SPORTS WRAP
Sandy Boss stays active by scorekeeping at OHS volleyball and basketball, managing track meets, and biking around Owatonna with her husband, Jeff. If you’re in the right place at the right time, you can even catch her playing basketball.
“It’s just so much fun. And every year I say, ‘I have to follow this group through until they graduate.’ But then there’s always the next group coming through. Since I’m able to do it, I love to do it. I’ve been involved in athletics for a long time. This is what I want to do,” said Boss.
She also works the table for adaptive floor hockey.
“Nobody gets more enthused about their sport than the adaptive floor hockey team and their fans. When we have a game at the high school and the band comes, it’s just a wonderful event,” she said.
Tearing down the pillars
The move to the new high school has been smooth for Boss.
“I thought I would be very sentimental about the building going down. And actually, I watched it because I live close by. I watched the demolition, and then I just got acclimated to the new school, and I really don’t miss that old building. I don’t miss the pillars. Although I have lots of great memories in that building,” she said.
More highlights are coming to the old high school as the home base for gymnastics. It’s a long time coming for Boss, who spent nearly 30 years as the head coach.
“For about 55 years, I’ve been begging for our own gym. Because even when we practiced here in the early days, we shared with basketball, which meant putting the equipment up every day and taking it down every day.”
She told the Owatonna Live Coaches Show it was great to have a home at the gymnastics club on the fairgrounds, but she is thrilled with the new arrangement.
“Hallelujah. We’re there. And I can’t wait to get in that gym and see what it’s like,” said Boss.
Boss retired from coaching Owatonna gymnastics in 2007 with six conference titles and 12 state qualifiers, including Nikki Miller who won the state floor exercise title in 1989.
Coming to Owatonna
When she came to Owatonna in 1969 to be a physical education teacher, gymnastics was the only girls’ sport.
She spoke with then Activities Director Earl Bruhn about adding others.
“I said, ‘Well, I’d like to start a swim team too.’ And so, they said ‘OK. Go for it.’ The other physical education teachers and I saw all the places the kids wanted to go with volleyball and basketball and tennis,” said Boss.
She served as head girls’ track coach from 1971-75 and coached swimming for a couple of years.
Boss is the assistant meet manager of the MSHSL state gymnastics meet.
“It’s a great way for me to go back and see a lot of people that I know from my days coaching gymnastics. I often work the volleyball tournament and the track tournament.”
She was involved in athletics while attending the University of Minnesota.
“We started experimenting with some intramural and extramural, meaning we would go to other schools. I was at the ‘U’ and once in a while, we’d go to St. Cloud or Mankato to have some competitions. We were just thinking, ‘This is where it needs to go. Women need to have a chance to compete too.’”
Boss is a member of the OHS Athletic Hall of Fame and the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame and was Owatonna Teacher of the Year in 1998.
She still plays basketball.
“It’s called granny basketball. It’s modified a bit from what you think of as basketball. No dunking, of course,” she said with a smile. “A granny shot is a three-pointer unless it’s a free throw. Then it’s only a one-pointer. And there’s no running and no jumping.”
Watch the full conversation at OwatonnaLive.com.
Football cheerleader rally
The traditional last event at the Steele County Free Fair held a somber note last week. The football player and cheerleader pep rally included a moment of silence for Olivia Flores, who was due to graduate last spring when she was killed in a car crash just weeks before.
She was a longtime cheerleader.
Coach Jenna Compton spoke of her during the rally at Fair Square Park.
“The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is say goodbye to a friend and a teammate. Last year, Olivia Flores was up here on this stage excited for her senior year. And she had an amazing senior year. She was a great captain. She had so much energy. Her smile and laughter was contagious. It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, but also one of the most honored. I am so lucky to be part of such a wonderful community, a wonderful cheer family. I’m honored to be part of celebrating Olivia’s life as much as I was. I wanted to thank her family for sharing their daughter with us,” said Compton.
Compton, an OHS grad, has been with the program since 2010 and is in her second season as head fall cheer coach. Captains this season are Mia Armstrong and Brooke Hagel.
Seniors include Cameryn Edel, Sofia Escobedo, and Hannah Lempainen.
The cheerleaders host a youth clinic on Thursday, Sept. 19 at the high school for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
The next night, those kids will cheer alongside the varsity cheerleaders during the Huskies’ home football game.
Find out more on the Owatonna Huskies Cheerleading Facebook page.
Night at the ballpark
The Minnesota state amateur baseball tournament is an end of summer treasure.
The 101st edition is going on now, and on a whim, I went to a game on Friday night in Jordan.
I knew I was going to see a gem of a ballpark, and I wasn’t too surprised that the game was a gem, too.
The hometown Brewers put a hard-throwing righty on the hill who fanned the side in the first inning and went on to strike out 15 batters while allowing just two hits. Jordan won the game 5-0 over Cold Spring to keep alive their dreams of winning a title at the Mini Met on Labor Day.
The facility has a hill running down the third base line where many fans toss a blanket to sit and take in the game. The main bleachers are wooden and old but in good shape. The outfield fence is wood and painted green with trees beyond it.
The old-style scoreboard is operated manually by a person who places numbers on the board when something happens in the game. It also has lights to indicate balls and strikes.
Young kids raced around having a good time. Burgers off the grill added to the nostalgia. It’s considered to be one of the top ballparks in the state and deserves the distinction. Belle Plaine, Shakopee, and Green Isle are sharing state tournament games with Jordan.
OwatonnaLive.com play-by-play schedule
Thursday, Aug. 29:
OHS football at Hastings, 7 p.m.
OHS girls soccer vs. Mankato West, 7 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 30:
Blooming Prairie football at Rushford-Peterson, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 3:
OHS boys soccer vs. Red Wing, 7 p.m.
Medford volleyball vs. PEM, 7:15 p.m.