I got my renewal email, too.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on May 07, 2024, 12:57:53 PM

Quote from: OzJohnnie on May 06, 2024, 07:09:55 PMPoor Hamline.  A legacy women's school that competes in two fewer sports still beats them in the all-sports trophy.  Back when I was first looking at Minnesota schools in the mid-80's Hamline was a viable MIAC competitor.

St. Mary's isn't a women's school. My dad graduated from there in the 1960s.
The women's school in Winona was St. Teresa's, since closed.

And now, much of that campus is taken up by my old High School, Cotter H S. Along with athletic fields where I and the neighborhood kids played baseball and football. There were (are?) trees planted at very close to ten yard gaps along the fenceline we would crawl under to get to the field. Ah, the good old days.

Another win this weekend against St Kilda, making that three wins in four weeks. The Hawks are on a roll. It was another demonstration of grit and determination by the young squad. The last two minutes another cardiac express.

Next week we travel to Adelaide to play Port Adelaide.  Despite their choking nature, we're likely to get smashed.

Big new out of Macalester:

https://www.startribune.com/macalester-chooses-an-enduring-stubborn-and-hairy-creature-as-its-new-sports-mascot-a-cow/600365283/

Quote from: SagatagSam on May 06, 2024, 03:55:45 PMThe MIAC Baseball regular season is in the books. St. Olaf brought its 18th baseball championship back to Northfield and first since 2007.

Lots of movement in just a few days in the Durenberger Trophy standings. SJU's tie for third combined with GAC's fifth place finish caused another flip at the top of the leaderboard. The Johnnies take a one point lead into this weekend's MIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hamline University.

Carleton and St. Olaf flip-flopped places and the Oles now sit in third while the Knights have fallen to fifth. Concordia and Augsburg stayed put in sixth and ninth, respectively. St. Scholastica leapt ahead of Macalester for seventh while the Scots fell to eighth, and St. Mary's second place baseball finish catapulted the Cardinals over Hamline for the tenth position.



The Johnnies clinch by defending their outdoor title or tying with Gustavus. Gustavus needs to finish more than one spot ahead of St. John's.

Bethel wins MIAC track and field championship...first ever...lucky once in a while. Johnnies 2nd and GAC a distant second...bring back Charlie Mahler.
Go Johnnies!
Hope a could stud d-linemen and some rub blockers show up this fall.

Quote from: Robert Zimmerman on May 11, 2024, 08:46:39 PMBig new out of Macalester:

https://www.startribune.com/macalester-chooses-an-enduring-stubborn-and-hairy-creature-as-its-new-sports-mascot-a-cow/600365283/

Do I see a newly named "one teated cow" on the board?

Quote from: Robert Zimmerman on May 11, 2024, 08:46:39 PMBig new out of Macalester:

https://www.startribune.com/macalester-chooses-an-enduring-stubborn-and-hairy-creature-as-its-new-sports-mascot-a-cow/600365283/

I want to make fun of them because they deserve it at all times, but that mascot actually is OK.  For an unnecessary change that had every possibility of being a first-class train wreck, they actually did well.

Kind of sucks, that.

Entertaining down to the last event! The Johnnies take home the Durenberger Trophy in back-to-back years for the first time since the 2006-07 school year (my senior year, by the way), and Bethel becomes the first team to not sponsor all MIAC championship sports (no swimming and diving at BU) to finish in second. Gustavus went from leading the Durenberger standings on May 7 to a third place finish on May 11.



Hamline, on the other hand, has what can only be described as quite possibly its worst athletic season in its history, finishing dead last in four sports. The only bright spot for the Pipers in the 2023-24 school year was a fourth place finish in basketball.

Quote from: faunch on May 11, 2024, 09:35:36 PMBethel wins MIAC track and field championship...first ever...lucky once in a while. Johnnies 2nd and GAC a distant second...bring back Charlie Mahler.

Bethel's T&F Conference Title isn't an outlier. They've made massive improvements in the last decade. They've won some indoor titles already and been consistently in the mix at outdoors.

They've got the best/most decorated HC in the conference (not really even close), who is a perfect institutional fit. Add in they now have an outdoor track, and they've got all the pieces to the puzzle. This won't be the last T&F title Coach Rock and Bethel lock down.

Quote from: hazzben on May 13, 2024, 11:30:28 AM

Quote from: faunch on May 11, 2024, 09:35:36 PMBethel wins MIAC track and field championship...first ever...lucky once in a while. Johnnies 2nd and GAC a distant second...bring back Charlie Mahler.

Bethel's T&F Conference Title isn't an outlier. They've made massive improvements in the last decade. They've won some indoor titles already and been consistently in the mix at outdoors.

They've got the best/most decorated HC in the conference (not really even close), who is a perfect institutional fit. Add in they now have an outdoor track, and they've got all the pieces to the puzzle. This won't be the last T&F title Coach Rock and Bethel lock down.

Not exactly the strongest spring sports finish out of the Johnnies......but still claim the Durenberger All-Sports Trophy.  Bethel and T&F doesn't appear to be a one year wonder, they clearly know how to build a roster that wins and scores points......I question how SJU loses by 11 points, but get destroyed in the two hurdle events where Bethel scores 58 points more by exactly having runners on the roster place.  How do we not have anyone score to balance that out?  This gap would be the equivalent of agreeing to play the 4th quarter of the conference championship football game with only 9 players on the field while the other team plays with 11.

After year 2 of the MIAC without UST, I hope the admin, players and coaches at SJU in all sports realize the structural advantages that exist for them to build an even more dominant athletic program.  National excellence should be the standard......congratulations to GAC and STO that both won titles this year in athletics!

Quote from: hazzben on May 13, 2024, 11:30:28 AM

Quote from: faunch on May 11, 2024, 09:35:36 PMBethel wins MIAC track and field championship...first ever...lucky once in a while. Johnnies 2nd and GAC a distant second...bring back Charlie Mahler.

Bethel's T&F Conference Title isn't an outlier. They've made massive improvements in the last decade. They've won some indoor titles already and been consistently in the mix at outdoors.

They've got the best/most decorated HC in the conference (not really even close), who is a perfect institutional fit. Add in they now have an outdoor track, and they've got all the pieces to the puzzle. This won't be the last T&F title Coach Rock and Bethel lock down.

They are dominant in the hurdles and sprints right now, which makes sense with Rock as coach.  They probably could have gone 1-2-3 in the 4x400m relay if they were allowed to field multiple teams.  The conference title came with barely any points in distance or field events.

I expect they'll be top 5 at nationals and a national title this year isn't unrealistic.  The top end on that team is very high.

Old school way of building track team was with quarter milers. Bethel had six of nine top 400 times.

Meanwhile, SJU baseball looks like it lost arms race. Jays gave up 36 runs over two playoff games. Jerry's football defense gave up 22 ppg last season btw.

Quote from: Redtooth on May 13, 2024, 02:36:59 PM

Quote from: hazzben on May 13, 2024, 11:30:28 AM

Quote from: faunch on May 11, 2024, 09:35:36 PMBethel wins MIAC track and field championship...first ever...lucky once in a while. Johnnies 2nd and GAC a distant second...bring back Charlie Mahler.

Bethel's T&F Conference Title isn't an outlier. They've made massive improvements in the last decade. They've won some indoor titles already and been consistently in the mix at outdoors.

They've got the best/most decorated HC in the conference (not really even close), who is a perfect institutional fit. Add in they now have an outdoor track, and they've got all the pieces to the puzzle. This won't be the last T&F title Coach Rock and Bethel lock down.

Not exactly the strongest spring sports finish out of the Johnnies......but still claim the Durenberger All-Sports Trophy.  Bethel and T&F doesn't appear to be a one year wonder, they clearly know how to build a roster that wins and scores points......I question how SJU loses by 11 points, but get destroyed in the two hurdle events where Bethel scores 58 points more by exactly having runners on the roster place.  How do we not have anyone score to balance that out?  This gap would be the equivalent of agreeing to play the 4th quarter of the conference championship football game with only 9 players on the field while the other team plays with 11.

After year 2 of the MIAC without UST, I hope the admin, players and coaches at SJU in all sports realize the structural advantages that exist for them to build an even more dominant athletic program.  National excellence should be the standard......congratulations to GAC and STO that both won titles this year in athletics!

Are we seeing a pattern? Best facilities doesn't guarantee success. Stop reading newspaper clippings & living on legends gone by. SJU needs some serious self reflection in all athletics.

Quote from: sjusection105 on May 10, 2024, 04:54:57 PMNo idea yet if the price increased...

$130 per seat.  I can't find a receipt from last year, but it seems pretty close, from my recollection.
 

The Johnnies mid-distance and distance squad did them no favors--8 points combined in the 800, 1500, 5000, 10000, and Steeple. Somehow the 4x800m relay team got a second place finish.

The Johnnies don't have far to reach back up and grab the brass ring. Get some production in those areas and they go from being the most balanced team in the MIAC to being the most balanced team by a mile.

I looked at the entries earlier in the week and scored the meet based on the seeds. Bethel was supposed to win by a much larger margin. Had the meet gone according to the chalk, Here's how the top three would have looked:

Bethel - 191
St. John's - 159
St. Olaf - 135

Johnnies set up their training schedule to peak at the outdoor conference championships, and they did just that by outperforming their seeds by 9 points. Bethel was just too strong in the hurdle and sprint events.