Beavers get one-two punch

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Feb. 13, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

It's a nice feeling to enter the conference meet already holding an eight-point advantage.

Thanks to a one-two finish in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's pentathlon championships Friday at BSU Gillett recreation center, the Beaver men's team will enter the NSIC team championships with an 18-10 lead over second place Northern State.

Since the pentathlon consists of five individual events, the conference holds it prior to the actual conference championships, which will be held in two weeks.

Ten men and eight women from the NSIC schools participated Friday, with BSU's Dan Frette not only winning the men's event but setting a school and conference record with 3,544 points scored.

BSU's Jon Pietila finished second on the men's side, and Tom Smith placed seventh.

On the women's side, BSU's April Clairmont placed fifth and Twlay Ohlrogge finished sixth.

The women's team earned three points twoard the NSIC championships. Moorhead State and Minnesota-Duluth each scored 10 team points to lead the women's race.

According to BSU track coach Craig Hougen, the number of athletes participating in the event was down. He attributed some of the low participation to the fact that most coaches know where most of the athletes would place. So those athletes who didn't have an opportunity to challenge for a high finish were more than likely held out to compete in other team events today.