MVL beginning to cope with loss of Gronholz

NEW ULM -- The worst fears of not only Minnesota Valley Lutheran, but all New Ulm basketball fans, were confirmed Friday afternoon when an MRI revealed a torn ACL and additional damage to the left knee of Sarah Gronholz -- the Chargers' standout post player. The injury, which occurred last Saturday in a game at Janesville, will require surgery and ends the senior's basketball career at MVL.

"We are all trying to the deal with the loss of Sarah," said MVL coach Dave Biedenbender. "We are dealing with the fact that we will have to do without her. But I think that in the last week or so our team has prepared to deal with that possibility. We have moved people around. But it is a tremendous loss. But we are more concerned about her and how she recovers from the injury."

Biedenbender said two things have happened to begin the healing process for the Chargers. "We had to play the second half (of the JWP) game without her and Tuesday night (a three-point win over Sleepy Eye St. Mary's) we played in a tight game. It was tougher and tighter than we thought that it might be. But that was part of that process, too. Now, I think that the next step is our game."

He said the players on the team "have all accepted in the last week that Sarah will be gone and they will have to pick up the pace the rest of the season and in tournaments."

Biedenbender commented that Gronholz "has taken the injury pretty well. She knows that there are far worse things -- life-threatening things that could have happened to her. She knows that this injury can be repaired. She is more bummed about the fact that she feels that she has let the team down, which we all know that she has not."

Gronholz, who is still being recruited by Minnesota State-Mankato, Southwest State and St. Benedict ends her high school career prematurely with 948 career points (sixth in MVL history), 649 rebounds (second in school history) 203 steals (eighth in school history) and has blocked a school-record 285 shots in her career.

TWO NEAR 1,000 POINTS: For the first time since 1995, New Ulm basketball fans can watch two players crack the 1,000-point total.

New Ulm Cathedral's Will Moeller needs 16 points (this column was written prior to the Hounds' game with GFW Saturday night) to enter that elite class.

Also, MVL's Erin Czer needed 11 points to step into that group prior to the Chargers' game Saturday night with Sleepy Eye High. In 91 games (76 of which she has started) the senior has recorded career marks of 194 steals, 408 field goals and 29 3-pointers. She has 342 rebounds, 224 assists and has 26 blocked shots. The last time that two New Ulm players hit the 1,000 mark were New Ulm High School's Luke Schmidt and Cathedral's Steph Klaviter.

KLAVITER IN NEW ULM: And speaking of Klaviter, she will be in New Ulm March 10-11 to run a softball camp.

"We will use a couple of gyms for the softball camp, but the gym that they will all meet at is Cathedral," said Klaviter from Denver. "The camps for age groups 14, 12 and 10 and under will be from 9 a.m. to noon both days, and the 18 and under and 16 and under will be from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. both days."

Klaviter will also bring with her four softball players -- Jen Buford, who is a teammate on the Florida Wahoos with Klaviter; Tobin Echo-Hawk who plays for the Akron Racers in the Women's Professional Softball League; Steph Midthun for played for the Minnesota Gophers and Laura Severson, a LeSueur native, who also played for the Gophers.

"It will be teaching infield, outfield, throwing, pitching, catching and hitting," she said.

For more information, call Brian Schuck and (507) 354-7270.

Klaviter recently signed a new contract with the Florida Wahoos for next season and she will also be the guest speaker at the New Ulm Club banquet, which will honor senior athletes from New Ulm High, Cathedral and MVL on April 7 at Martin Luther College in New Ulm.

"I am pretty excited about that," said Klaviter, who was the outstanding senior female athlete at Cathedral in 1995. "That is neat that I can come back and speak."

Klaviter remains busy in the off-season, giving private pitching lessons in Colorado. "I work with individuals and a lot of the summer-ball teams. I am also doing camps and clinics when I have the time."

USC OFFICIALLY OUT OF SOUTH CENTRAL: The members of the South Central Conference received official word on Friday that United South Central has accepted membership in the Gopher-Valley for all sports beginning in two years.

"This is no surprise," commented New Ulm High activities director Mark Woodbury, who said USC sited declining enrollment for their reasons to change conferences. "I guess that we all expected it to happen."

The loss of USC from the South Central all but kills the proposed football merger between the SCC and the Southwest Conference. "It drops us from seven (schools) to six and it puts the merger on hold. We (the SCC activities directors) will sit down and meet this spring and figure out what we will do two years from now in football, and other sports."

AHLBRECHT PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jesse Ahlbrecht, who graduated from Cathedral last year and scored 1,000 points in his career there, was named the Northern Division Player of the Week in the Minnesota Junior College Conference. Ahlbrecht scored 21 points and hauled down 11 rebounds for Vermilion (Ely) and had a steal with three seconds left in the game and then hit a game-winning 3-point shot to help Vermilion upset Central Lakes (Brainerd) 85-82. Ahlbrecht, who is playing 18 minutes a game, will bring his Vermilion team into the state junior college tournament Feb. 23-25 at Minneapolis Community College.

HILLESHEIM SIGNS WITH SOUTHWEST STATE: Chase Hillesheim, the outstanding running back from Red Rock Central, has signed a national letter of intent to play football at Southwest State in Marshall. Hillesheim was recruited for offense, but could also end up in the defensive secondary for the Mustangs.

COACHES SEND IN INFO: If any high school boy's or girl's basketball or hockey coach or a wrestling coach has any stats or information on one of their athletes that they feel deserves recognition, write me at The Journal or you can fax the info to me at (507) 359-7362.