Owatonna Lands Conference Championship
Owatonna High School's bowling team earned a conference championship at the varsity and junior varsity level during the South Central Conference Tournament November 9 in St. Peter. That gives the Huskies three league titles this fall when added to the girls soccer Big Nine title and the football team's Red Division championship in the Big Southeast District.
The bowlers advance to the Class AA South Regional Saturday, November 23 as part of a 20-team field. The top 12 will qualify for the AA state tournament in Alexandria December 7. At the conference tournament Owatonna finished second in the eight-team qualifier and won their semifinal match over Faribault 385-353.
In the finals, seventh-ranked Owatonna faced St. Peter, who had edged OHS for the regular season conference title on a tie-breaker after each club went 12-2. Coach Scott Ferch indicates, "Owatonna was determined to win the conference tournament and came out blazing with games of 253 and 215 to defeat St. Peter 468-421."
Four Huskies earned All-Conference with seniors Blake Grunzke and Caden Reichl, and junior Garrett LaPlount being named to the First Team. Freshman Nic Hill earned a spot on the Third Team All-Conference in his rookie season. Plount finished in the top 15 out of 1,850 high school players in the state to capture All-State honors. The four will play in the All-Conference state tournament Saturday, November 30 at Southtown.
The varsity championship team is pictured above as the lead photo for this posting. (Front row: L-R: Nic Hill, Alexis Smith, Garrett LaPlount. Back row: Coach Mark Hill, Blake Grunzke, Mitch Raygor, Caiden Reichl, Head coach Scott Ferch)
Owatonna's varsity All-Conference bowlers are pictured below. (L-R: Nic Hill, Blake Grunzke, Caden Reichl, Garrett LaPlount)
Owatonna's junior varsity Blue team beat the Huskies JV Silver team in the finals of that portion of the South Central Conference Tournament. The winners advance to the AA junior varsity state tournament Sunday, November 24 in Bloomington. The Blue team, which won the regular season JV title, is pictured below. (Front row: L-R: Jayden Battey, Cameron Tracy, Noah Stephenson. Back row: Coach Mark Hill, Zach Stromley, Bella Katuin, Kylie Heise, Coach Kevin Smith)
The junior varsity Silver team is below. (front row L-R: Paige Wilker, Dylan Ellis, Nick Danielson, Nora Jorgensen. Back row: Coach Dave Swenson, Cameron Bertram, Joey Smith, Nolan Schamp, Coach Adam LaPlount)