By John RittenhouseA week’s worth of work in the loser’s Section 3AA Baseball Tournament wasn’t rewarded Thursday in Granite Falls.The Luverne Cardinals, who had won five straight elimination games to earn a berth in the final round of the tournament, had their season come to an end with a loss to Pipestone in the championship series.Pipestone scored five runs in the home half of the first inning and never lost control of the game on the way to an 8-2 victory.The Arrows will make their first state tournament appearance since 1977 at 10 a.m. today in St. Cloud. Luverne’s 15-10 campaign comes to an end.Luverne simply couldn’t overcome Pipestone’s first-inning ambush Thursday.After Arrow pitcher Dan Morrison blanked LHS in the top of the first, Pipestone put together a five-run rally featuring a two-run homer by David Steenstra and a two-run double from Tim Stotz in the bottom of the frame.Luverne did plate single runs against the Arrows in the fourth and fifth innings to trim the difference to three runs (5-2).Pipestone, however, scored once in the bottom of the fifth before adding two more counters in the sixth to win by six.J.T. Bruynes reached base on an error and Zach Wysong came up with an infield single to set the table for LHS in the fourth. Bruynes was forced out at third base when Ben Nath reached base on a fielder’s choice, which sent Wysong to second. Derek Johson’s two-out single plated Wysong with Luverne’s first run.John Tofteland reached base on an error and Dustin Richters and Jared Pick drew walks to give the Cards a bases-loaded threat in the fifth. Wysong picked up an RBI when he was hit by a pitch to force home Richters, making it a 5-2 game before the final out of the inning was recorded.Pipestone blanked the Cards over the final two innings while scoring three runs of its own.Nath started the game on the mound and took the loss. Nath was charted with all five runs in the first without registering an out. Nate Boler pitched three and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief. Wysong and Pick also pitched in relief, allowing a combined three runs.Box score AB R H BIJ.Pick 3 0 1 0Bruynes 3 0 0 0B.Pick 1 0 0 0Wysong 2 1 1 1Boelman 3 0 0 0Nath 2 0 0 0Herman 0 0 0 0Johnson 2 0 1 1Lundgren 3 0 0 0Richters 2 1 0 0Tofteland 2 0 0 0Cote 1 0 0 0

By John RittenhouseLuverne’s initial appearance at the Minnesota State High School Team Tennis Tournament came to an end Wednesday, June 8, at the Nicollet Tennis Club in Minneapolis.Playing Virginia in the first round of consolation play, Luverne was eliminated from further competition after taking a 5-2 setback from the Blue Devils.The win sent Virginia to the championship match of the consolation round played at the same site later that day, where it lost a 6-1 decision to Thief River Falls.Luverne ended a 14-6 team season with the loss.The Cardinals, who were unable to win a match during the tournament opener against St. Paul Academy & Summit School on Tuesday, June 7, picked up two points against the Blue Devils.Senior Dusty Antoine prevailed at No. 1 singles, while senior Brandon Deragisch and junior Nick Heronimus posted a win at first doubles.Antoine nailed down 6-1 and 6-4 victories over Andrew Erickson, who eventually placed third in the individual singles tournament."Dusty served really well and played a good all-around match against Erickson," said LHS coach Greg Antoine.Heronimus and Deragisch won a 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 decision from Casey Sloth and Mike Villa."Brandon and Nick played one of their longest and toughest matches of the year against Virginia," said the LHS coach. "They battled all the way to the end and came out on top. Their athleticism carried them a long way in this match."Virginia’s five wins came in straight sets.Mike Skubic bested David Nelson by 6-1 and 6-4 tallies at No. 2 singles, Brian Villia topped Derek Boeve by 6-0 and 6-1 scores at No. 3, and Nico Sacchetti saddled Zach Sanderson with a pair of 6-0 setbacks at No. 4.Virginia’s Trevor Asbach and Kevin Urick notched 6-0 and 7-6 wins over Weston Sawtelle and Erik Stegemann at second doubles. Jared Cuoco and Evan Friedlieb posted 6-2 and 6-1 victories against Jamie Vickery and Matt Kreuch at No. 3 doubles."Our team learned a lot from our experience at state," said coach Antoine. "Hopefully, with losing only two seniors, we can work towards getting our game to the next level and be a contender for the conference and section tournament championships again next year."

By John RittenhouseIn what has become a spring ritual at Adrian High School, the Dragon baseball team earned a berth in the state tournament by winning the Section 3A championship Thursday in Windom.It will be Adrian’s third trip to state in the last four years.The Dragons, who entered play in the double-elimination event as the tournament’s lone undefeated team, needed to play a pair of games against Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin to secure its title.The Wolverines posted a six-run win over the Dragons in the first game. Adrian countered with a two-run victory in the championship game, giving the Dragons their section title.Adrian opens the Minnesota State Class A Baseball Tournament today in Jordan. The Dragons play Chisholm at 12:30 p.m. at the Mini Met.Adrian 2, ML-B-O 0An outstanding pitching performance by sophomore Will Lutmer carried the Dragons to victory in the section title game Thursday in Windom.Lutmer tossed a two-hit shutout, walking three batters and striking out three.After being blanked through the first four innings, Lutmer’s teammates gave him all the offensive support he needed by scoring single runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings.Adrian’s Cody Kontz drew a one-out walk in the fifth before moving to second when Nick Weidert was hit by a pitch. The bases were loaded when Brandon Diekmann drew a walk one out later, and Kontz scored from third base on a wild pitch.Joel Hoffman drew a one-out walk in the sixth before advancing to second base on a passed ball. Kontz chased Hoffman home with the second run of the game with a sharp single to left field.Levi Bullerman led the Dragons with two hits in the contest.ML-B-O 8, Adrian 2The Wolverines forced a championship game by defeating the Dragons by six runs during Thursday’s first game in Windom.AHS led 2-0 after one inning of play, but ML-B-O outscored the Dragons 8-0 the rest of the way to win handily.The Wolverines plated single runs in the second, third and fourth innings to gain a 3-2 advantage. ML-B-O put the game away with a four-run fifth inning before adding another run in the seventh.Weidert reached base on an error and Bullerman singled to ignite Adrian’s two-run rally in the first. Both runners eventually scored on errors.Brandon Diekmann yielded six runs (two were earned) during the first four and two-thirds innings and took the loss for AHS.

By John RittenhouseSix Cardinal athletes in the Luverne High School track program turned in all-state performances in Blaine Saturday.Luverne sent a delegation of seven athletes to compete at the Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships in Blaine.With all but one of the LHS entries earning all-state status (the top nine individual finishers and relay teams earn all-state honors), Cardinal coach Craig Nelson said the experience was a rousing success."In the many years I’ve coached track here, this was one of the most rewarding weekends we’ve had at a state meet," Nelson said."I’m sure we’ve had some state meets equal to or a little better than this one. But to have the kids shine the way they did shows the type of dedication we had to track this season. It was a great weekend."The highlight of the weekend proved to be a pair of second-place performances turned in by the boys’ 800-meter relay team and Lexi Heitkamp during the girls’ 800-meter run.Not having to compete in a preliminary race, the 800-meter relay team turned in a solid showing during its lone race of the weekend. Juniors Jake Hendricks, Tom Ward, Jordan Siebenahler and Mike Kunstle ran a 1:31.81 during Saturday’s finals, placing second to a team from Annandale (1:29.62) consisting of four seniors.The LHS team’s 1:31.81 bettered the school record effort of 1:31.89 it used to set a new Section 3A meet record the week before."The 800 relay ran very well," Nelson said. "To improve your time at this time of year is hard to do, and that’s all we wanted them to do at state. You don’t have any control over what the other teams do. We just told them to go out there, run your fastest race and to the best you can. They did that."Heitkamp, a freshman, continued a streak of setting a new school record in the girls’ 800 during both her races at the state classic.After winning the section title with a time of 2:21.31 in Redwood Falls June 2, Heitkamp ran the field’s fastest preliminary time (2:17.99) in Blaine on Friday.She turned around on Saturday and posted a 2:17.65 in the finals, but Kingsland senior Nicole Calabrese turned in a 2:15.4 to win the state title."What can you say about Lexi other than she ran against some of the best athletes in the state of Minnesota, and she came in second place," Nelson said."For those of us who’ve been watching her run for some time now, we’re not surprised. It’s incredible to be a ninth-grader and be able to say you’re the second-fastest athlete in the state."The Luverne boys, who compiled 21 points and tied for 15th place as a team at the state meet, also received all-state individual performances from freshman Chris Ashby, Hendricks and Kunstle.Hendricks and Ashby placed fifth in the 400-meter dash and 300-meter hurdles respectively.Making his second appearance at the state meet in the 400, Hendricks qualified for the finals in the event for the first time by running a 50.5 during Friday’s preliminaries. It was the fifth-best time of the 15 runners competing in the preliminaries.Hendricks turned in a 50.92 and placed fifth in Saturday’s finals.Glencoe-Silver Lake senior Jesse Posusta won the state title with a 48.73."Jake did a lot better job this year compared with last year. He didn’t make the finals last season. Both races he ran this year were very solid," Nelson said.Ashby capped what was an attention-grabbing season by turning in a pair of strong races in Blaine, too.He ran a 40.63 during Friday’s preliminaries, which proved to be the seventh-best effort in a field of 16 runners. Ashby recorded a 41.31 in the finals, which was good for fifth place.Wadena-Deer Creek junior Eric Asfield won the state title with a 39.75."For a ninth-grader to have that kind of success in the 300-meter hurdles, which is a highly-technical endurance race, is simply outstanding. There are not many freshman who had more success at the state meet than Chris did," Nelson said.Kunstle rounded out the all-state performances by placing ninth in the 200-meter dash.He ran a 23.1 Friday, which was the seventh-best effort of the 16 entries in the 200. Kunstle ran a 23.89 and placed ninth in Saturday’s finals.G-SL’s Posusta won the state title in the 200 with a time of 22.22.Kunstle also ran in the 100-meter preliminaries Friday, recording an 11.29 (the 13th-best time of 27 runners) without advancing to the finals."Mike had a full schedule of running three events at the state meet, which is a tough thing to do. He made the finals in the 200, he just missed the finals in the 100 and he ran very well for the 800-meter relay on Saturday. I see Mike as a person that can go back to state and improve on all of his individual finishes next year."Luverne sophomore Ben Uphoff ran in the 300-meter hurdles on Friday without advancing to the finals. Uphoff turned in a 42.51, the 16th-best time in the preliminaries.

By John RittenhouseThe high school baseball career of Hills-Beaver Creek senior Zach Wysong came to an end Thursday in Granite Falls.Wysong, a member of the Luverne High School team, and his Cardinals bowed out of the Section 3AA Tournament with a loss to Pipestone in the championship series.Luverne needed to beat Pipestone twice in order to advance to the state tournament in St. Cloud. The Arrows, however, ended Luverne’s 15-10 season by defeating the Cardinals 8-2 in the first and only game of the evening.Wysong played an active role in both of Luverne’s run-producing innings during the contest.Trailing 5-0 in the top of the fourth, Wysong recorded an infield single before scoring the team’s first run on Derek Johnson’s RBI single.Wysong was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth, helping the Cards trim Pipestone’s lead to three runs at 5-2.Pipestone capped the scoring by plating one run in the bottom of the fifth before adding two more in the sixth.Along with playing the shortstop position during the game, Wysong also recorded some outs as a relief pitcher.

By John RittenhouseHills-Beaver Creek senior Tyler Bush became the school’s fourth individual to win a title at the Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships Saturday in Blaine.Competing at the National Sports Center as the lone representative of the H-BC-Ellsworth-Edgerton program, Bush qualified for the finals of the 800-meter run for the fourth consecutive year on Friday before winning the state title on Saturday."It was awesome," said Bush about becoming H-BC’s latest state track champion."I just wanted to place better than I did last year, which was fourth. Going into the meet, I thought I had a chance (to win). When I won, I was really surprised by it."Winning the 800 crown capped a four-year stretch of Bush earning places in the event at the state meet.Bush placed eighth in the 800 as a freshman, fifth as a sophomore and fourth as a junior."Things fell right in place for him," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle, who credited Bush with running a strategically sound race."To win at the state level, things have to place for a runner because every race is different from one year to the next. Tyler wanted to go out and get the lead early, and he was able to hold it most of the way. He did fall behind for a while, but he was able to get it back with a strong finish."Bush qualified for the finals on Friday by running a 1:58.74, which was the fifth-best time recorded in a field of 17 runners.The way things turned out, his time on Friday actually was better than one he registered (1:58.77) during his championship run on Saturday.It was his strategy that led to success in the finals."I wanted to get the lead early, so I was looking at running the first 200 meters in 26 seconds. No one went out hard with me, so I got the lead (in the first 200 meters) and ran a 28 (seconds). Since I didn’t have to go out as hard as I thought, I had more left for the end of the race," Bush said.Bush was able to lead the race until the final 200 meters, when East Central’s Jake Carlson passed the Patriot to take a brief advantage. Bush, however, pulled even with Carlson with 70 meters remaining in the race and passed him with a late surge in the final 50 meters.The H-BC-E-E standout said having a lighter workload in Blaine helped him win his title.During his prior appearances at state, Bush ran with some relay teams along with competing in the 800. Since no H-BC-E-E relays qualified for state this year, he was able to concentrate on one event."I think that was a big factor. I wasn’t a part of a relay, so I only had to run in one race. My legs were fresh. When I’m able to stay off my legs, they are good," he said.Bush will run outdoor track and play basketball at Northwestern College (Orange City, Iowa) next year. He joins past H-BC athletes Chris Reid (a two-event winner in 2003), Brad Haak (2001) and Steve Esselink (1999) as state track individual champions."It’s nice to know you won that last race in a Patriot uniform," he concluded.

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDSNotice is hereby given that sealed proposals will be received by the City Council of Luverne, Rock County, Minnesota, at the Luverne City Hall, 203 E. Main St. P.O. Box 659, Luverne, Minnesota 56156-0659 on Friday, the 8th of July 2005 at 10:00 A.M. for streetlight poles and fixtures for the Downtown Street Lighting project, at which time the bids shall be publicly opened and read aloud.Specifications, proposal forms and contract documents may be seen at the office of the City Clerk, City of Luverne, 203 E. Main St., Luverne, Minnesota 56156.Bids must be made on forms furnished by the City of Luverne and no alteration, addition, or variation will be permitted. Bids must be accompanied by bid security in an amount equal to five percent (5%) of the total bid. The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive technicalities and irregularities and further reserves the right to award the contract for the best interest of the City in its sole option. Published upon order of the City Council of Luverne, Minnesota.(6-16)

PROBATE COURTDISTRICT COURTPROBATE DIVISIONORDER AND NOTICE OF HEARING ON PETITION FOR ADJUDICATION OF INTESTACY, DETERMINATION OF HEIRSHIP AND APPOINTMENT OF ADMINISTRATOR IN SUPERVISED ADMINISTRATION AND NOTICE TO CREDITORSSTATE OF MINNESOTACOUNTY OF ROCKIn Re: Estate of Keith G. Pederson, DeceasedTO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND CREDITORS:It is Ordered and Notice is hereby given that on the 27th day of June, 2005, at 3:30 O’clock P.M. a hearing will be held in the above named Court at Rock County Courthouse, Luverne, Minnesota, for the adjudication of intestacy and determination of heirship and for the appointment of Tamara Wise whose address is 601 North McKenzie, Luverne, Minnesota 56156, as administrator of the estate of the above named decedent in supervised administration, and that any objections thereto must be filed with the Court. That, if proper, and no objections are filed, said administrator will be appointed to administer the estate, to collect all assets, pay all legal debts, claims, taxes and expenses, and sell real and personal property, and do all necessary acts for the estate. Upon completion of the administration, the administrator shall file a final account for the allowance and shall distribute the estate to the persons thereto entitled as ordered by the Court, and close the estate. Notice is further given that ALL CREDITORS having claims against said estate are required to present the same to said administrator or to the Court Administrator within four months after the date of this notice or said claims will be barred. Dated: June 6, 2005 /s/ Timothy K. ConnellTimothy K. ConnellDistrict Court Judge/s/ Daniel W. Vis /s/ Sandra L. VrtacnikDaniel W. Vis Sandra L. VrtacnikAttorney for Petitioner Court AdministratorEisma and Eisma130 East Main, Box 625Luverne, MN 56156(507) 283-4828I.D. #271238(6-16)

ORDINANCE NO. 277, THIRD SERIESAN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING SALE OF REAL ESTATE(Portion of Lot 4, Block 15, Warren & Kniss 2nd Addition—Blaine Radtke)THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LUVERNE ORDAINS: SECTION 1. Pursuant to City Charter, Section 12.05, the City Council is authorized to sell or convey the following described real estate located in the City of Luverne, County of Rock, State of Minnesota described as follows, to-wit: The West 25 feet of the South 120 feet of Lot Four (4), Block Fifteen (15) in Warren & Kniss 2nd Addition to the City of Luverne. SEC. 2. The Mayor and City Clerk are hereby authorized and directed to execute such necessary and appropriate documents of conveyance. SEC. 3. This ordinance shall take full force and effect seven (7) days after its publication.(6-16)