A standout football player for the University of Minnesota Duluth, was stabbed around bar closing time over the weekend after a street fight in downtown Duluth, authorities said Monday.
Austin Sikorski, a senior running back and the team's leading rusher last season, was stabbed in the lower right side of his abdomen about 1:55 a.m. near W. Superior Street and 1st Avenue, where there are many drinking nightspots, said police spokesman Jim Hansen.
Police found the wounded Sikorski about a block away at Superior and Lake Avenue and he was hospitalized in stable condition, Hansen added.
Hansen said police have identified someone they are calling "a person of interest," but there have been no arrests as of early Monday afternoon.
Investigators were still sorting out the circumstances of the fight but say alcohol appears to have been a factor in the altercation, Hansen added.
Sikorski, who was a star football player at Stevens Point High School in Wisconsin, led the Bulldogs last season with 1,290 yards and 16 touchdowns in 13 games. He was named by USA College Football as a preseason All-All American for Div. II.
Minnesota, Duluth, issued a statement saying it was aware of the incident but said it was still gathering details.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
