This is my busiest week of the year as sports director at KLQP radio. You have championship football games, championship volleyball matches and state cross country all in one week. I will be at all of them. Every year my schedule is the same. Section volleyball on Tuesday at SMSU and again Thursday in Marshal for the North and South volleyball championships. Friday afternoon back at SMSU for the Section 5A football championship game, which in my opinion, will be for the state Class A championship. Minneota and BOLD. Then it ends with a big day Saturday. State cross country at St. Olaf in Northfield in the afternoon and then the Section 3A volleyball championship Saturday night at SMSU in Marshall.

Whew! It is my busiest, but most fun week of high school sports. Most of my week will consist of selling state cross country packages for the radio station, which means lots of phone calling and visiting with sports boosters. Without these businesses, none of these broadcasts would be possible. I will also be doing many interviews with coaches and athletes and applying to the MSHSL for the rights to broadcast these section and state games, and getting media passes. I will be connecting with the SMSU athletic department. Calling all my broadcast partners. I also have my daily duties keeping up with my social media posts and doing my sports reports Monday through Fridays at 7:15 am. But most of all, I will be doing my homework for all of these games, I like to be prepared.

Plus, I still have all my other radio commitments during the week that have nothing to do with high school sports, you can see why I say this is my busiest week. But it is so much fun. The excitement of the teams, schools, parents, grandparents and the communities is at an all-time high the next couple of weeks. The goal is to make it to the state tournament, and that is why I love to broadcast section championship games. You win that game and you punch your ticket to a state tournament. The thrill of watching the athletes, coaches and fans at that moment of winning a section championship, knowing they are going to state is amazing and memorable.

I witnessed that this past week in Luverne when the LQPV/D/B cross country teams qualified for state again! The smiles on the kids’ faces is what I always remember. It never gets old, the boys are going for the fourth year in a row and the girls are making it six years in a row running at St. Olaf. Each year it’s the biggest of smiles on their faces. I was interviewing LQPV/D/B’s Grace Hegland, she is a senior and will be competing in her sixth state cross country meet! That means she has gone too state in 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and now 12th grade! That is really amazing to me, not to many student athletes can say that! There is a picture of me interviewing Grace, look at her smile in that picture. Grace’s smile is as big as ever and you would think it’s her first time going to state, but know it is her sixth! I love high school sports.

So say a prayer for me, I’m fighting laryngitis. Laryngitis and being a sports broadcaster don’t mix. The doctor said the best remedy for laryngitis is to not talk, rest it! If you know me, that is almost impossible to do. Bring on the week, I got this!