The 55th Annual Lake Area Technical College graduation ceremony was held Friday, May 13, 2022, with 763 graduates. Students were presented their diplomas by Bryon Noem, First Students were presented their diplomas by Bryon Noem, First Gentleman of South Dakota, and Mike Cartney, President of Lake Area Tech.

Monday, May 23: Seniors’ Last Day! Breakfast: Cinni Minis (HS), Poptarts (West), Assorted Fruit & Juice Choices, Milk. Lunch: Grilled Chicken Breast/Bun (HS), Hamburger Gravy & Pasta w/Buttered Bread (West), Roasted Broccoli, Chilled Fruit.

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The Murray County Central community is preparing to bid farewell to long-time school counselor Mary Beech as she announced her retirement at the end of this school year. She and her therapy dog Rebel will move to central Minnesota this summer to be closer to family and begin a more relaxing schedule after a busy career.

After forty-three years in the banking industry, Joanne Swan of Minnwest Bank Slayton is moving on to retirement. The Slayton High School graduate started working at what was then Northwestern State Bank on February 26, 1979 and has been one of the friendly faces behind the counter for most of those years. “I’ve worked for five bank presidents and experienced five bank name changes,” said Joanne. “I started working in bookkeeping, and two years later I took a position in the teller line. Eventually I was promoted to lead teller, and in 1994 I became the teller supervisor.”

The Murray County Central Rebels dropped a game to Edgerton ending their winning streak earlier in the week but on Thursday the Rebels were looking to start a new one. The Rebels hosted the Coyotes of Heron Lake Okabena Fulda for a doubleheader to make up for a game postponed earlier in the year. The Coyotes were looking for their first win of the season and the Rebels were not going to allow that to happen. With both games shortened to 5 innings due to the doubleheader getting out to a quick start is important.

The Murray County Central Rebels opened a busy week of softball at home against the Red Rock Central Westbrook Walnut Grove. The Rebels will play six games in five days with key conference games to begin the week with RRC/WWG and Mountain Lake Area Comfrey. The Rebels would struggle to put the ball in play and RRC/ WWG would get a big conference win.

Minnesota State University, Mankato awarded 2,797 degrees to 2,467 students at the end of the spring 2022 semester. Congratulations to the following Murray County students! Avoca - Cassandra Thompson, BS, Accounting and BS, Finance - Magna Cum Laude Currie - Riley Schmitz, BS, Nursing - Summa Cum Laude Fulda - Leann Zins Enninga, MS, Spanish.

Last Thursday the Rebels traveled to Heron Lake to take on the HLO/F Coyotes for a conference doubleheader. Game one Abe Paulzine had everything working on the mound allowing zero runs and beating the Coyotes 9-0. The Rebels fired up their offense in the first inning. MCC scored one run when Christian Tentinger singled. The offense continued to pile on runs in the second inning, plating three runs, coming singles from Paulzine, and a ball put in play by Nate Kleven. Defensively the Rebels made all the plays they needed to make to play a great game behind pitcher Abe Paulzine. Paulzine had a nohitter going into the bottom of the seventh inning he got the first two Coyote hitters out, and his lone mistake he made on the mound, left a curveball right down the middle and allowed his only hit of the game. The offense racked up a total of 12 hits. Tanner Graphenteen, Nate Kleven, Dawson Blankenship and Christian Tentinger each collected multiple hits for the Rebels. Another great stat for the Rebels was that the team stole a total of 12 bases in seven innings.

The conference leading Rebels traveled to Lamberton on Tuesday to take on a tough RRC/WWG ballclub. Both teams were strong on the mound, but RRC/WWG was a little bit stronger offensively in a 2-1 victory over the Rebels. The Rebels scored their lone run in the top of the fourth, led by a triple from Christian Tentinger, and later scored on a Sac fly from Dawson Blankenship. The lead didn’t last long for the Rebels, as the Falcons scored two runs in the bottom frame. The runs came from a leadoff walk, followed by an error, and then a big double by Hudson Jenninges that plated both runs. In the top of the seventh the Rebels tried everything in their power to mount a comeback. They had the bases loaded, with one out and the next two hitters failed to drive in the tying run, ending this very well played game. Peyton Coulter took the tough loss for the Rebels, throwing a great game. The righty threw six innings, three hits and striking out nine Falcon hitters. Offensively the Rebels were led by Tanner Graphenteen, Abe Paulzine, Peyton Coulter, Christian Tentinger, and Nate Kleven each collecting one hit a piece for the Rebels. The loss is the Rebels first loss in conference play.