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Despite a perfect record and lofty ranking, the Rochester Community and Technical College football team does not plan to travel for a bowl game.
RCTC puts its 10-0 record and No. 10 national ranking on the line in Sunday's Minnesota College Athletic Conference state championship football game against Central Lakes. Central Lakes is 9-1 and ranked 12th in the nation.
Yellowjackets football coach Brad LaPlante said he has heard from several bowl representatives around the country. But the North Star Bowl in Rochester was started a year ago, and the Yellowjackets plan on playing in the event again this year. In 2008, RCTC beat Lackawanna 19-13 in the first-ever North Star Bowl.
"We've been contacted by about three other bowls, LaPlante said. "But this bowl (the North Star) was started for the state teams and we're going to stick to that."
The NJCAA bowl game will be played on Nov. 21 at 2:30 p.m. at Rochester Regional Sports Stadium. RCTC will play a yet-to-be determined foe.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Event information is available at www.rochsports.com.
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Kate Trenerry of Rochester is the goalkeeper for the Carleton College women's soccer team that will face Macalester College today with a bid to the NCAA Division III tournament on the line. Carleton takes a 9-5-5 mark into the game.
Trenerry, a junior, helped Carleton beat Concordia College 2-1 in a shootout in the MIAC playoffs to advance to face Macalester. Trenerry had nine saves against Concordia, and added three big saves in the shootout. Concordia entered the game unbeaten and ranked seventh in the nation.
"Kate was amazing," Carleton coach Keren Gudeman said. "She was on fire. I don't know how she came up with some of those stops. She picked the correct side each time and was able to stretch to get to these shots."
Trenerry has appeared in 13 games this season and has a 5-5-3 record with a .778 save percentage and two shutouts.
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Boston Bruins defenseman Mark Stuart of Rochester was among four athletes included in Sports Illustrated's "The Pop Culture Grid" for the Nov. 2 issue. Athletes are asked five questions and respond with short answers. Among Stuart's answers, he said his favorite candy at Halloween as a kid was a Heath bar and that the Bruins' locker room smells like "a wet dog."
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Jordyn Krekling, a senior at Hayfield, has verbally committed to play women's basketball at Minnesota State, Mankato. The 5-foot-10 guard averaged 13.2 points for the 21-7 Vikings as a junior in 2008-09. Krekling was all-conference in the Hiawatha Valley League the past two seasons and also was named to the Class AA All-Tournament team at the state tournament in 2008. She played with Minnesota Fury Canton in the 2009 club season.
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Pine Island native Leisha Johnson Ronning was recently inducted into the Gustavus Adolphus College Athletics Hall of Fame. A 1990 graduate of Gustavus, Johnson was a standout basketball player for the Gusties. She was one of eight individuals inducted this year.
Johnson Ronning was a three-year starter at guard for Gustavus. In her senior season (1989-90), Ronning averaged 10.3 points per game and set a school record for steals in a season (67) on a squad that set a school record for wins with 17 and tied the program mark for wins in conference play with 14. She was a two-time all-conference shooting guard and graduated as the third-leading scorer in the program's history with 921 points, while also ranking third in career steals with 151 and fifth in career field goals made with 421. She still holds the highest career field-goal percentage by a non-post player at 47.8 percent.
Johnson Ronning still resides in Pine Island with her husband and family and works at the Mayo Clinic.
Guy N. Limbeck's Local Sports Notebook regularly runs in print on Tuesdays and Saturdays.