Prep Cross Country: Rugby girls place 3rd at Border Battle

The Rugby girls cross country team faced off against some of the top teams across North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota and came away with a third-place finish among 29 teams competing in the Class A section of the Border Battle in Grand Forks on Saturday, Sept. 27.

The Panthers finished with a team score of 145, as the top three teams were all from North Dakota. Hillsboro/Central Valley won the team competition with 56 points, followed by Bowman County with 69 points. Riverside Christian (Minn.) and Clark/Willow Creek (S.D.) rounded out the top five with 200 and 209 points, respectively.

Rugby placed three runners in the top 20, led by Hannah Senechal, whose time of 20 minutes, 2.4 seconds put her in 14th. Evyn Jacobson (20.08.1) took 16th overall and Allie Monroe placed 20th at 20:14.9.

Des Lacs-Burlington/Lewis & Clark’s Brynn Hanson had the best overall finish among local athletes, coming in eighth with a time of 19:46.8. Bishop Ryan’s Sage Feininger also cracked the top 20 with her 17th-place finish, completing the course in 20:08.7.

Bowman County took the title in the Class A boys division by a wide margin. The Bulldogs’ 35 points as a team was more than 100 points less than second-place Sauk Centre (Minn.). Bowman County was the only North Dakota team in the top five. Wadena-Deer Creek (Minn.) was third with 167 points, Greenway/Nashwauk/Keewatin (Minn.) was fourth with 175 points and Hawley XC (Minn.) rounded out the top five with 186 points.

Northern Cass’ Owen Johnson won the race, finishing with a time of 15:36.5. DL-B/L&C’s Zayden Grover was the top local performance with his 33rd-place finish, completing the race in 17:49.2.

In the Class AA boys race, Sioux Falls Lincoln (S.D.) edged out Bismarck High to win the team competition. Sioux Falls Lincoln finished with 67 points, nine points clear of the Demons. Owen Hintz of Bismarck won the individual competition in 15:06.9, six seconds ahead of Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Tyrus Needles.

Minot High finished 27th with 712 points and Minot North placed 29th with 802 points.

Perham (Minn.) took home the team title in the Class AA girls division in front of three North Dakota programs. Perham compiled a team score of 83. Williston (98), Bismarck Century (107) and Fargo Davies (138) finished second, third and fourth, respectively. Sioux Falls Lincoln was fifth at 143 points.

Fargo Shanley’s Mykenna Johnson won the individual title with a time of 18:01.9.

Minot High placed 14th in the 26-team field with a score of 368. The Majettes finished in front of seven other North Dakota schools. Kaylee Jackson led Minot High with a 57th-place finish with a time of 20:24.1.

Women’s Soccer: Minot State continues winning ways against Winona State

Fresh off its first win of the season, the Minot State women’s soccer team claimed victory for the second time in three days, defeating Winona State, 4-1, on Sunday, Sept. 28.

The Beavers (2-4-1 overall, 2-1-1 NSIC) broke the game open with three goals in the opening 20 minutes. Giselle Nash scored in the fifth minute off an assist from Anna Miotto and Emerie Campbell doubled MSU’s lead in the ninth minute with Sierra Haren recording the assist.

Brittney Egbert scored her second goal of the season in the 20th minutes as the Beavers took a 3-0 advantage into the locker room.

The Beavers weren’t done, as Miotto netted her third goal of the year in the 58th minute to set a new season-high for goals in a game for MSU. Entering Sunday’s match, the Beavers season high output was two goals against St. Cloud State.

MSU held a slim 7-6 edge in shots on goal. The Warriors (2-1-3, 1-1-2) had six corner kicks compared to two for the Beavers.

Olivia Cyr scored the lone goal for the Warriors.

Rebecca Sargent and Jayen Alger split time in net for the Beavers. Sargent finished with three saves, while Alger had two.

Sadie Wendt, Abigail Rounds and Makadyn Gust combined for three saves for WSU.

The Beaver travel to Minnesota Duluth on Friday, Oct. 3, for a 6 p.m. match.

Men’s Hockey: Minot State opens preseason slate with victory of Regina

The Minot State men’s hockey team took the ice for the first time in the 2025-26 and skated away with a 5-1 victory over the University of Regina in an exhibition game at Maysa Arena on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Slade Stanick and Jay Buchholz each netted a pair of goals and Colby Joseph registered two assists for the Beavers in their first of three scheduled exhibition games. The Beavers scored the first four goals of the contest, with Stanick lighting the lamp first at 8:41 of the opening period.

Buchholz would pot his first of the night on the power play at 6:17 of the middle stanza and Stanick would cap off his two-goal performance just 14 seconds later to give MSU a 3-0 advantage heading into the second intermission.

Buchholz netted a shorthanded goal early in the third period and Logan Cyca fired on into an empty net with 1:05 left in regulation to round out the scoring for the Beavers.

Regina’s Rylan Silzer ended MSU goaltender Will Dyke’s shutout attempt at 7:12 of the third period, but that was all Dyke would allow to get behind him. Dyke finished with 39 saves, as the Beavers were outshot 40-26.

Regina’s Damon Cunningham started the game between the pipes and finished with seven saves before being replaced by Justen Maric, who stopped 14 shots.

The Beavers finished 1-for-5 on the power play.

MSU wraps up the preseason with a pair of contests against Briercrest College this upcoming weekend, beginning on Friday, Oct. 3, at Maysa Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

College Volleyball: Beavers push Winona State to 5th set in near upset

The Minot State volleyball team nearly pulled off an early-season upset in the opening weeks of conference play, taking Winona State to a fifth-set tiebreaker in a 17-25, 25-15, 19-25, 25-11, 15-3 defeat on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the MSU Dome.

The Beavers (1-12 overall, 0-5 NSIC) claimed the opening set as well as the third set, but couldn’t finish off the upset big, as the Warriors (9-4, 4-1) stormed back to win the fourth and fifth sets in decisive fashion.

WSU jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead in the fourth set with the Beavers attempting to close out the match. The Warriors never led by fewer than six points the remainder of the set and eventually built the lead into double figures. They won seven of the final eight points.

The Beavers won the opening point of the tiebreaker on a kill by Katelyn Onespot-Danforth, but it was all WSU from there, responding with a 12-0 run to put the upset bid on ice. The Warriors had a pair of aces and blocks and took advantage of a number of attack errors by MSU in the fifth to come away with the victory.

Onespot-Danforth filled out the stat sheet for MSU. She led the Beavers in aces (3), blocks (3) and assists (22), while also contributing eight kills. Jasmin Bell led the way for the Beavers with 15 kills and Caton Pearcy had a team-high 17 digs.

Abby Ongna had 13 kills to lead the Warriors.

The Beavers host Bismarck State on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 6 p.m. at the MSU Dome.

NAHL: Minotauros end Showcase on a high note

The first two games of the NAHL Showcase did not end well for the Minot Minotauros, but they were saving their best performance for last, putting up a season-high seven goals in a 7-3 victory over Anchorage on Saturday, Sept. 27, in Blaine, Minn.

Artem Prima and Braden Jockims scored two goals each and eight different Minot skaters recorded at least a point in the Tauros’ first win of the season.

The finale didn’t get off to the best start for the Tauros, as they surrendered the game’s first goal to the Wolverines less than a minute into the contest. But Minot would respond with three unanswered goals over the course of the next 25 minutes to build a 3-1 advantage. All three goals came on the power play, with Jockims scoring the final two. Prima got the Tauros on the board at 9:20 of the first period and Jockims put them in front five minutes later. Jockims added his second five minutes into the second period.

Anchorage netted a power-play goal of its own to open the third period to cut Minot’s lead to 3-2, but the Tauros scored the next two to push the advantage to 5-2. Prima netted his second and Brady Zugec lit the lamp as well. Michael Solominsky and Ty James also provided goals for the Tauros in the victory.

The Tauros limited the Wolverines to just eight shots through the first 40 minutes before Anchorage managed to put 18 shots on net in the third to finish with 26 for the game. Minot put 33 shots on Anchorage goaltender Liam Eanst, who finished with 26 saves. Brian Cooke earned the win in net for Minot, stopping 23 shots.

The Tauros return to the ice on Friday, Oct. 3, when they travel to play the Watertown Shamrocks at 7 p.m.

Girls Swimming and Diving: Minot North competes at Mandan Invite

Minot North placed in the top six in five events during the Mandan Invite at the Mandan Aquatics Center on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Zoe Bahr led the Sentinels as the top performer in the five-team invite, placing third in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2 minutes, 34.25 seconds. She went on to take fifth in the 100 freestyle, completing the race in 1:00.13.

Ellia Gemar took fourth-place honors in the 500 freestyle in 6:11.02 and Jaina Yoder completed the 100 breaststroke in 1:25.95 for a fifth-place finish. In the 50 freestyle, Abigail Wake took sixth with a time of 27.52.

Mandan on the event with 575, finishing just one spot ahead of Bismarck Legacy. Dickinson (359) was third, Bismarck High (334) was fourth and Minot North took fifth with 326 points.

Prep Volleyball: Glenburn advances to semifinals of Devils Lake Tournament

Several area teams descended on Devils Lake High School on Saturday, Sept. 27, to take part in the Devils Lake Tournament. Among the schools in the field were Glenburn, Velva, Bottineau, Rugby, Nedrose and Stanley.

Glenburn came away with the best performance among the group, advancing as far as the semifinal round in the gold division before ultimately falling to the eventual champion New Rockford-Sheyenne. The Rockets defeated Kidder County in the championship match, 25-17, 25-20. Glenburn went undefeated in Pool B, posting victories against Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter, St. John and Bottineau.

Bottineau, Velva, Stanley and Rugby all advanced out of their respective pool play and into the gold division, but only Glenburn advanced past the opening round. Glenburn eliminated Bottineau, 25-14, 25-16.

Nedrose played in the silver division following pool play and advanced to the semifinal after knocking off St. John, 25-23, 22-25, 15-13, in the opening round. The Cardinals’ run ended in a straight-set loss to Midway-Minto. North Star defeated Midway-Minto for the silver division title.