by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
A soccer player, a swimmer, a dancer, a wrestler, a gymnast-and-track enthusiast and a dance coach – all of them Sartell residents – were honored as “tops” at the second annual (St. Cloud) Times Media Sports Awards banquet recently.
The event took place June 21 at Escher Auditorium on the campus of the College of St. Benedict. All of the winners are from high schools in the central Minnesota area.
The award-winners and their “Best Athlete” categories are the following: Mitchell Dockendorf, best boys’ swimmer; Bria Ferns, best girls soccer player; Shelby Hall, recipient of the “I Am Sport” award; Kelly McCarney, 2017 Central Minnesota Coach of the Year; Rylee Molitor, best wrestler; Sloan Schwarzentraub, best dancer.
Dockendorf
A consistently excellent swimmer, Mitchell Dockendorf has been a Sartell swimmer since ninth grade.
Among his achievements are a nomination for Minnesota Swimmer of the Year, the setting of four school records, making All-Conference swimmer for three consecutive years and helping his team take fourth place at the last Class A state meet.
Time and again, Dockendorf excelled at the 100 backstroke, the 100 breaststroke, the 200-individual relay and the 200-medley relay. He was a member of the 200-medley relay that took second at state this year and of the 400-medley relay that took sixth place.
Dockendorf will continue his swimming during his college years.
Ferns
Bria Ferns finished her Sartell Sabre varsity career in soccer with having achieved 28 goals and 30 assists.
Among her many honors was being a finalist for Times All-Area Player of the Year, Class A All-State first-team pick, top Class A and No. 2 overall player in the Central Lakes Conference (2017 season).
She also received the National Soccer Coaches’ Association of America Senior Excellence Award for her outstanding four-year prep soccer career.
Ferns has been a team captain and the Sartell Sabre team’s most valuable player.
Hall
Shelby Hall, a senior at Sartell High School and active in track-and-field and gymnastics, is the recipient of the Times’ “I Am Sport” award.
A Sabre athlete since ninth grade, she excels in the 400-meter race, pole vaulting and the 4 x 400 relay.
Hall is widely praised for her eagerness and hard work in helping girls on the prep teams for the Sartell Sapphire Gymnastics Team, as well as in competitive gymnastics at all levels. She enjoys helping them grow to love gymnastics, a sport she has loved since she was 3 years old.
Hall has served as a captain of the gymnastics team. She plans to continue helping other young athletes when she starts her college career at the College of St. Benedict.
Schwarzentraub
Originally from Hermantown, Sloan Schwarzentraub became a Sartell Sabre dancer in 2015, and even though at the time she danced only jazz and not high-kick, she quickly applied herself to learning and became superb in both styles of dance.
She served as a team captain and choreographer and is a two-time All Central Lakes Conference choice in the high-kick category.
Schwarzentraub was instrumental in helping the Sabre team win a state high-kick title this year. She was chosen for the Wells Fargo All-Tournament Team in the jazz category, was voted “Super Sabre” by her dance colleagues, an honor that is the top possible for Sabre team awards given be peers.
She competed in the Miss Dance Team Minnesota with the best dancers throughout the state.
Molitor
As of Jan. 19, 2017, ace wrestler Rylee Molitor won his 150th high-school wrestling match after winning on a “technical fall” over an opponent from Rocori High School.
Molitor started wrestling varsity when he was in eighth grade as a 106-pounder.
Known as an astute technician, he has developed practically an instinct for quickly calculated moves. His uncanny wrestling skills, like magic lightning, have astonished both opponents and coaches.
Molitor lost only two matches in his freshman year and was a state runner-up. He lost only one match in his sophomore year, the year he nabbed the state AAA championship, which was the first time in history a Sartell wrestler achieved that pinnacle of success. In his junior year, he went 39-4 and finished second in the state tournament.
Spirit Award
At the Times Sports Awards banquet, Greg and Deb Bearson of Sartell announced the Tom Bearson Spirit Award, named for their son and given this year to Allie Dolan, a senior at St. Cloud Tech.
The Spirit Award includes a plaque and a $2,500 scholarship, given annually to a deserving high-school boy or girl athlete about to embark on post-secondary education.
Dolan is a three-sport athlete who excels in swimming, Nordic skiing and golf.
Dolan is president of the Health Occupation Students of America, a club for students interested in health care. She will attend the College of St. Benedict this fall to study nursing.
The Spirit Award is named in honor of Tom Bearson, a superb basketball player who was murdered several years ago in the Fargo-Moorhead area just weeks after starting his study of nursing at North Dakota State University, Fargo. The murder remains unsolved.
McCarney
For story on Coach of the Year Kelly McCarney, see the story about her in this newspaper.
Bria Ferns of Sartell, the “Soccer Player of the Year,” has her photo taken with guest speaker Adam Thielen, wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings.
Ace wrestler Rylee Molitor (left) was named “Wrestler of the Year” by Times Media during his recent banquet for the top sports people of the high schools in central Minnesota.
Sloan Schwarzentraub of the Sartell Sabre Dance Team was named “Dancer of the Year” at the Times Media awards banquet.
Allie Dolan was chosen for the Tom Bearson Spirit Award at the second annual Times Media Sports Awards banquet.
Shelby Hall of Sartell, who has excelled in both gymnastics and track-and-field, is this year’s winner of the Times Media “I Am Sport” award.
Greg Bearson prepares to announce the winner of the annual Tom Bearson Spirit Award. Next to Greg is his wife, Deb. The award was given to Allie Dolan, a St. Cloud Tech student and superb athlete who will study nursing this fall at the College of St. Benedict. She was honored with a $2,500 scholarship. The Bearsons’ son, Tom, was also enrolled as a student in the nursing program at North Dakota State University when he was murdered several years ago, a murder that remains unsolved.
Champ Sartell Sabre swimmer Mitchell Dockendorf pauses for a photo with Minneosta Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen after Dockendorff was named “Swimmer of the Year” award by Times Media.
