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Landon Strong picks MSU-Mankato

On Feb. 6 of next year, Sleepy Eye High School football player Landon Strong will make history when he becomes the first Sleepy Eye football player to play DII college football when he signs a National Letter of Intent to play football for Minnesota State University, Mankato.

“Right now I have verbally committed to play for Mankato State,” Strong said.

Strong said that he chose Minnesota State after attending Maverick camps years ago.

“And I went to games to watch them play football and hockey,” he said. “I had gone to some of their camps when I was younger. And it was close to home.”

Strong also had Minnesota-Duluth, Southwest State, Augustana and a half dozen DII colleges or higher interested in him for football.

At Minnesota State, Strong will be playing linebacker.

“I have had good coaches,” he said. “My defensive coordinator [Joe Hoffmann] played DIII at Minnesota-Morris so that makes me pretty happy.”

Strong said that after the hockey and baseball season this year, his focus will be mainly on football.

“In college (football) the game is faster, so I am going to have to learn how to position myself better and I am going to have to gain more weight.”

Right now, Strong is 6-3 and 215 pounds.

“But a lot of their linebackers are around 230-235 pounds,” he said. “I am pretty confident in the coaches there — they will get me ready.”

Strong plans to major in Business Management at Minnesota State.

BELTZ IN MAINE: Another Sleepy Eye athlete, Ali Beltz, has started practice for the DI University of Maine women’s hockey team.

“We started practice about four weeks ago and it is going well so far,” she said. “My teammates are really good and my coaches are awesome and I am learning a lot. It is a real cool atmosphere here.”

Beltz, who wears No. 9 for the Black Bears, said that the immediate difference between high school hockey and the high level of DI hockey that she noticed was the pace of the practices and the players on the ice.

“All the players are very skilled, so you do not get as much time and space as you used to,” Beltz said. “Everything happens faster and practices are more intense — the practices are almost like games. You cannot go half-speed. You have to go full-speed all of the time.”

Beltz will be playing a wing for the Black Bears this season, which is the same position she played in high school.

“That is the nice part of it,” she said. “I will have the same roles as I did in high school, which is a nice transition.”

Balancing a busy hockey schedule and college studies for Beltz has been tough, but she has been trying to use her time wisely.

“It is hard,” she said. “You have to really make sure you use your time wisely. When you have time to study you need to use it. A regular day for me is going to class, then weight room, then practice, then supper and then homework. Then repeat it the next day. And when you are on the road, you study on the plane.”

Maine opens its Women’s Hockey East regular season schedule on Oct. 5 and 6 when it travels to Quinnipiac before opening its home schedule on Oct. 12 and 13 when it hosts Sacred Heart.

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