Dave Newman
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Dave Newman has been the sports editor at the New Richmond News since 1988. He has covered the action in the Middle Border Conference, Dunn-St. Croix Conference and Big Rivers Conference for nearly 30 years.
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Get ready to celebrate 25 years of Relay For Life being held in St. Croix County. The 2018 Relay For Life in New Richmond will be held June 8-9 at the New Richmond Middle School. The NR Relay For Life has been a major weapon in the battle against cancer. The previous 24 years of the Relay have raised more than $2.5 million for the American Cancer Society for cancer research.
Fourteen Somerset High School entries earned 1* ratings at the district solo and ensemble festival, which qualifies for them to compete at the state level. The state music festival will be held on Saturday, May 5, at Eau Claire. The district festival was held April 10 in Amery. Somerset sent 37 solos and small ensembles to perform at the district festival. Thirty of those entries were Class A entries, which qualified them to advance to the state competition if they received 1* ratings.
The break in the weather is allowing high school spring sports to begin to happen. The only event that remains scheduled for Friday is the Somerset track team competing at the Hudson True Team track meet. This originally was scheduled as an outdoor meet, but will now be held at the indoor facility at UW-River Falls on Friday. There are indoor and outdoor events happening on Saturday. The indoor event will be a girls soccer game between New Richmond and River Falls, which will be held at 10 a.m. It will be played at the St. Croix Rec Center in Stillwater.
New Richmond High School baseball standout Blake Kretovics will play collegiately at Winona State University. Wednesday, April 11 was national college letter of intent signing day and Kretovics made his choice official by signing to play at Winona State. The signing was held during a NRHS lunch period so many of Kretovics' teammates and friends could attend the event.
Talk about a tough way to open your season. The New Richmond softball team hadn't practiced outdoors before heading to Ellsworth last Thursday for their 2018 season opener. Ellsworth had had several outdoor practices and the Panthers return an All-Middle Border Conference pitcher. That combination led to a 15-0 setback for the New Richmond girls in their opener.
Days after accepting a combined academic and athletic scholarship to play baseball at Winona State University, New Richmond High School senior Blake Kretovics was honored again for his work in the classroom and in the athletic arena. Kretovics was one of one 32 Wisconsin High School seniors who were named Thursday as 2018 WIAA Scholar Athletes. Kretovics competes in football, hockey and baseball at NRHS. Kretovics was one of the four Division 1 boys selected for the honor.
Somerset native Tony Martin will be part of the lineup of fighters who will compete in UFC Fight Night 128 on Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J. Martin will face Keita Nakamura in the event at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Martin will move up to 170 pounds from lightweight to take on Nakamura in a welterweight class bout. Martin has a 12-4 career record. He is 4-4 since joining UFC.
While there are many teams that haven't gotten onto the field yet this season, the Somerset girls soccer team already has three games in. The Spartans are counting on that experience being an edge in what is likely to be a highly condensed schedule later in the season. Last Thursday, the Spartans hosted New Richmond in a game that wasn't on anyone's schedule. But when the coaches saw a favorable forecast, they hurriedly arranged a game. New Richmond came to Somerset and the teams played a non-conference game, with the Tigers winning 4-0.
Every track meet seems like further validation that the St. Croix Central track teams can compete with schools their size, and schools much larger. The Panthers won four events and were factors in nearly every event in their first outdoor meet of the season, the Mustang Open held at Menomonie High School last Thursday. Central's four wins were divided among two individual victories and two wins in relay events.
A reunion for all former Somerset High School football players, coaches and fans is in the works. The reunion will be held on Saturday, April 28 at General Sam's in Somerset, starting at 5 p.m.