Big Week For Richfield Girls Hoop, Wrestling Squads

As the final days of January drain away, local athletic teams continue to hone their skills in anticipation of possible postseason glories. This past week was a grand one for both the girls basketball and the Richfield/Edina wrestling teams, which earned both individual and team laurels.

Richfield Girls Basketball

The blew the doors off three straight Classic Suburban Conference opponents following a close and were rewarded with the No. 1 spot in the Class AAA rankings.

After a 78-60 defeat of on Jan. 20, the Spartans took over sole possession of first place in the conference standings with an easy 80-30 win at on Jan. 24, followed by a 66-41 thumping of at home three nights later.

Richfield brings a 15-3 overall record into this week with a 6-0 mark in Classic Suburban play. leads the team with a 21.4 points-per-game average, followed by Hannah Wise at 10.4 ppg, Sierra Washington at 10.1 ppg and at 10.0 ppg.

The Spartans are on the road for both of their games this week, traveling to North St. Paul Tuesday night and South St. Paul Friday night.

Richfield/Edina Wrestling

A second-place finish at the Spectrum Invitational in Elk River on Jan. 27 capped a successful two-week stretch for the as the squad moves ever closer to the close of the regular season.

Led by Mike Dyer, who pinned three opponents en route to claiming first place in the heavyweight division and earning the "Most Falls" award after ending his matches in 7, 21 and 21 seconds, respectively, the Rampage earned runner-up honors at the 11-team meet. Dyer is now 25-2 on the season.

James Lettow (132 lbs.) improved to 21-6 this season after finishing first in the meet, with Chandler Arredondo (195) and Obsa Ali (106) taking second. Shane Walfoort (160) and David Nelson (220) placed third, with Bruno Reyes (138) taking fourth and Justin Swetala (113) coming in fifth.

Earlier in January, the Rampage claimed dual meet wins versus Minneapolis Southwest and during the week of Jan. 9, as well as hosting an individual tournament on Jan. 14 in which Dyer took first, Lettow placed second and Hayden Vosbeek (113) claimed third.

Overall, Richfield/Edina is 6-12 on the season, with the Classic Suburban individual tournament coming up next Saturday at .

The Rampage will also be competing in a triangular meet at Orono High School this Thursday before closing out the regular season at home versus Fridley on Thursday, Feb. 9.

Richfield Boys Basketball

The won its lone game of the past week, topping host Simley 79-70 on Jan. 27 to bring the squad's record to 9-5 overall and 4-3 in Classic Suburban play.

Shawn Bear continues to lead the Spartans with a 17.4 ppg average, followed by Jared Noonan at 15.1 ppg and Dashawn Jones at 13.7 ppg.

Richfield opens a three-game homestand on Tuesday night against North St. Paul, with St. Thomas Academy paying a visit on Friday night and Henry Sibley coming to town on Tuesday, Feb. 7. Tip-off for all three games is set for 7 p.m.

Richfield Boys Hockey

It has not been a kind stretch for the as the Spartans have now lost four games in a row, all at home, by a combined deficit of 35-7.

Tartan and St. Thomas Academy (ranked second in Class A) prolonged Richfield's misery this past week by hanging respective losses on their hosts of 10-2 on Thursday and 10-1 on Saturday to drop the Spartans to 7-11-1 overall and 0-5 in conference action.

Mick Dhein leads Richfield with 55 points, followed by Tyler Martinez with 48 points and Sam Schrick with 38 points. Goaltender John Meyer has a .818 save percentage this season.

Richfield plays just once this week, hosting Hill-Murray (ranked 10th in Class AA) on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.

Holy Angels Girls Basketball

The girls basketball team lost its sixth and seventh games in a row last week, falling 68-50 at on Jan. 24 and 47-45 to visiting Chaska on Jan. 27.

Evan Wise leads the Stars with a 10.7 ppg average, with Kate Banovetz logging 10.1 ppg. 

Holy Angels, 5-13 overall and 0-7 in Missota Conference play, host Totino-Grace on Wednesday and New Prague on Friday; both games are slated to start a 7:30 p.m.

Holy Angels Boys Basketball

After a week-opening 76-39 defeat of visiting Northfield on Jan. 24, the lost 67-65 at Chaska on Jan. 27 before falling 81-68 to Duluth East the next day.

Danny Sullivan leads the Stars with a 16.0 ppg average, with Jordan Dembley amassing 13.8 ppg and Charlie Koontz entering this week with 10.5 ppg.

Holy Angels, 8-7 overall and 2-3 in the Missota standings, host Red Wing at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday before heading to New Prague on Friday night.

Holy Angels Boys Hockey

With a win and a tie last week, the improved to 5-12-2 overall and 5-2-2 in the Missota after the Stars topped Shakopee 5-2 on Jan. 24 then tying Chanhassen 3-3 on Jan. 26.

Mario Bianchi tops the team with 35 points this season, with Tony Haeg logging 28 points and Frankie Mork chiming in with 25 points. Brett Pierce has an .875 save percentage on the campaign thus far.

Holy Angels remains home at the this week for conference matchups against Farmington and Shakopee, to be played at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

Holy Angels Girls Hockey

The snapped an eight-game losing skid in its lone game of last week as the Stars defeated Minnehaha by a 4-2 score to improve to 3-20 on the season.

Amanda Navratil leads the club with nine points, followed by Jessica Block's six points and Julia Coulter's five points.

Holy Angels, 0-10 in the Missota, will now look to claim its first conference win of the season in one of the remaining two games of the regular season at either Farmington on Tuesday or Shakopee on Thursday.

Results from competitions involving Nordic skiiing, boys swimming/diving and gymnastics were not made available. Scores and statistics may be emailed to tomcarothers@yahoo.com.