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By DEB BENTLY
Staff Writer
“I think I taught them all the things they needed to know as beginners,” comments NRHEG senior Jaylin Raab, who unexpectedly found himself as coach of the district’s seventh-grade boys’ basketball team, which consisted of 12 players.
It was not how he expected to see his senior year with the sport develop.
“I wanted to play with my team,” Raab remembers. “I expected to play…until I got the bad news.”
Active on a number of NRHEG teams since middle school, Raab remembers the spring day at a 2023 track meet when he took a run for the long jump. “I landed wrong,” he describes. “I heard a weird sound, and I felt a lot of pain.
“I crawled to the other side of the area and I went to the emergency room at the Albert Lea hospital right away.” Though Raab used crutches and wore a “boot” for a while, it was eventually determined he had experienced damage to the peroneal nerve in his right leg. As fall and then winter began, the injury caused him pain and led to “foot drop.”
“I had surgery on December fourth,” he said. “That pretty much ended my chances of getting any playing time during the [basketball] season. My leg was getting a little better, but I expected to spend my senior year on the bench.”
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NRHEG entrants in the state high school wrestling tournament last weekend won some matches but did not bring home any medals from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
George Roesler, a senior, came the closest, finishing one win away from the medals podium at 172 pounds. He won his first match by fall, and reached the consolation semifinals with another fall before absorbing a 5-0 decision. He finished the season with a record of 29-7.
Freshman Ryan Schlaak lost a pair of decisions, 11-2 and 7-3. He finished 22-16.
Senior Annabelle Petsinger, seeking a second straight girls' wrestling state championship, had an unfortunate end to her season, sustaining an injury in her opening bout that also forced her to lose by default in the wrestlebacks. Petsinger, who will continue her carer at Iowa Central Community College, finished 16-3.
"It was good to see George wrestling on day two, and it was a good first-time state tournament experience for Ryan Schlaak," said NRHEG coach Shawn Larson. "It was tough when George lost in the consolation round. He would have medaled if he had won one more. Annabelle ran into some misfortune that she couldn't do anything about."
Larson thanked seniors Roesler and Petsinger for all the hard work they have put into the sport of wrestling.
“We wish them the best in their future endeavors,” said Larson. “They’ve had outstanding high school wrestling careers.”
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By JIM LUTGENS. Sports Editor
The old adage says it's very difficult to defeat a good team three times in one season.
It was reinforced Monday night.
The NRHEG High School girls' basketball team, seeking its third victory over Waterville-Elysian-Morristown this season, was stifled by the Bucs 55-43 in the Section 2AA South Sub-section championship at Minnesota State-Mankato.
It was a difficult end to a fine season for the Panthers, who started slow and never did recover.
WEM led 10-1 before NRHEG hit its first field goal about five minutes into the game. It was 20-4 when NRHEG coach Onika Peterson called her second time out with 8:33 left in the first half, and it was 26-4 before the Panthers went on a run to pull within 31-17 at halftime.