A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 1802
Golf means many friendly conversations about various topics of varying degrees of importance. One day our Rugged Spruce foursome was talking about Jerry West's passing. Randy Flynn said, to everyone's surprise, that he had seen Jerry West and the Los Angeles Lakers play in Duluth in September 1966 in the "first professional athletic contest in the new Duluth Arena." It was a preseason game. Randy was 13, grew up in Esko, and his dad took him to the game. The Lakers played the Oscar...
The 93rd annual Cloquet Invitational golf tournament opens play on Friday, July 12 and concludes on Sunday, July 14. The tourney is conducted at the beautiful 18-hole Cloquet Country Club. The full field of 175 players will be seeking the crown currently held by 2023 champion Brian Moores of Duluth. In 1931, the Cloquet golf course expanded from six to nine holes. Established in 1923, Rudolf Weyerhaeuser, the president of Northwest Paper in Cloquet, was intent on establishing a sporty course...
Twenty local basketball teams faced off in the fifth annual 3-on-3 July Fourth basketball tournament in Cloquet. With two half courts going simultaneously at Pinehurst Park, the tournament went off with plenty of impressive basketball. "It is a great tournament and we have some unbelievable talent in the tournament every year," said tournament director Paul Cameron. "We had a huge crowd to start the day and the atmosphere was lively and electric all day long." Many of the teams feature fun and...
The Cloquet Country Club held its club championships June 29-30, with former Lumberjacks players (and their coach) taking a starring role in the men’s competition. 2021 Cloquet grad Sam Baker defeated 2023 grad Karson Patton for Men’s Champion, while Keegan Poppenberg, a 2019 Esko grad, defeated Lumberjacks boys coach Aaron Young for third place. Arica Lepage defeated Patti Sheff for Ladies Champion. Men’s flight winners were Blair Chartier, Randy Leyendecker, Chris Chartier, Mark Kayser, Keith...
The northern Minnesota -based Northern Revival 17s team finished its club volleyball season at the Volleyball Festival in Phoenix, where the team finished 44th out of 96 teams after 11 matches in the 18s Club Division. It was one of three teams from Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Iowa to represent the upper midwest. The Revival played teams from all over the country, including Hawaii and Alaska, plus a few teams from Canada. The overall season record for 2024 ended at 48 wins and 42 losses....
In a summer of dodgeball with so much rain, the fourth annual Wood City Classic Softball Tournament went smoothly last weekend at Braun Park in Cloquet. There were plenty of highlights to go around as 32 teams competed in three age divisions. “It was a special weekend,” said tournament director Adam Maslowski. “When we got to the fields on Friday morning they were under water, but our grounds crew busted their tails off and got the fields in great playing shape.” The tournament was started...
Another rainy weekend in the area greeted the nine teams participating in the Cloquet VFW/Junior Legion baseball tournament at Ed Mettner Field in Cloquet last week. Despite the rain the tournament wrapped up late on Sunday with Chetek, Wisconsin laying claim as tournament champs. “The weather affected a lot of things, but our grounds crew was incredible and they worked their tails off,” said tournament director Nate Knutson. Noah and Grady Knutson, Lexi Goranson, Mackensi Lynch and Kade Kol...
From discussions about making a pitch for Hockey Day Minnesota, a less complicated, more locally driven idea was born: Hockey Day Cloquet. It's an idea that has legs now that the Cloquet City Council gave the city's blessing to use Veterans Park for the first-time event, set for Jan. 7-17, 2025. Nate Knutsen, who spearheaded fundraising efforts for the high school's new outdoor athletic facilities and the baseball updates at Mettner Field, presented the idea to the council at Tuesday's meeting....
Top-seeded Esko got off to a strong start in its quest for back-to-back Class AA baseball state championships with a 3-2 quarterfinal win over Montevideo on June 13 at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud. A 4-0 semifinal loss to Foley the next day, also at Dick Putz, foiled Esko’s state title aspirations. But Esko responded immediately afterwards with a workmanlike 4-1 win over Le Sueur-Henderson in the third-place game. Esko jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning in the quarterfinal against M...
A mostly failed Section 7AA championship surprise Gatorade shower, courtesy of his giddy players, sent legendary Esko baseball skipper Ben Haugen ducking for cover during an onfield post-game interview. The coach, who is quick enough to dodge drops during the rain storms that peppered section play last week, was equally adept at explaining how his team won a second-straight 7AA title by clipping Duluth Marshall 10-3 and 4-2 last Thursday night at Wade Stadium in Duluth. It was a stunning...
Steve Korby [email protected] The Cloquet High School boys golf team competed in the Class AA Minnesota State Golf Tournament Tuesday and Wednesday. The Lumberjacks finished seventh in the eight-team field. Cloquet had won the section tournament on six straight occasions and has placed higher at state, including a championship in 2021, but this year the top teams from around Minnesota played better over two days in a rain-shortened event. The tournament was held, again, at the Ridges At Sa...
The Cloquet Lumberjacks top boys finisher at last weekend's Class AA Minnesota State High School League's boys and girls track and field state meet was Andrew Shepherd, who was ninth in the 800-meter run. The state meet ran last Thursday through Saturday at St. Michael-Albertville High School. Shepherd was also part of the 4x800 relay team which finished 13th, along with Calvin Snesrud, Emmett Prosen and Evan Rothamel. "Shepherd is going to be awfully fun to watch in his next two seasons," said...
Kerry Rodd [email protected] Carlton County was well-represented last weekend at the Class A Minnesota State High School League's boys and girls track and field state meet at St. Michael-Albertville High School. While there was no state champion from the area this season, a number of athletes made the finals and medaled for being in the top 10 places. Barnum's Annaka Bogenholm had the best state meet of all area athletes by finishing third in the discus in Class A and seventh in the shot...
Cloquet-Esko-Carlton tennis player Ethan Lavan continues to make an impression on the statewide tennis scene. After capturing the Section 7A boys tennis title for a second straight season, Lavan played in the Minnesota state tennis tournament at Read-Sweatt Family Tennis Center last week. "Ethan is just one of those players who don't care how people look at him," said CEC coach Derek Johnson. Lavan came out in impressive fashion and won his first-round match easily before bowing out in the...
Dwight Cadwell [email protected] Making their third trip to the Minnesota State High School League state girls softball tournament last week, the Rebels were hoping to make a run at the state title after being close the previous two years. Those hopes were dashed in the state quarterfinals by Russell-Tyler- Ruthton. In their first-ever state tournament appearance, the Knights shut down the Rebels in a 10-0 10-run victory last Wednesday night in Mankato. RTR scored four runs in the bottom...
A huge five-run inning by Duluth Marshall Wednesday, June 5, saw the Hilltoppers topple defending state champion Esko 9-0 in the semifinal round of the double-elimination tournament at Wade Stadium in Duluth. But the season wasn't over yet. Esko needed to crawl back via the Section 7AA elimination bracket later on Wednesday, defeating Proctor to get another shot at the Hilltoppers. They would have to beat Marshall twice Thursday to advance once again to the state tournament next week in St....
Not surprisingly, the Cloquet High School boys golf team has repeated as Section 7AA champions, with medalist Lance Sayler leading the way. The team will now play in the Minnesota state high school golf championship at the Ridges at Sand Creek golf course in Jordan, Minnesota, June 11-12. It is the sixth time the Cloquet team has won the section crown since 2018. As has been the mantra all season, the Lumberjacks relied on a balanced team approach to winning the section. Cloquet's varsity...
The Section 7AA boys and girls track meet concluded on Saturday at Members Cooperative Athletic Complex in Cloquet. Chisago Lakes was a double winner, capturing top honors in both the boys and girls division. The Lumberjacks finished fourth in the girls meet while the boys from Cloquet took sixth in the 11-team field. "Both the boys and girls teams this year are the youngest teams we've had in quite a while," said 'Jacks head coach Tim Prosen. "This is such a nice group of kids. All of them are...
Section 7A is one of the largest sections in the state for track, with 22 teams with boys and girls competing to qualify individually for the week's state track meet. A plethora of Carlton County talent was headed south to St. Michael Thursday through Saturday after the May 30 section meet at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Esko won top honors in both the boys and girls divisions with the Esko girls narrowly squeaking by Two Harbors by a point and the Esko boys with an easy victory over the...
Team makes third straight appearance Dwight Cadwell [email protected] The third time may be the charm for the Moose Lake/Willow River girls softball team as the team captured its third straight section 7A title and advanced to the state girls softball tournament in Mankato this week, June 5-7. The Rebels season was different from the past two seasons. "We may have flown under the radar some as we played a tough schedule and had more losses than people were accustomed to," head coach Kelly...
A spectacular first season came to a close for the Cloquet- Esko-Carlton boys lacrosse team Thursday as the No. 4 seed Lumberjacks fell 16-8 to the No. 5 seed Centennial Cougars at Members Cooperative Credit Union Stadium in Cloquet. "They are a big, physical team and they took advantage of some matchups that were in their favor," said CEC coach Luke Mehelich. The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair and ended in a 4-4 stalemate. After giving up the first goal just three minutes into the...
They did it the hard way, but the Esko baseball team is the 2024 Section 7AA champion again. The defending state champs fell to Marshall Wednesday 9-0 but climbed back into the championship game and won a trip back to State. They had to beat Marshall two games in a row Thursday to do it, but Esko came through when it mattered most, winning 10-3 and 4-2. Read all about it in next week's Pine Knot News....
Esko teams dominated the Section 7A south subsection meet last Thursday in Crosby-Ironton as 12 boys teams and 11 girls teams hit the track with hopes of moving athletes on to the Section 7A finals Thursday in Duluth. Esko won the boys title with 135 points while Barnum and Crosby-Ironton tied for second with 92 points. Moose Lake/Willow River was fourth and Carlton/Wrenshall placed fifth. The Esko girls had 141 points and took top honors. Crosby-Ironton and Two Harbors tied for second with 97...
Playing in the school's first-ever playoff game, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys lacrosse team eked out a narrow 7-5 home win over Duluth Marshall at Members Cooperative Credit Union Stadium Tuesday night. "I told the guys they nearly gave me a heart attack," said head coach Luke Mehelich. "It was a tough game, but we battled through and found a way at the end." The win put CEC into second-round action set for 7 p.m. Thursday at home against Centennial, which took a 17-2 win over Grand...
For the second straight year, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys tennis team has a player going to State and for the second year in a row sophomore Ethan Lavan is that player. Lavan captured the Section 7A singles title in amazing fashion. In all, the Lumberjacks sent six players to play in last week's individual section championships. "Ethan was incredible and just went out and took care of business," said CEC head coach Derek Johnson. "He won 48 games and lost just two in winning his four matches...
