Winter sports are underway

By Brenda Erdahl

Maple Lake High School sports are off and running.

An inexperienced girls’ basketball team – with only one returning starter in its ranks – is 0-4 after meeting two of the top three teams in the Central Minnesota Conference the first few weeks of competition.

The Irish boys’ basketball team started out with an energetic opener at home Friday, Dec. 8 and fell 65-23 to a tall and physical Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted team. The local rivalry drew a large crowd to the Maple Lake gymnasium.

Annandale-Maple Lake Wrestlers are off to a strong start with big wins over section rivals Princeton, Foley, and Big Lake. Coaches expect Foley and Big Lake to be among the top contenders in Section 6AA this season which bodes well for ANML’s goal of winning the conference, section and advancing to state. “We should have a balanced team and fill almost all weights with a wrestler who has a winning record,” Head Coach Ben Youngs said. The new and ground-breaking Annandale-Maple Lake girls wrestling team is preparing to hit the mat Tuesday of next week when they travel with the boys’ team to Maple Lake for an exhibition meet with Mora. Sixteen girls are out for the sport with a good mix of athletes from both schools. They will compete in four all girls’ tournaments this year with several more exhibition-type matches while traveling with the boys. See next week’s Messenger for a more detailed story on the history being made by the coop’s first ever girls wrestling team.

The Irish Gymnastics team traveled to Litchfield for its first competition of the season on Tuesday, Dec. 5 and on Tuesday, Dec. 12 they went to Buffalo.