I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
April 1, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
The Minnesota-Morris Cougars weren't much of a match for the Beavers women's tennis team Wednesday, but come to think of it, no one in the conference has been much of a match this year.
With the 8-1 victory over Morris at BSU's Gillette Recreation Center, the Beavers completed their five-match Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference season undefeated and upped their overall record to 6-3.
The Morris win, which was played at BSU Tuesday because the Cougars couldn't host it later in April, gave the Beavers their best regular season finish ever.
The previous best finish was in 1996 when the Beavers finished third in the regular season standing, an accomplishment which earned then-coach Becky O'Keefe co-coach of the year honors.
"It was awesome. We were so happy afterward I had tears in my eyes," said Howe, who prior to getting the BSU job had never coached any sport on any level. "The girls just looked real tough."
No. 1 singles player Renee Perry started the rout with a 6-0, 6-2 thrashing of Morris' No. 1 singles Lindsey Witt.
Melissa Edman, Tara Bromenshenkel, Hannah Warweg and Brittany Will scored BSU's other singles victories at the third through sixth positions.
The Beavers' No. 2 singles Marti Hendrickson was BSU's lone blemish Wednesday, as she dropped her match to Morris' Katie Forbes 6-4, 5-7, 6-0.
In doubles, the teams of Perry and Edman, Hendrickson and Shannon Trepanier and Bromenshenkel and Warweg all recorded easy victories.
The win, and in general the Beavers' entire season, bodes well for them within the conference tournament only a month away.
With their 5-0 record the Beavers have earned the No. 1 seed for the NSIC tournament, and they will be tough to beat, Howe said.
"I'm feeling very confident," she said. "I know we have had a lot of home (field) advantage this season, but I do feel the team is strong."
The Beavers finish with non-conference matches versus Moorhead State, North Dakota and Minot before competing at the NSIC meet held April 24-25 at Winona State University.
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