News Leader

Experience, depth foreshadow success for Lanesboro girls

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Fri, 11/22/2019 - 8:42am

Veteran Lanesboro girls played "lots of varsity minutes," said new head coach basketball Bret Klaehn when assessing the strength of this year's Burros, who open the season at home Friday night (Nov. 22) against Kingsland.

Graduation did claim two of the top three scorers from last year's squad, including the MVP who also received honorable mention on the all-conference team. However, nine of a dozen letter winners do return, including three senior starters who are all three-year letter winners.

Cambern is Most Valuable, among five Burros voted awards

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Fri, 11/22/2019 - 8:41am

Sophomore Ella Cambern was voted Most Valuable Player by her Lanesboro volleyball teammates while junior Sydney Taylor was tabbed for two awards. Other honorees were senior Kaylee Peterson, sophomore Malia Tessum and freshman Jessie Schreiber.

Senior Sophia Simes earned one of the state's highest scholar/athlete awards. Academic All-State is an exclusive achievement, only for seniors who have an A grade point average (3.8 or better) cumulative from their freshman year through the academic quarter of the their senior volleyball season.

Cougars honor four cheerleaders

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Fri, 11/22/2019 - 8:40am

The Mabel-Canton cheerleading team handed out its end-of-the-season awards with head coach Heather Kleiboer announcing a total of four team awards to McKaila Lawrence, Katelyn Kleiboer, Belle Gerleman and Brooke Wallin.

Most Improved

McKaila Lawrence

Johnson repeats All-District; Gerard, Arneson also honored

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Fri, 11/22/2019 - 8:37am

The Mabel-Canton football team had three players named All-District. Junior running back Gavin Johnson was named to the All-District First Team for a second season while senior lineman Randy Gerard and sophomore quarterback Jack Arneson were named All-District Honorable Mention.

Three starters return; Mabel-Canton girls open Friday at L-O

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Fri, 11/22/2019 - 8:34am

The Mabel-Canton girls basketball team is hard at work as they get set to open their season this Friday, Nov. 22, at LeRoy-Ostrander. The Cougars couldn’t find the consistency they were looking for last season as they finished 8-20 overall (4-9 SEC East, fourth place out of five teams). With the No. 14 seed in last year’s section tournament, Mabel-Canton won one of its two postseason games.

Head coach Adam Wilder returns for his eighth season as Mabel-Canton coach. He led the team to a Southeast Conference title in 2017 and finished runner-up in three other seasons.

Heintz-Kuderer top shooter; seven Cougars celebrated

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Fri, 11/22/2019 - 8:33am

The Mabel-Canton fall trap team handed out its 2019 Top 5 Shooter Awards to junior Colton Heintz-Kuderer, sophomores Emma Middendorf and Austin Snell, juniors Tracer Tollefsrud and Jack Arneson as well as the Most Improved award to seventh grader Samantha Williams and Top Rookie honor to sixth grader Kale Tollefsrud.

The Cougars are coming off a second-place finish in the competitive Class A, Conference 9 standings.

Top 5 Shooters:

McCabe, Danielson repeat, Carolan also voted M-C volleyball award

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Fri, 11/22/2019 - 8:30am

Junior Kenidi McCabe repeated as Most Valuable Player and senior Payton Danielson was voted two awards with sophomore Emily Carolan also honored as the Mabel-Canton volleyball team recently wrapped another successful season with their postseason awards ceremony.

There were also many academic achievements, including Danielson and Sarina Stortz both earning the high honor Academic All-State.

Kenidi McCabe

Most Valuable, 2nd year

Session focuses on removing barriers to ‘affordable’ homes

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Thu, 11/21/2019 - 1:55pm

Apparently, finding “home, sweet home” isn’t as easy as just clicking one’s heels together in a pair of ruby slippers.  There are barriers such as the housing shortage, lot costs, bank loans and finding the right community to call “home.”

That’s why Southeast Minnesota Together convened in Spring Valley from the morning into early afternoon Thursday, Nov. 14, to sort out what the definition of “affordable” is in relation to housing, how to provide the right kind of housing to meet current workforce needs, ways to increase stability among those who have a home, and more. 

David Phillips: Every generation has its challenges

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Thu, 11/21/2019 - 1:49pm

As if the United States needs anything more to divide us, a new putdown, “OK, boomer,” has become popular among the millennial generation. In popular culture, it has led to a battle between generations, pitting baby boomers, who range in age from 54 to 72, against millennials, who range in age from 22 to 37.

The battle hasn’t hit home in our communities because the generations seem to work well together here and there is less divisiveness in general due to our smaller scale of community that leads to more personal interaction.

Program in Lanesboro set on backstories to pop-up plays

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Thu, 11/21/2019 - 12:27pm

A free program, “Stories of Lanesboro 1869: Backstories to the Pop-up Plays,” is set for Saturday Nov. 30, 1 p.m. at Sons of Norway Lodge, Parkway Avenue, Lanesboro.

History Alive Pop-up Plays director and playwright Jane Peck will give a talk and slide show about some of the many stories from southeastern Minnesota and Lanesboro that went into the script for the recent shows “Pop-up Plays: Founding Lanesboro 1869.” Many of the stories were only partially told in the script and some left out.