Caledonia’s Isaac Fruechte, who had a stint with the Minnesota Vikings, has been hired as a wide receivers coach at Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Fruechte is a 2009 Caledonia grad, and he helped the Warriors win a pair of Class AA state championships. The wide receiver then played one year of college ball at Rochester Community and Technical College and three seasons at the University of Minnesota.
He joined the Vikings as an undrafted free agent and spent the entire 2015 season on the team’s practice squad. Fruechte was on the Vikings’ practice squad much of the 2016 season. He was signed to the 53-man roster for the final game, and he got to play in a win against Chicago, making one tackle on special teams.
Fruechte was in training camp with the Vikings in 2017 and was among the final cuts prior to the start of the season.
His father, Carl,is the head coach at Caledonia. Isaac helped coach the Warriors in 2017, following his release by the Vikings, and Caledonia won a third straight Class AA title. He is the cousin of Owen King, who quarterbacked the Warriors to a 40-0 mark the last three years.
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La Crosse was 8-2 under coach Mike Schmidtin 2016, its best finish since 2006.
"Coach Schmidt has got a tremendous staff, and they were awesome to me when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do after being done (in the NFL)," Fruechte told the La Crosse Tribune. "I was attracted to coming to UW-L, and getting involved with football, because, obviously, it’s in my blood a little bit with my dad."
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Rochester’s Brad Mathiowetzhas been named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association South Central Region Hitter of the Week.
The Mayo grad plays for Division I Angelo State in Texas. The region honor comes after Mathiowetz earned the same award from the Lone Star Conference.
Mathiowetz was a force at the plate during a four-game stint last week. The redshirt junior hit .563 while leading the team in hits, doubles, RBIs and total bases. He capped off the week with a 5-for-5 performance that included a walk, four runs scored and a grand slam for four RBIs.
He is batting .340 with an on-base percentage of .424 this season. Mathiowetz has hit nine doubles, two home runs and driven in 21 runs.
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Goodhue’s Sydney Lodermeier, Hayfield’s Carrie Rutledgeand Lyle/Pacelli’s Kristi Fettall played in the Minnesota Girls Basketball All-Star Series on Saturday at Carleton College in Northfield.
Byron’s Ayoka Leealso received an invitation for the event but is out indefinitely with a torn ACL and meniscus. Lee hurt her knee March 15 in the Class AA state tournament consolation semifinals. ACL injuries often keep players out for close to a year. Lee has signed a Division I scholarship to play next year at Kansas State.
The 6-foot-5 center had surgery on the knee on March 30. Byron girls basketball coach Darren Nelsonindicated it went well.
Hayfield co-head coaches Kasey Kreklingand Fred Kindschycoached one of the four teams in the All-Star Series. Playing on their team was Rutledge, who finished with eight points, including hitting a pair of 3-pointers.
"It was a lot of fun coaching in the (series)," Krekling said. "It was fun to see that much talent all playing at the same time. It was a real treat."
Goodhue’s Lodermeier, a 6-foot guard/foward, and L/P’s 6-5 Fett played opposite of each other in their game. Goodhue coach Josh Wieme, who was in attendance, said both girls scored about eight points and that Fett’s defense was dominating.
"Kristi had some blocks where the other team was clearly frustrated," Wieme said.
Fett and Lodermeier will also go against each other in college. Both have signed to play in the same Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, Fett at Minnesota State, Mankato and Lodermeier at Winona State.
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