Senior Kathleen Thorn poses for a picture with her two parents after receiving her All-American award at the National meet.
Photo taken by University of Wisconsin- Stout Athletic Department.
It was a big weekend for Blue Devil sports!
Cross Country
Both cross country teams were represented at the national meet on Saturday, November 21st. Senior runners Tony Cass and Kathleen Thorn capped off their careers with a bang at the meet in Winneconne, Wisconsin. This was Cass’ second consecutive year making it to Nationals. Cass, a Hortonville, Wisconsin native, improved tremendously and finished in the top half of the 273 runners. He improved from finishing 211th to 123rd this year. Kathleen Thorn, originally from West Salem, Wisconsin, also found much success. Thorn placed seventh and earned herself All-American honors. What is most impressive is the fact that just with 1,000 meters Thorn was in 16th place. Her passion and perseverance shone through Saturday as she passed nine runners. Thorn was the fastest runner from the WIAC at Nationals and made history. She now holds the second best finish at a national meet in Stout history.
Men’s Hockey
On Saturday, November 21st, the men’s hockey team hosted Concordia University Wisconsin at the Fanetti Community Center here in Menomonie. Concordia and Stout were pretty comparable in their statistics for shots, penalties, penalty minutes, and face-offs won. However, what pushed Stout ahead was their keen ability to find the back of the net. Tyler Calemburg had a big night as he tallied his first collegiate hat trick meaning that he contributed to three of the five goals made by Stout. Junior forward Riley Colvard and senior defender Danny Ray also added to the score. The final score was 5-2, and the men’s hockey team is now 3-2-2. Stout will be opening up their conference play Thursday, December 3rd against local rivals University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire at Fanetti Community Center at 7:30 pm.
Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball team had two games this past weekend down in Waverly, Iowa. On Friday, November 20th, Stout played and lost to Monmouth College 50-63. It seemed that the Stout defense fell apart in the second half. After the first five minutes of the second half, Stout held a pretty decent lead of 40-27. It was at this point that Monmouth went on a 17-4 run over the Blue Devil defense. After catching up to the Blue Devils, Monmouth went on another 15-3 run to end the game in the lead.
On Saturday, the second day of the tournament, Stout was able to find much more success against Emmaus Bible College. The Blue Devils seemed to pick it up and shot with a high percentage of 50 percent from the floor and three-point range. This was too much for Emmaus Bible to handle in both halves. As a whole, the men’s basketball team found success. Fourteen players out of the seventeen that played contributed to the scoring column. This was the first win for the Blue Devils, bringing their record to 1-2. The Blue Devils will host Bethany Lutheran Tuesday, November 24th, at 8 pm in the Johnson Fieldhouse.
Women’s Basketball
Similar to the men’s team, the women’s basketball team went 1-1 at their tournament this weekend at Gustavus Aldophus College in Minnesota. The lady Blue Devils also came up short Friday night against Gustavus Adolphus just 67-72. Just a five-point loss was a heartbreaker for the ladies, but they were on the other side Saturday when they defeated Simpson College by just eight points with a final score of 83-75. Senior forward Jenna Goldsmith led the team to victory with a career high of 23 points. Goldsmith also grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked two shots, tallied two steals, and got one assist. Another key player for the Blue Devils was sophomore guard Haley Seifert who scored a career-high 11 points.
Upon returning from the tournament, Stout traveled to Augsburg College on Monday, November 23rd, and took home another victory. Stout dominated in rebounds over Augsburg and had a season high shooting percentage of 50 percent. The game concluded in a win at 42-32. Key players for this victory were senior Jenna Goldsmith, and senior Kyleigh Herbert. Each of these players scored 14 points. Trailing not far behind in the scoring column was freshman guard Shannan Watkins with 13 points. Nicole Schaub, a junior guard, also had a solid game with 11 points. The Blue Devils are now 2-2 and are hoping to extend their two game winning streak this week when they play at Hamline University on Tuesday, November 24th and when they host St Catherine Sunday, November 29th.