Local and National Sports 10-15-2025

The International Falls Broncos girls swim and dive team hosted Northeast Range for Parents Night — and it was a strong showing for the home team.
In the Varsity 200 Medley Relay, the team of Kayla and Brooklyne Dowty, Mackenzie Minnick, and Mary Versteeg took first with a time of 2:09.33.
Sylvia Valenzuela won the 200 Individual Medley in 2:35.57, while Mary Versteeg sprinted to victory in the 50 Free at 27.98 seconds.
In diving, Greta Bennett earned a score of 138.50, and Mackenzie Minnick also picked up a win in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 1:13.03.
The Dowty sisters led another win in the 100 Freestyle, with Kayla finishing first at 1:02.33 and Brooklyne second in 1:04.56.
Brooklyne added another victory in the 100 Breaststroke at 1:20.18, and the 400 Freestyle Relay team of Valenzuela, Versteeg, Avery Dowty, and Kayla Dowty closed out the night with a win in 4:19.71.
The Broncos swept both levels — taking the Varsity meet 95 to 69 and the Junior Varsity meet 76 to 14 over Northeast Range.

The International Falls Broncos Cross Country Team hosted their one and only home meet of the season yesterday at Falls High School.
On the girls’ side, the Broncos finished second overall behind Ely with a strong team showing.
Ila Hemstad led the way, finishing 6th with a time of 21 minutes, 58 seconds, followed closely by Lola Hall in 7th at 22:01.
Braelyn Domitrovich took 9th with a 22:35, Bella Amerud came in 13th at 23:02, and Laney Becker rounded out the top five for Falls in 14th with a 23:04.

On the boys’ side, Camden Deedrick was the top Bronco finisher, placing 9th with a time of 18 minutes, 45 seconds.
Andrew Dale clocked in at 19:57 for 18th, followed by Sean Brubacher in 23rd at 20:36, Benson Sather in 25th at 21:08, and A.J. Edens in 36th at 23:01. The boys’ team placed fourth overall.
In the junior high race, Corbin Chezick finished 10th with a 15:27, and Cooper Sperry crossed the line 19th with a 17:30.

The Broncos now shift their focus to the Section Championships coming up later this month.

Tonight is Friday Night Lights on a Wednesday, the Broncos travel to Crosby-Ironton for a 7 p.m. kickoff, live on Lakes Country 104.1. The L-B-F Vikings also wrap up their regular season, they play at home against Cook County on John Thompson Field, also at 7.

At the college level, the Rainy River Voyageurs Volleyball Team heads to the St. Cloud Tech Campus for a triangular. They first play MN State at 5pm before facing the host St Cloud Tech afterwards.. Meanwhile, the Voyageurs Baseball team continues its Red vs. Black World Series later today, with their Game Three Wednesday at 4 on Scheela Field.

Across the border, the Fort Frances Muskies girls basketball and boys volleyball teams continue their road trip as they head to Dryden tomorrow. First serve and tip-off against the Eagles is at 3pm.

The Wild put on a third period rally but fell short against the Stars 5-2 on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center. Down 3-0 to open the third period, Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov each scored power play goals to pull Minnesota to within one but could never close the gap. Instead, the Stars scored twice into an empty net to finish the night. Filip Gustavsson suffered the loss on 20 save while Jake Oettinger of Lakeville got the victory, stopping 38, and improving to 8-0-3 against his hometown team. The Stars remain unbeaten at 3-0-0 on the season. The Wild fall to 2-2-0. The five game road trip continues this weekend in Washington, D-C on Friday and Philadelphia on Saturday.

The Minnesota Vikings will hold their first full practice of Week Seven today at team headquarters in Eagan. The Purple are getting ready for their game against the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday. Minnesota had a bye last week following a 21-17 win over the Cleveland Browns in London on October 5th. The Vikings are in third place in the N-F-C North at 3-2. Head coach Kevin O’Connell says he is proud of his team for overcoming some adversity and still manage to get through the bye week above .500. Philly is on a two-game losing streak but still leads the N-F-C East with a 4-2 record. This Sunday’s game kicks off at noon at U-S Bank Stadium.

The Minnesota Vikings will hold their first full practice of Week Seven today at team headquarters in Eagan. The Purple are getting ready for their game against the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday. Minnesota had a bye last week following a 21-17 win over the Cleveland Browns in London on October 5th. The Vikings are in third place in the N-F-C North at 3-2. Head coach Kevin O’Connell says he is proud of his team for overcoming some adversity and still manage to get through the bye week above .500. Philly is on a two-game losing streak but still leads the N-F-C East with a 4-2 record. This Sunday’s game kicks off at noon at U-S Bank Stadium. Here is the 2025 University of Minnesota football schedule, with results to date:
Thursday, August 28th: Gophers 23, Buffalo 10 (final)
Saturday, September 6th: Gophers 66, Northwestern State 0 (final)
Saturday, September 13th: California 27, Gophers 14 (final)
Saturday, September 20th: BYE WEEK
Saturday, September 27th: Gophers 31, Rutgers 29 (final)
Saturday, October 4th: Ohio State 42, Gophers 3 (final)
Saturday, October 11th: Gophers 27, Purdue 20 (final)
Friday, October 17th: vs. Nebraska, 7 P-M
Saturday, October 25th: at Iowa, 11 A-M or 2:30 P-M
Saturday, November 1st: vs. Michigan State, TBD
Saturday, November 8th: BYE WEEK
Friday, November 14th: at Oregon, 8 P-M
Saturday, November 22nd: at Northwestern (at Wrigley Field), TBD
Saturday, November 29th: vs. Wisconsin, TBD

Penn State’s athletic director is shedding light on the recent firing of head football coach James Franklin. Pat Kraft told the media on Tuesday the decision was not made over a “three-game thing” and the goal is to win a national championship. Franklin was let go after the Nittany Lions suffered an upset loss to Northwestern last weekend. The 53-year-old had a losing record against elite schools since taking over in 2014.

The Minnesota Twins are getting closer to finding their next manager. Twins beat reporter Matthew Leach is reporting that the team has been permitted to interview Yankees hitting coach James Rowson and Red Sox bench coach Ramon Vazquez. Rowson was Minnesota’s hitting coach from 2017 until 2019. He oversaw 2019’s Bomba Squad, which set the M-L-B record for most home runs by a team in the season. Vazquez has been with Boston the past eight seasons. The Twins are trying to replace former Manager of the Year Rocco Baldelli, who was fired by the team at the end of the season.

The Dodgers have a commanding lead in the National League Championship Series. Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a complete game and surrendered just one run to give his side a 5-1 win over the Brewers from Milwaukee. L-A will try to take a stranglehold of the best-of-seven series when it shifts to Los Angeles for Game Three on Thursday. Meanwhile, the A-L-C-S resumes on Wednesday with a crucial Game Three from Seattle. The Mariners stole home field away from the Blue Jays and are ahead 2-0 in the series.