2010: The year the Borderland lost a sports icon

No calendar year is ever a loss, but unfortunately for 2010, the biggest sports story involved a loss. Roger Jerome’s passion for sports in the Borderland area was second-to-none, and his passing on June 16 was felt community-wide. From his initials stuck to the back of Bronco football helmets and his last name etched into the back of basketball warm-ups, to the dedication of a local slow-pitch softball field, the community has tried as hard to remember Roger as Roger would’ve tried to remember sporting events from 2010. Dubbed a “community member, Bronco coach and friend,” Roger was a walking encyclopedia of local sports information. Hopefully this recount of 2010 would’ve lived up to his expectations.

January

• Jan. 12: Danika Stelton is honored at halftime during a girls basketball game for becoming the 14th basketball player in Falls High School history to reach 1,000 points.

• Jan. 15: Aaron Skoglund is honored at halftime during a boys game for becoming the 13th basketball player in Falls High School history to reach 1,000 points.

February

• Feb. 3: Alaska’s Jeff Oatley hustles past fellow Alaskan Peter Bassinger down the home stretch to win the Arrowhead 135 Ultramarathon. Oatley’s time of 16 hours, 17 minutes trumps Bassinger’s time by 10 seconds. Out of the 102 participants that took off from Kerry Park in temperatures at 20 degrees below zero, only 61 finished.

• Feb. 4: International Falls defeats No. 11 Hibbing/Chisholm 5-3 in boys hockey to secure a top-4 seed in the Section 7A tournament.

• Feb. 9: International Falls stuns Virginia in boys basketball, defeating the Blue Devils 58-42 at the Falls High Gym. The win snaps a 14-game win streak for Virginia, which came into the game with a 16-1 record. The Blue Devils were also coming off an 80-48 drubbing of the Broncos just a month earlier on Jan. 8.

• Feb. 11: Amy Auran registers her second hat trick in three games as No. 6 International Falls upsets No. 3 Princeton 4-2 in the opening round of the Section 7A tournament.

• Feb. 20: The Rainy River Community College men’s basketball team crushes Mesabi Range 88-75 to grab the No. 3 seed in the state tournament.

• Feb. 22: RRCC caps a ferocious end-of-the-season comeback in women’s basketball and defeats Vermilion 71-50 at home in the play-in game for the MCAC state tournament. After opening division play 0-6, the Voyageurs rattle off eight wins in nine games to qualify for state.

• Feb. 27: Joe Baron, Ben Shofner and Alex Henningsen all qualify for the Class A state swimming and diving championships. Baron finishes second in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100 freestyle at the Section 4A finals, and captures school records in both events. Shofner finishes third in the 100 butterfly, while Henningsen finishes fourth in diving.

• Feb. 28: Ten of the countries all-time greatest hockey legends visit Thunderbird Lodge, sign autographs and provide fans with plenty of photo opportunities prior to the gold medal game between Canada and the U.S. Even a gold medal from the 1980 Miracle on Ice team was present, courtesy Buzzy Schneider.

March

• March 4: Bronco girls hockey players Sydney Gordon and Mackenzie Raboin are named on the 2010 Associated Press All-State Girls Hockey honorable mention team. Gordon, who was named to the honorable mention team in 2009, had a team-high 19 goals and 17 assists. Raboin was second behind Gordon with 16 goals and her seven assists put her third on the Broncos with 23 points.

• March 6: Baron finishes fifth in the 50-yard freestyle at the Class A state swimming and diving meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. He also finishes 10th in the 100 freestyle. Shofner finishes 12th in the 100 butterfly and Henningsen finishes 14th in diving.

• March 6: Rainy River’s memorable run in women’s basketball comes to an end with a 54-51 loss at Northland in the Region 13B championship.

• March 14: Rainy River loses to Northeastern 8-1 in the ACHA national championship at the Schwan’s Super Rink in Blaine, Minn. The Voyageurs were playing for their third straight championship in four years of the tournament.

• March 17: Willie Corrin and Matt Youso are named to the Associated Press All-State honorable mention boys hockey team. Corrin finishes first on the Broncos in goals (21) and assists (32), and is fourth in scoring in all of Section 7A. Youso, a 4-year player, tallied 13 goals and 15 assists, good for fifth among defensemen in Section 7A.

• March 27: RRCC’s first-year baseball team laces up for the first time against Western Technical College in the Metrodome. The Voyageurs lose the first game in program history 7-3, but rebound and win 1-0 in Game 2.

April

• April 5: L-BF’s Garrett Larson is named to the 2010 All-State honorable mention boys basketball team. The sophomore averaged 20.8 points and 15.3 rebounds a game, both team-highs. He led the Vikings with a 50.1 percent shooting percentage and also chipped in with 3 steals and 2.5 assists per game.

• April 10: The city of Roseau edges International Falls in the 2010 Capital of the State of Hockey contest, a promotion sponsored by Tria Orthopaedic Center and the Minnesota Wild.

• April 12: Littlefork fourth-grader Evan Peterson’s first-place sign in The Journal’s Minnesota Twins Home Opener Poster Contest is aired on ESPN and on Fox Sports North during the home-opener at Target Field. Peterson’s sign was the best out of 250 entries.

• April 28: RRCC’s Carley Lake breaks the single-season school record by smashing her eighth round-tripper of the season in the first game of a doubleheader at Mesabi Range.

May

• May 7: In an elimination game, Lake hits a walk-off grand slam against Fergus Falls in the MCAC state tournament, giving the Voyageurs a 12-10 victory and a place in the Region 13B Tournament.

• May 10: Long-time Bronco hockey coach John Prettyman announces his resignation, ending a run of 38 years in the Bronco hockey program.

• May 26: Broncos junior Alicia Hendrickson captures a school record in the pole vault at 9-feet, 7-inches at the Subsection 7A North meet in Hibbing.

June

• June 2: International Falls’ boys golf team came up short again in another attempt to qualify for the Class 2A state tournament, but junior Glenn Walls and sophomore Brett Musich qualify for state as individuals. Bronco girls golfer Maggie West also qualifies for state.

• June 6: Hendrickson (pole vault), Jake Jensen (pole vault), Timmy Myles (high jump) and Shawn Filipiak (high jump) all qualify for the Class A state championships in track and field — something they all did in 2009. Hendrickson eclipses her own school record and clears 9-9 in pole vault.

• June 11-12: Jensen finishes fourth in the pole vault, Myles is fifth in the high jump, Hendrickson finishes tied for eighth in the pole vault and Filipiak is 11th in the high jump at the Class A state track and field championships at Hamline University.

• June 17: Severe weather cuts the Class 2A boys state golf tournament short, meaning the final results went back to the scores from Day 1 at the Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan. Walls finishes tied for eighth, while Musich finishes tied for 17th. West finishes tied for 66th in the girls meet.

• June 23: A sports icon is lost. Roger Jerome tragically passes away after being taken off life support five days after suffering a massive stroke while driving to Fargo for a basketball tournament.

“Roger lived life to the fullest, happy every day of his life,” said Dieter Humbert. “He never let his down side show. He had the mystery of life solved in terms of what’s important.”

July

• Did you know ... Zach Woods’ “Did You Know ...?” segment in The Journal started July 3.

• July 11: Matt Schneider wins the 56th Smokey Bear Invitational at Falls Country Club. It was the second Smokey championship for the 22-year-old (his first title was in 2007). Jeff Lindvall, a six-time champion, returned to play in his first Smokey invite since 1991 and finished sixth in the President’s Flight.

• July 18: Rainy Lake Medical Center defeats Meyers Sports/Super One/Hardee’s in the championship of the 30th annual Top of the Nation men’s softball tournament at Kerry Park.

• July 25: International Falls’ 11-12 year old Little League Softball team wins the state tournament in Chanhassen.

• July 27-Aug. 1: Broncos Jake Jensen and Alicia Hendrickson compete in USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif.

• July 29: Bronco golfers Kelly Blair and Glenn Walls both win their second straight Junior Club Championships at the Falls Country Club.

August

• Aug. 10: Mike Cocanour wins the 2010 Men’s Club Championship at the Falls Country Club, edging Bill Hughes, Travis Blais and Derek Riley.

• Aug. 11: Sylvia Cochrane finishes ahead of 12-time club champion and good friend Punky Stadum to capture the 2010 Women’s Club Championship at the Falls Country Club.

September

• Sept. 3: A good opening night of high school football watches the Broncos play well down the stretch to defeat Cloquet 20-19 and the Vikings crush AlBrook-Cotton 46-8. Aaron McGuire rushes for a career-high 308 yards and six touchdowns against AlBrook-Cotton.

October

• Oct. 4: The RRCC volleyball team stuns undefeated and nationally-ranked Itasca 3-2 at home (17-25, 25-15, 27-25, 14-25, 15-8). Itasca entered the contest 8-0 in the Northern Division and 14-2 overall.

• Oct. 15: No. 8 Littlefork-Big Falls loses at No. 6 McGregor 56-12 in a top 10 matchup on the gridiron. Both teams were undefeated coming into the contest.

• Oct. 19: Amber Harms, Amy Auran and Sydney Raboin all earn All-Conference honors in the Iron Range Conference cross country meet in Hoyt Lakes. Harms accomplishes the feat on her 16th birthday.

• Oct. 20: Broncos quarterback Gunnar Anderson attempts a school record 31 pass attempts, but it leads to only six points in a 24-6 loss for the Broncos at home against Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin in the regular-season finale.

• Oct. 26: The Journal receives an email from Rainy River Community College stating the school is canceling the 2010-11 women’s basketball season.

“Unfortunately, a lack of participation has caused us to cancel our 2010-2011 women’s basketball season. Mel (Millerbernd) is in the process of notifying the league office and local athletic directors. It is certainly our intent to return women’s basketball to conference participation in 2011-2012. I’m certain we can regroup and come back strong next year,” RRCC provost Dr. Ken Simberg said in a notice sent to RRCC employees.

• Oct. 29: Auran finishes 10th at the Section 7A cross country meet at the Cloquet Country Club and advances to the Class A championships.

• Oct. 29: International Falls nearly upsets top-seeded Hermantown in one of the best Broncos volleyball matches in years. The Hawks, which trailed 2-0, rebounded and won the thriller 3-2 (23-25, 16-25, 25-19, 25-22, 16-14).

“It was really intense. It was just a great game overall for both teams,” said Broncos senior Mackenzie Raboin.

• Oct. 30: Cook defeats Littlefork-Big Falls 16-0 at home in a punishing Section 7 9-man semifinal matchup.

• Oct. 31: The RRCC women’s club hockey team wins its own tournament in front of a good-sized crowd, many of whom were dressed in costumes for Halloween.

November

• Nov. 5: Auran finishes 111th out of 153 cross country runners in her first MSHSL Class A Championships at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.

• Nov. 13: Breanna Shofner, Rachel Adams, Maggie West and Paige Herzig all earn four medals for finishing in the top 8 at the Section 7A championships in Hibbing. More importantly, the foursome captures the school record in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1 minute, 47.76 seconds.

• Nov. 21: RRCC makes history when it’s women’s club hockey team defeats the University of Minnesota club team for the first time at Mariucci Arena by a score of 4-1.

December

• Dec. 3-4: International Falls is hockey town. FHS grad Bruce Raboin and the Detroit Lakes Lakers visit for two games in girls hockey, while fellow FHS grad Tony Couture and Little Falls visit for a game in boys hockey. Roughly 100 miles away Saturday, International Falls Mayor Shawn Mason drops the puck at The Sanford Center in Bemidji on International Falls Night.

• Dec. 7: Broncos boys basketball team scores 93 points in the season-opener in a rout over Eveleth-Gilbert. It’s a sign of positive things to come as Trevar Carlson banks in a free throw with 1.1 seconds remaining two days later in the home opener to give the Falls a 61-60 win over Hibbing. The undefeated Broncos head into 2011 with a 6-0 record.

• Dec. 15: The Journal reports 11 members of the Broncos boys hockey team are suspended for violating Minnesota State High School League rules. The suspensions last two weeks, and the Broncos finish 0-3 over that span and get outscored 23-4.