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.
Jan. 20, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
Illness depleted an already thin Bemidji swim team Tuesday, as the Lumberjacks lost by more than 100 points at its annual triangular.
Hibbing finished with 535 to take first, followed by Bemidji at 426 and Thief River Falls at 252.
"It wasn't the barnburner we thought it would be," Jacks coach Todd Walsh said. "We had several people out sick, and the guys that were swimming were off."
Walsh said he had expected a closer 30-plus-point match, but his team didn't perform well.
Hurting the team the most were the absences of Jeff Haack and Sabin Rasmus.
Rasmus won the 200 yard freestyle and took third in the 100 yard freestyle before becoming ill and withdrawing from his final events.
Haack, a 500 yard freestyler and 100 yard backstroker, was out completely with a sinus infection.
"Haack and Sabin are two big, key players on our team," Walsh said.
While at times Bemidji had as few as two people or teams participating in some events, Hibbing had strong depth with four competitors in every event.
That depth outpaced Bemidji.
In addition to Rasmus' first and third finishes, Brian Smith also led the Lumberjacks with first place finishers in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle races.
"He was probably our swimmer of the day," Walsh said.
The Jacks held only one lead the entire meet, a slim five-point 87-82 lead after the 200 yard freestyle, the second event of the night.
Hibbing amassed its first big lead, 213-176, after the diving event, and it grew to 273-197 in Hibbing's favor after the 100 yard butterfly -- one of Bemidji's weakest events.
The Jacks were able to reduce the gap to 59 points through the 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay before it ballooned to the 535-426 final score in favor of the Bluejackets.
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