The Walsh County Record

Grafton downs PCN in qualifier
The Grafton Spoiler softball team was on the road this past weekend for the Northern Regional Softball Tournament.
Grafton 16,
Westhope 6 (6 innings)
The Spoilers opened up the tournament  against Westhope, defeating them 16-6 in a shortened six inning contest.
With bases loaded and one out, Emma Papenfuss walked, scoring Nicole Christinson.
One batter later, Megan Osowski hit a Texas-league single, resulting in two RBI’s and putting the Spoilers ahead 3-0.
Papenfuss scored one batter later on Taylor Skjordal’s fly-out to left field. Osowski was retired trying to steal home and the Spoilers were ahead 4-0 after one inning. (more…)

On the most perfect day of this very short boys’ high school golf season last Thursday, the Hatton-Northwood-Thompson (H-N-T) Thunder played consistent and solid and won the Region 3 boys’ golf title going away.
The girls meanwhile got caught in the heavy rains this past Monday and were forced to go away altogether as their Region meet never really happened.
Boys
The Thunder boys shot a four person team score of 345 in Larimore to outdistance Park River Area (PRA) by 12 strokes.  The Grafton Spoilers finished a close third, three strokes back of PRA and 15 off the Thunder’s final.
“Watching H-N-T, you could tell they were playing well. As they came through the round they all were hitting very good shots,” Park River Area coach Kevin Skavhaug said. (more…)

Several area athletes qualify for state
For the fourth time in the last five years the Grafton Spoilers boys have captured the Region 3 Track and Field title.
Despite cool temps and heavy rain, the Spoilers won individual titles in three events and had top five finishes in 15 of the 19 events.
Junior Austin Contreras, who competed for Drayton-St. Thomas-Valley last year, won the long jump and finished second in three other events, the 100 and 200-meter hurdles and the high jump.
Contreras’ qualifying jump in the high jump (6’ 3”) is tied for the top qualifying performance in that event.
Grafton sophomore Dylan Boura won the 110-meter hurdles, an event he had already qualified for, and qualified for state in the 300-meter hurdles with a third place finish. Boura is also a member of Grafton’s 4×100 and 4×200-meter relay teams that qualified for state.
The 4×100 team of Boura, Jose Martinez, Contreras and Zach Peterson had previously qualified for state. The 4×200-meter relay team of Boura, Peterson, Martinez and Brody Nelson qualified Saturday by placing third. (more…)

“My big fish must be somewhere.” – Ernest Hemmingway
Turkey from a ground blind – yep.  4×4 whitetail buck with a bow -  been there.  Honkers over decoys – done that.   For 14-year-old Jordan Omlie of Lankin, there aren’t many outdoor pursuits he hasn’t been involved in.  And there aren’t many local trophies he hasn’t bagged, harvested or landed. Despite the fact that he is only an eighth grader, his education into the world of the great outdoors far surpasses his age.
Now the youngster can add another trophy quest to his ever increasing outdoors resume.  Omlie recently caught a monster walleye on Lake Winnipeg, in a place they simply call “the spot.”  It’s not a secret the big lake gives up big walleyes, but one this big?  Are you kidding me?
It was early Sunday morning a week ago when Jordan,  his dad Keith, his grandpa and friends were setting up on the spot when his dad had to go back and get the minnows they had left in the truck.  While he was gone, Jordan hooked on to something that he knew was the real deal.
“It felt like a tree on there,” Omlie said. “It was heavy but not really putting up a fight like you’d expect for a fish that big.”
But fight it did.  It took Jordan about 20 minutes to bring the big girl up and then maneuver it’s massive body through the mouth of the 10 inch hole.    (more…)

With spring nearly three weeks old, area athletes are looking to hit the outdoors in search of spring sports titles in track, baseball and softball. The northern Red River Valley still has several areas with snow on the ground, and it could be quite some time before the snow clears.
With that in mind, the North Dakota High School Activities Association (NDHSAA) and its board of directors recently took action to lessen the limitations on the spring athletics seasons.
According to Matt Fetsch, assistant to the executive secretary of the NDHSAA, the activities association board met recently and decided to lift all limitations as to how often teams can participate in athletic contests. (more…)