Star Tribune
Minnesota State Mankato welcomes women’s, men’s national championship basketball teams home
Minnesota State Mankato students and the community celebrated not one but two NCAA Division II national basketball titles as both the men’s and women’s teams returned to campus Monday.
The dual titles have put Mankato on the map nationally for its basketball prowess, said Anders Freborg, a 21-year-old MSU Mankato student who plays saxophone in the teams’ pep band.
“We’re a basketball school now,” he said, wearing the band’s signature “Maverick Machine” T-shirt.
Freborg was one of the nearly 1,000 people celebrating at the Taylor Center arena on campus. Cheers echoed around the venue when the men’s and women’s teams walked out simultaneously from two tunnels. Each had a player carrying a NCAA championship trophy as they walked to center court.
Mankato became the first Division II program in 40 years to win both the women’s and men’s championships in the same season.
Before the teams arrived, the crowd was treated to a series of highlight videos for the two teams’ playoff runs. On Friday, the women beat Texas Woman’s 89-73 in St. Joseph, Mo., before the men’s team beat Nova Southeastern 88-85 one day later in Evansville, Ind., on a last-second three-pointer by Kyreese Willingham.
The event was emotional for Willingham’s brother, fifth-year player Malik Willingham, who cried as he addressed the crowd.
“It took time to get here, but this is a brotherhood,” Willingham said. “This is what we needed. It took me five years, but we’re national champs, baby!”
Mankato student Andrew Grimm, another saxophonist in the pep band, said it felt like a home game during the men’s championship since the opponents didn’t have a band. He called it a once-in-a-lifetime experience getting to attend both championships in the same weekend.
“We were just all saying, ‘Pinch us, we’re dreaming,'” said Grimm, 18.
Grimm and Freborg said they think the victories are also a testament to the the family-like culture that exists between fans and the players. That closeness, coined the “Mav Fam,” was the focus of the speech by Sierra Roiger, Mankato’s student government president.
“Whether you’re a star athlete, a diehard fan, or someone who’s never set foot on the court, there’s a place for you in Maverick Nation,” Roiger said.
Women’s basketball coach Emilee Thiesse gave a shoutout to the women’s team that won the 2009 national championship, saying she’s “honored that we got to carry on that torch.”
Men’s coach Matt Margenthaler praised his team’s selflessness, highlighting one moment during the playoffs when a player encouraged benching himself so another player who was resting could come in to secure the victory.
He said he was glad to bring a men’s championship to the arena, a goal he said he discussed with philanthropist and businessman Glen Taylor 23 years ago when the stadium was built using his $10 million donation.
“I told you playing cards that night we were going to get it done,” Margenthaler said to Taylor, whom the stadium is named for.
Between speeches, Mankato Mayor Najwa Massad issued a proclamation to congratulate the two teams. Massad said she was cheering loudly from home over the weekend during both games.
“I think they could probably hear me in Indiana and Missouri,” Massad joked as she entered the arena.
Star Tribune
Falcon Heights, St. Anthony renew police contract that ended following Philando Castile’s killing by police
Years after their contentious split, St. Anthony police officers will once again patrol the city of Falcon Heights.
St. Anthony had policed the neighboring suburb for more than 20 years until the two cities severed their agreement after Castile was killed during a 2016 traffic stop in Falcon Heights.
Ever since, Falcon Heights has been paying the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office to police the small city that surrounds the State Fairgrounds. But Sheriff Bob Fletcher has urged the city for years to find a more permanent arraignment. Sheriff’s deputies do not patrol any of the neighboring towns and suburbs around Falcon Heights, which makes the city difficult to staff with deputies often having to travel long distances to respond to emergencies, the Sheriff’s Office has said.
The city and the Sheriff’s Office first mutually agreed to part ways in 2021, but Falcon Heights couldn’t find another agency take over until now. The city of about 5,000 has long said that it would be impractical to try to create its own police force.
Falcon Heights Mayor Randy Gustafson said he is excited the city will once again have “a community-oriented policing model.”
“That’s something I’ve wanted to see returned and our community wanted to see returned,” he said. “And this gives us that chance.”
The contract will cost Falcon Heights roughly $1.8 million a year. St. Anthony officials estimate the department will need to add nine more officers and will ask for Falcon Heights’ financial help in upgrading its police facilities.
“We want to continue to be a welcoming, inclusive community,” Mayor Wendy Webstersaid. “And at the same time, we know we have a tremendous need for affordable housing.”
Webster and some on the council also said they were worried about project leaders not having immediate plans to build an outdoor playground, arguing that was a necessary amenity for children. And council members said the agreement must include plans to address the environmental condition on the site, which city leaders say has contamination issues.
“The thing I am most careful and concerned about is you are also buying a polluted piece of land. I want to make sure you are safe in your facilities,” Council Member Lona Doolan said, adding that “if it was any other property in our community, I wouldn’t have any hesitation or reservation.”
The council approved the rezoning request with several requirements, including that a playground be constructed within two years, and that the city receive plans for parking, staffing, and added landscaping, as well as environmental reports with proposals on addressing the pollution concerns.
Star Tribune
US confirms North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for training and possible Ukraine combat
WASHINGTON — The U.S. said Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops have deployed to Russia and are training at several locations, calling the move very serious and warning that those forces will be ”fair game” if they go into combat in Ukraine.
The deployment raises the potential for the North Koreans to join Russian forces in Ukraine and suggests expanded military ties between the two nations as Moscow seeks weapons and troops to gain ground in a grinding war that has stalemated after more than two years.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called it a ”next step” after the North has provided Russia with arms, and said Pyongyang could face consequences for aiding Russia directly. His comments were the first public U.S. confirmation of North Korea sending troops to Russia — a development South Korean officials disclosed but was denied by Pyongyang and Moscow.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. believes that at least 3,000 North Korean soldiers traveled by ship to Vladivostok, Russia’s largest Pacific port, in early to mid-October.
”These soldiers then traveled onward to multiple Russian military training sites in eastern Russia, where they are currently undergoing training,” Kirby said. ”We do not yet know whether these soldiers will enter into combat alongside the Russian military, but this is certainly a highly concerning probability.”
Kirby said they could go to western Russian and then engage in combat against Ukraine’s forces, but both he and Austin said the U.S. continues to assess the situation.
Exactly what the North Korean troops are doing in Russia was ”left to be seen,” Austin told reporters in Rome.
He added: ”If they’re co-belligerents, their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf, that is a very, very serious issue, and it will have impacts not only in Europe, it will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific.”
