FARGO — Both the Minot High School varsity and junior varsity cheerleading programs put on a show Saturday (Nov. 16) for the North Dakota Cheer Coaches Association (NDCCA) Fall State competition held at Fargo North High School.

The Majettes swept all the team categories against 21 other teams with over 200-plus athletes in attendance.

Minot High varsity won the team competition for the Class A Large Group (13 members or over) by 12 points over Bismarck Century. The MHS junior varsity team took the Class A Small Group team title by defeating a handful of varsity squads.

Both squads also won their Time-Out Cheer competitions.

MHS junior Dylan Allen won the Jump-Off competition. Jaslin Short and Carly Johnson received the Senior Honor Award.

Minot High varsity was also awarded the Cheer Team Scholar Award for a 3.5 composite grade point average.

In Class B action, Rugby won the overall team competition.

Bishop Ryan’s Ashley Arbegast took first place in the Class B All Around ahead of teammate Gwyinnie Johnson.

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Last season for Lumberjack football

BOTTINEAU — Dakota College at Bottineau announced the 2019 season of Lumberjack football would be its last. The program is being discontinued due to its high cost and the need to reinvest these resources into academic programming and other services at the college.

“This was an extremely hard decision to make,” said Campus Dean Jerry Migler, “As a great deal of time and effort was invested by the college and the community to re-instate the football program at DCB in 2008.”

The program was successful for a time, but factors such as increasing travel and equipment costs, declining student numbers in high school programs and rising concerns related to concussion injuries led to the decision to close the program.

Also, the unique nature of a two-year college football program, with high attrition of players leaving the college at the end of the fall semester, negatively impacted the college’s retention and graduation rates.

DCB’s decision to discontinue its football program is part of a national trend, with announcements last year by community colleges in Arizona to eliminate football due to high travel costs and decreasing high school participation.

While the football program is being discontinued at DCB, the college plans to continue its strong tradition of athletics by exploring other options that better fit with its natural resources and technology mission.

— DCB athletics