Delano is the place for sports
Matt Kane
Delano Herald Journal Sports Editor
Looking for a game?
Delano is the place.
If thinking back to your glory days brings back memories of tossing the ball around the diamond, setting up a game-winning goal, breaking the tape at the finish line or knocking down a 30-foot putt, then you found the right place to watch today’s athletes do the same thing.
From September to June, Delano High School is the busy place for athletics.
The obvious place to see an event is the Delano High School, which hosts or co-hosts 23 Minnesota State High School League sanctioned varsity activities, including dance and cheerleading.
The fall season includes football, boys’ and girls’ cross country, boys’ and girls’ soccer, girls’ swimming, girls’ tennis, volleyball and cheerleading. In the winter, athletes compete in dance, boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ swimming, gymnastics, girls’ and boys’ hockey, and wrestling. And during the summer, the teams get back outside for baseball, softball, boys’ and girls’ track, boys’ and girls’ golf.
The Tigers have a long tradition of athletic excellence, and that tradition continues to live on through today’s athletes.
In the 2006-07 school year, through the winter season, four teams had representatives compete in their respective state tournaments.
In the fall, the football team won the Section 4AAA championship, and qualified for the state tournament. The Tigers were knocked out of state by Wright County Conference foe, and eventual state champion, Glencoe-Silver Lake 48-20 in the first round.
Before the gridiron boys raised their section championship trophy, the girls on the tennis team did so after winning the Section 5A title.
The Tigers won the Wright County Conference, and enjoyed a perfect 13-0 regular season. They then defeated St. Cloud Cathedral, Foley and Providence Academy in the Section 5A team tournament to earn the team’s first ever trip to the state tournament. The Tigers finished fourth at the tournament.
Brittany Bonine and doubles partner Kelly Rensink competed in the individual state tournament.
Two wrestlers and the dance team competed in state tournaments during the winter tournaments.
Heavyweight Cody Socher finished fifth. Dalton Sowers was Delano’s other state wrestler. The 2006-07 dance team competed in both the jazz/funk and high kick competitions at the state tournament.
Outside of school, the Tiger Activity Center, located at the high school, offers summer camps for basketball, gymnastics, tennis, soccer and basketball. The summer months are also filled with youth baseball and softball, as well as adult leagues in several sports. For information on summer activities, call the Tiger Activity Center at (763) 972-3365, extension 2129.
Delano Municipal Stadium is a popular place to take the family on Sunday afternoons and weekday evenings during the summer. The Delano Athletics call the stadium home for half of their 30-game schedule.
The A’s play in the Central Division of the North Star League in Class B.
Delano won the Class C state championship in 1988, and also has three second place finishes in 18 trips to the state tournament. Three former Athletics — Perry Ditty, Valentine “Dutch” Styrbicky and Rich Ditty — are members of the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame, and 12 have been inducted into the North Star League Hall of fame. The late Dick Traen will be inducted into the North Star League Hall in the summer of 2007.
The A’s regular-season schedule begins May 7 in a home game against the Minneapolis Angels and ends July 29 at home against St. Louis Park, with the playoffs beginning Aug. 2.
Delano Athletics 2007 schedule
Sunday, May 6 MINNEAPOLIS ANGELS 2 p.m.
Friday, May 11 MINNETONKA 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 13 ROCKFORD 2 p.m.
Wednesday, May 16 COLOGNE 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 18 at Union Hill 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 20 at Maple Plain 2 p.m.
Wednesday, May 23 KINGSTON 7:30 p.m.
Friday, June 1 at Maple Lake 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 3 at Loretto 2 p.m.
Wednesday, June 6 HUTCHINSON 7:30 p.m.
Friday, June 8 DASSEL-COKATO 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 10 HOWARD LAKE 2 p.m.
Friday, June 15 MONTICELLO 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 17 at Buffalo 2 p.m.
Wednesday, June 20 at Albertville 6:30 p.m.
Friday, June 22 WATERTOWN 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 24 at Mound 2 p.m.
Wednesday, June 27 ROGERS 7:30 p.m.
Friday, June 29 MAPLE LAKE 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 1 at St. Michael 2 p.m.
Friday, July 6 All-Star Game at Loretto 7 p.m.
Sunday, July 8 ST. MICHAEL 2 p.m.
Wednesday, July 11 NEW ULM KAISERHOFF 7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 13 CLEAR LAKE 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 15 at Hutchinson 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 18 at Dassel-Cokato 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 21 at Mankato 5 p.m.
Wednesday, July 25 COLD SPRING 7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 27 ST. LOUIS PARK 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 1-5, 8-12 Section 8 playoffs at D-C TBA
Aug. 16-19, 22-26, Sept. 3 State at Hamburg/Norwood TBA
