Area grads in DIII volleyball tourney
Wednesday, Nov. 11
Two former local volleyball players are members of the Saint Olaf
College team that opens play Thursday in the NCAA Division III
Championship, playing in the Oshkosh Regional.
Martin County West graduate Kelly Prunty is a 5-foot-10 junior
setter and Jackson County Central grad Anna Meneely is a 6-foot sophomore setter.
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Prunty was named to the MIAC all-conference team and was also named
last week to the MIAC all-tournament team. In the tournament,
Prunty had 39 set assists in three sets against
Saint Mary's, 54 assists in five sets against Saint Thomas and 26
assists in the MIAC championship match at Saint
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Kelly Prunty Anna Meneely
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Benedict.
Kelly is the daughter of Matt and Nancy Prunty. Anna
is the daughter of Knute and Kaye Meneely.
The Oles are making their ninth overall appearance in the NCAA,
the first since 2002. Saint Olaf had its best finish in 1996, when
the Oles reached the final four.
Saint Olaf (27-4) is seeded fifth for the regional and will face
fourth-seeded Wisconsin-Eau Claire (30-7) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Oles are one of three MIAC teams in the regional.
Sixth-seeded Saint Thomas (24-7) meets No. 3 Wisconsin-Whitewater
(31-6) at 12:30 p.m. and second-seeded Saint Benedict (26-5) plays vs.
No. 7 Luther (25-11) at 3 p.m.
Wizard of Williams?
Basketball history in the Gopher state might be a lot different
if not for a blizzard more than 60 years ago.
Legendary coach
John Wooden, now 99 years old, could have become the head man at the
University of Minnesota. That was
his first choice, since it was closer to family in Indiana.
But, fate intervened and landed him at Plan B, UCLA.
Wooden, then at Indiana State, recounts in his new book, "A Game
Plan For Life": "I'd asked Minnesota if I could choose my own
assistant coaching staff and they weren't sure about it at first,
but promised they would call me by 6 p.m. on Sunday with their
decision.
"When 6 came and went without a call, (his wife) Nellie and I both
figured that they must have rejected my request.
"At 7, UCLA called, and we accepted their offer, not knowing that a
blizzard had knocked out the wires in the Twin Cities, preventing
Minnesota from calling to let me know they'd agreed to my terms."
Wooden had wanted to hire his own assistant coaches.
The Gophers finally got through to Wooden - too late - at around 7:30.
In 27 years at UCLA, Wooden's teams had a record of 620-147, an
.808 percentage.
The Bruins won an unprecedented 10 NCAA championships, including
seven straight from 1966-73. Included in the string is a streak of
38 straight NCAA tournament victories.
Also, there's the all-time NCAA consecutive winning-streak record of
88 games over four seasons, which included consecutive 30-0 seasons
in 1971-72 and 1972-73.
When Wooden went west, Minnesota hired O.B. Cowles, a native of
Browns Valley who would go on to become a star athlete at Carleton
College.
Cowles began his coaching career at Dartmouth, where he led the
Big Green to seven league titles. He then coached Michigan to the
1948 Big Ten title before returning to his home state.
While at Minnesota, Cowles guided the Gophers to a 147-93 record
(.612) and two second-place Big Ten finishes.
Herbie imitator
Check out five-year-old Josh Sacco of Tennessee as he
re-creates Herb
Brooks' famous 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey locker-room speech
before the Americans upset the Soviets.
Sacco will be at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul on
Nov. 20 before the Wild take on the New York Islanders.
