SPRING STORM — The Southern Minnesota Storm won the MYAS Division III Spring Championships May 14-15, earning a berth in the national tournament in July. Front: Perry Peterson. Row two: Benji Lundberg, Wyatt Sickels, Jack Schultz, Oakley Baker, Tyler Raimann, Jason Jongbloedt, Sam Prigge and Jerret Utpadel. Back: coaches Darian Baker, Dave Lundbergand Tom Peterson. (Submitted photo)

Basketball team earns berth in national tourney

A group of local fifth and sixth-graders (also known as Southern Storm) have been competing in the Twin Cities metro area this spring playing AAU basketball. The team is off to a great start, going 12-1 in their first four tournaments.

During the weekend of May 14-15, the team competed for the Minnesota Youth Athletic Services (MYAS) Division III Spring Championships, also know as the “Quest for the Rings.” They played their best ball yet and after three victories, the Storm found their way into the championship game against a team called Southwest Slam, a squad comprised of boys from the Marshall/Willmar area. With a 59-53 victory over the Slam, the Storm assured themselves of getting the rings. Each player on the team will receive a Josten’s ring (much like a Super Bowl ring) that they can keep forever. Along with winning the Spring Championship, it also gave the team a berth to the National Championships held in late July in Greensboro, NC.

“The cool part about this whole thing is our team consists of kids from only NRHEG and to go play against traveling all-star metro teams that are hand-picked and beat those teams says a lot about the quality of basketball we are playing,” said coach Darian Baker.