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As some of you may have heard by now, Friday will be my last day here at the Tribune.  I have accepted a position at the hospital in St. Cloud and I start there Nov. 29.

We stopped running my column in 2020 in order to make room for more local sports content, but I wanted to write one more in my time here to share some things and extend a sincere thank you to all the readers and sports fans who have been with me through my almost 4 1/2 years at the Tribune.

I started out at the Tribune in May of 2017 as an intern and took over as the full-time sports reporter in June. I have learned so much over the past few years, not only from my great colleagues here at the Tribune, but also from all of you out in the community. In the beginning, I was just a young reporter with no experience outside of writing sports for the Iowa State Daily.  This is going to sound really cheesy and cliche, but you’ve all helped me grow and evolve as a reporter, and I am forever grateful for that.

I could fill up this entire page with memories from my time at events. I’m going to miss feeling the buzz of a packed gym or stadium.

Watching Zach Glazier win back-to-back state wrestling championships and covering the Albert Lea baseball section run leading up to a state tournament appearance are just two of the hundreds of memorable moments I could list.

State wrestling was, and will continue to be, one of my favorite weekends of the year.

I’d also be remiss to not mention that I got to go to the Super Bowl. I got to stand feet away from Tom Brady, and numerous other world-class athletes and ask them questions.

I could also fill up this entire page with names of people who have helped me along the way. I’ll spare you a list of 500 names, but I do want to make sure to thank a few people.

Firstly, the coworkers throughout the years at the Tribune. Not only have I learned a lot from them professionally, but I’ve made many lifelong friends in the process as well. Thanks to Sarah Stultz and Crystal Miller, who gave me the opportunity to do this job. To Sarah Kocher, Colleen Harrison, Kim Ehrich, Kelly Wassenberg, Michelle Rasmussen and Sam Wilmes for being a fun newsroom and always putting up with me asking trivia questions every day.

Thanks to all the athletic directors and coaches who have made my job easy and a pleasure. Without these people, the sports page would look a lot different. Most nights, I’m only able to make it to one, maybe two events, if I’m lucky. I rely a great deal on coaches sending in stats, results and information from their games and matches every day. Paul Durbahn, Afton Wacholz, Dan Stork, Jim Boehmer, Paul Meyer, Corey Black, Zac Luther, Jim Haney, Paul Dunn and Sean Gaston, just to name a few, have always been there when I had a question or requested an interview.

There are also people out in the community who are a huge asset to have and don’t always get a lot of the credit.

Thanks to Lory Groe for being a big advocate for the Lake Mills athletes. Lory goes to countless events throughout the year, taking photos of the athletes and graciously shares them with the Tribune. The Lake Mills community is so lucky to have her.

Thanks to Kelly Hendrickson and Laura Murtaugh. They both have sent in countless photos of the Albert Lea athletes and have been a big part of helping to fill the sports pages with local content each edition.

Thanks to Tom Jones. If you ever have a question about Albert Lea sports history, Tom is your guy. He’s also always got a story idea and is a great connection when trying to reach athletes from Albert Lea’s past.

Thanks to the late Dave Gilbertson. Gilby was the very first person to come up and chat with me at a sporting event. It was my very first baseball game, on my very first day, within the first five minutes of me showing up. He always had ideas for me and was the person who encouraged me to start my weekly column in the first place. That man had more passion for Albert Lea sports than I’ve seen in anyone else.

Thanks to the countless student-athletes who have made my job fun. I still can’t believe sometimes that my job was to go out and watch sports.

Last, but not least, thanks to all of the readers. Without you,  I’m not here, plain and simple. If there’s nobody who reads the sports page every week, there is no sports page.

I’ve tried to keep a good balance of all types of sports and schools. I know some of you don’t always think its been balanced, but I try.

If I missed anyone, I apologize. Like I said earlier, I could fill up this page.

I look forward to following along with the area sports in the future.

I will continue to write part-time for the Tribune in the coming time, until the position can be filled again so I won’t be completely out of the loop.

Thanks again for everything, Albert Lea. Go Tigers.