Girls Wrestling: Three Minot United wrestlers advance to championship match

The Minot United girls wrestling team will have three wrestlers battling for state individual titles after Brooklyn Ost, Madisyn Racine and Maycee Boyce all advanced to their respective championship matches on the opening day of the NDHSAA State Individual Tournament at the Fargodome on Thursday, Feb. 19.

In the 100-pound division, Ost opened the tournament with a pin of Fargo’s Willow Hagen in 2 minutes, 49 seconds, and secured another pin in her second round match against MayPort-C-G’s Evie Satrom in 1:46. She advanced to the title match by upsetting top seed Cora Sorenson of Watford City with a 10-1 major decision. Ost will compete against Williston’s Maci Brouillette.

Racine was the No. 1 seed in the 124-pound division and pinned Grand Forks’ Maddie Look in 1:29 to open her day. She scored a 17-0 technical fall in 5:41 over MP-C-G’s Kaylee Mueller in the quarterfinals and advanced to the championship with a 9-4 decision against New Salem-Almont’s Keisha Tomac. Racine will wrestle South Border’s Ava Litsey for the state title.

Boyce was the third Minot United wrestler to advance to the title match. Wrestling at 148, Boyce started with a pin of Napoleon-G-S’ Adisyn Zubke in 2:27 before scoring an 11-3 major decision over Bismarck’s Madison Reems. She took down the top seed in the semifinals, winning a 4-2 decision against Carrington’s Khendra Garcia. Boyce will wrestle West Fargo’s Brynlee Hartsoch in the championship.

The championship matches will take place on Friday, Feb. 20, at the Fargodome beginning at 5 p.m.

Girls Hockey: Minot United drops finale to Mandan, await tourney fate

The Minot United girls hockey team had an opportunity to earn their spot in the state tournament next weekend, but now they will have to sweat it out for a couple days.

Minot United surrendered five unanswered goals in a 5-1 loss to Mandan at Maysa Arena on Thursday, Feb. 19, in their regular season finale. A win would have clinched the No. 8 seed at the state tournament. Mandan entered Thursday’s contest locked into the No. 7 seed.

Brynn Hanson gave Minot United (6,14-2-0 overall, 5-15-2-0) an early 1-0 lead off an assist from Ava Beda at 2:46 of the opening period.

It was all Mandan from there. The Braves tied the game late in the first period with a goal from Tessa Rebenitsch, as they outshot Minot United 20-5 in the stanza.

Mandan (9-11-0-1, 10-11-0-1) added two goals in the second and two more in the third. Brenna Bauman gave the Braves a 2-1 lead 3:49 into the second period and Adrianna Kautzman doubled the advantage with 3:11 remaining.

The Braves scored twice in a span of 1:22 to spoil a potential celebration by the home team. Kautzman added her second of the night and Abby Ross followed soon after with her first.

Mandan outshot Minot United 45-13.

Faith Seekings finished with 40 saves in net for Minot United

Minot United is battling Jamestown for the final spot in the state tournament field. Jamestown kept its hopes alive with a third-period comeback against Devils Lake in a 2-1 victory to move two points back of Minot United in the standings with one game remaining on its schedule. The Blue Jays host Grand Forks on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 2 p.m. in the only game left on the regular season schedule across the state. Grand Forks won the first meeting 3-0 on Feb. 6.

Boys Swimming & Diving: Magicians sweep dual meet with Sentinels, Coyotes

The Minot High boys swimming and diving team closed out the regular season with a pair of dual victories over Minot North and Williston on Senior Night at Magic City Campus on Thursday, Feb. 19. The Magicians posted a 117-65 victory over Williston and a 119-64 win against the Sentinels.

The Coyotes won their dual with Minot North 92.5-89.5

The Magicians took the top spot in nine of the 12 events, sweeping the three relays. The Sentinels won two events and Zach Rudd won the 200-yard freestyle for the Coyotes.

Luke Neumann swept his two individual events, winning the 200 individual medley and the 100 freestyle. Neumann edged out Minot North’s Barrett Hannegrefs by 0.29 seconds in the individual medley, touching the wall in 2 minutes, 11.65 seconds. He won another tightly-contested event in the 100 freestyle, finishing in a time of 50.69. Rudd was second in 51.06.

Hannegrefs wasn’t denied in the 100 butterfly, taking the crown in 58.19. Jameson Langager was Minot North’s other victor of the night, claiming the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.45.

Talmage Pehrson (50 freestyle), Tayson Solper (1-meter diving), Andrew Francis (500 freestyle) and Gavin King (100 backstroke) also posted victories for the Magicians.

The Magicians and Sentinels compete in the WDA Championships in Bismarck on Saturday, Feb. 28.

Women’s Basketball: Beavers snap 3-game skid with win over Jamestown

Tiyahna Trottier scored a game-high 26 points and Taryn Hamling added 22 as the Minot State women’s basketball team defeated Jamestown 83-72 to snap a three-game losing streak in its final road conference game of the season on Thursday, Feb. 19.

The Beavers (11-17 overall, 8-13 NSIC) shot 46.4 percent from behind the 3-point line, finishing 13-for-28. Hamling and Maya Aguilar both went 4 of 6 from distance. Aguilar joined Trottier and Hamling in double figures with 16 points.

Minot State scored the first seven points of the contest and never trailed. The Beavers led by as many as 14 in the opening period. The Beavers led 42-32 at halftime.

The Jimmies (7-18, 5-16) opened the second half with an 8-0 run to get within two at 42-40 and closed within a point twice in the third quarter, but the Beavers would hold a 60-53 lead heading into the fourth.

Allie Berns led Jamestown with 22 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Haidyn Crockett and Jessika Lofstrom finished with 18 and 15, respectively.

The Beavers close out the regular season against Northern State at the MSU Dome on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 3:30 p.m.