichle were each presented with a souvenir basketball.

Owatonna freshman Lindsay Bangs added to her personal trophy case with medals in the all-around and on the uneven bars at Saturday's individual portion of the state gymnastics meet. She just missed the medal stand in the vault and floor exercise, finishing in the top ten in each. Senior Becca Olson and juniors Ali An and Syndey Kretlow also participated Saturday. On Friday Owatonna captured the third place trophy in the team event for the second straight year. This was the Huskies' third straight appearance at state.

Rochester Century got off to a good start against the Huskies Monday night in the Owatonna gym. But basketball is a long game. By the end, OHS had put the game into running time and won their 11th in a row, 90-54 over the Panthers.

Medford Tigers' girls' basketball coach Mark Kubat was hopeful that sophomore Emma Kneifel would reach the 1,000-point milestone in their home gym Friday night before spending this week on the bus with a series of road games.

Owatonna basketball swept Northfield Tuesday to earn a season split with the Raiders. The OHS girls shutdown Northfield 54-41, their first Big Nine Conference loss. The OHS boys pulled away in the second half for an 82-55 victory.

Owatonna and Northfield have quickly developed a great Big Nine Conference rivalry since the Raiders rejoined the league a few years ago. Northfield has had the upper hand for the most part this winter. On Tuesday, Owatonna's basketball teams will be looking for a season split with Northfield while the OHS boys' hockey team aims for a season sweep.

Dalton Kubista scored 32 points to pace Owatonna to a 76-49 make game victory Saturday night over Mankato West at OHS. The win was the Huskies eighth in a row with a showdown against Northfield coming up Tuesday on the road.

The Owatonna wrestlers opened their home schedule with a triangular sweep Thursday, while the OHS gymnasts were sweeping their home finale. The wrestlers whipped Mankato East 51-12 and Austin 72-4 to stay unbeaten in the Big Nine. The gymnasts reached 146.85 points, well ahead of Northfield and Austin.