The charge was led by two individuals winning the titles in their events. Kenny Soderberg won the 300m hurdles with his 39.14 performance. And Ethan Lebrija was No. 1 in the 200m dash, clocked at 22.20.
Soderberg also had impact in the 100m hurdles challenge: a runner-up showing, time of 15.10. The only faster hurdler was Jayson Ekiyor of Providence Academy (14.51).
Lebrija accelerated in the 100m dash where his time of 11.22 put him in seventh. Soderberg and Lebrija were on the 4x100m relay team that took fifth with its 43.92 clocking. The two were joined in that effort by Derek Waldbeser and Trey Hunt.
Our girls team had Lydia Fynboh place No. 9 in the 100m dash, timed at 12.64. Kaylie Raths was No. 13 in the 300m hurdles with her 49.02 performance. Then we see the 4x100m relay team of Fynboh, Olivia Lebrija, Ruby Swenson and Crystal Nohl placing sixth. So a hearty congratulations is certainly in order for the Tiger track/field athletes in this spring/summer where their sport got so upstaged by softball locally.
More re. softball project:
The softball development project on the east end of town has been presented to the community as a big deal. The softball coach's career win milestone got lots of "pub" too, along with how the new field was named for her. Unfortunately our MACA softball team which was seeded No. 1 in sub-section did not make it out of sub-section.
The money continues to gush out of public coffers toward the softball undertaking. Our community showed sensitivity about this sort of thing when the new jail was proposed. Remember that? Doesn't the new project deserve the same type of scrutiny, perhaps with some skepticism?
Naturally we want good programs with good facilities for our youth. It's a given. That does not mean that just any new proposal with any pricetag should be approved, just because it might "sound good."
We have seen just partial completion of the softball project. A huge issue emerged early-on with the parking. Maybe that will be remedied if a new parking lot is in fact constructed. Is this a certainty? Is money set aside for that? Will it be considered a UMM parking lot? Will it be a permit lot?
Fans discovered in the post-season that they had to pay for admission even though a lot of public money has gone into the project.
The worst issue has to do with the design of the new field. There are serious fan seating issues along with an overall quality issue with sight lines. I am not a lone voice with this. Will this situation not be remedied? Might we consider dismantling the place and starting over?
Promoters I'm sure are the type to crusade for women's equality. Mary Holmberg would be at the forefront of this. And yet we're supposed to accept the inequality of a varsity softball field with horrible fan accommodations compared to our established Chizek Field with excellent accommodations for baseball? Isn't this an affront to girls sports? Fans mean a lot for the players.
Our Morris Area school board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the media center. There will be a motion to set aside an additional $207,000 to include phases 3 and 4 of the softball complex. OK, so it's $207,000, so let's just keep the spigot open, right? What of the ongoing maintenance costs out there? This was an issue that helped sink the county jail. MACA softball has performed on quite good facilities all through the years.
Our City of Morris made an initial contribution to the softball thing but then put on the brakes. The city should have stayed out of it completely. Too late now, but the city did say "no" to a second request for money. I wonder if the city will be punished for that in some way. The high school sports crowd can get pretty mean on these matters. Their emotions can be scary.
Remember, about 2/3 of the limited seating on aluminum bleachers at the new field does not even afford a complete view of the playing field. There will be times when fans of the visiting teams will come here and they'll go away mad. They'll expect a place to sit down. I would advise Morris fans to show courtesy and let the visiting fans have the few precious seats in the middle of the aluminum bleachers. Fans who try to watch from the sides of the field get an obstructed view through the fence.
A huge problem is the length and size of the dugouts which include storage space. Many fans set up their own lawn chairs way out by the outfield fence. Do you think any of these people would normally choose that vantage point? It is all so disappointing.
It would be nice to see some citizens show up at the school board meeting and advise the board to hold on to the $207,000, to apply it to another more worthy purpose. Are there any organized music activities for our Morris youth in summer?
Well it's just $207,000. And when it's gone, it's gone. As my friend Chuck Spohr once said when he was on the school board: "If you give us the money, we'll just spend it."
These matters can be reversed. The jail was nixed in spite of all the bureaucratic talk promoting it. We've been deluged with bureaucratic happy talk on the softball thing. And if it was a truly fine facility, I'd be much more receptive to it, might have even given some money for it. But this is not the case.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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