Irondale uses depth to win

Andy Richardson graduated, but the Irondale boys' cross country team is finding strength in numbers.

The Knights won the Monticello Invitational last week, a victory keyed by overall medalist Tarek Abdelkhalig and supplemented by six runners who clocked personal-best times.

Co-captains Matt Schafer and Ethan Evenson finished seventh and ninth, respectively. Matt Johnson (14th), Michael Dehnbostel (23rd) and Daron Wiley (25th) rounded out the lineup.

Two hearts are better than one

As Coon Rapids entered the fourth quarter of Friday's football game with Anoka last Friday, Cardinals players on the sideline made fists with each hand and held them aloft.

Second-year coach Jon Young, who has developed a number of motivation techniques in his short tenure, explains.

"The heart is roughly the size of a fist," he wrote in an e-mail. "We want our kids to play with twice as much heart as everyone else, hence two fists in the air."

The visiting Tornadoes proved to be better finishers last Friday, scoring a late touchdown to win 15-9.

"Doesn't always work,'' Young wrote, "but it has seemed to give the kids a sense of identity, and it hopefully gets their mindset for the last 25 percent of the game."

Waltower honored

Thomas (Dwayne) Waltower, a 1992 Park Center graduate, will be inducted into the North Dakota State College of Science Hall of Fame on Oct. 18.

Waltower, a defensive end for the Wildcats, was a two-time all-conference selection (1992, 1993). Waltower went on to play football at New Mexico State in 1994 and Western Illinois University in 1995.

Waltower coaches football at Fairfield High School in Ohio.

Benefit for Fridley coach

A fundraiser will be held Sept. 12 to benefit Al Thoreson, a longtime youth coach in Fridley who is battling ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Thoreson, 48, his wife and three sons have lived in Fridley for more than a decade. He coached youth baseball, football and wrestling.

The benefit begins at 7 p.m. Friday at the Fridley VFW located at the intersection of Osborne Road and Hwy. 65. Tickets can be purchased for $20 at the door, $10 for ages 5 to 17. The event will feature Live music, dinner, raffles and auctions.

For more information, call Randy Luedtke at 612-418-6102.

David La Vaque • 612-673-7574