Red Lake County's Gunnar Halverson does a baseball-football shuffle for Shrine Bowl
Jun. 19—GRAND FORKS — Gunnar Halverson is having a week to remember.
The Oklee, Minn., native and Red Lake County athlete spent Monday playing in the Minnesota Class A state championship game at Target Field in Minneapolis. By Tuesday afternoon, Halverson was checking in at Mayville State for the North Dakota Shrine Bowl all-star football game.
The 9-man all-star game kicks off at 3 p.m., while the 11-man game starts at 6 p.m. The games are at Mayville State’s Jerome Berg Field.
“I unpacked Monday night, then finished packing Tuesday morning and took off,” Halverson said.
When Halverson first heard of the Shrine Game opportunity from Red Lake County football coach Brian Remick, Halverson checked the state baseball schedule.
“It would work,” he recalled thinking. “Tight … but it would work.”
Halverson is a three-sport standout at Red Lake County — a program that went to section championship games in each of his three sports and made it to the state tournament in basketball and baseball.
The Rebels were looking to repeat as Class A champions but fell short in a title game loss to Madelia. Halverson, who started in left field and batted fifth, was 1-for-2 with a walk in the title game.
“I’m a three-sport athlete, so you get done with one (sport) and it’s on to the next,” Halverson said.
This week, Halverson is playing linebacker for the 11-man East squad. He said isn’t too tired, despite the packed schedule.
“Everyone has pretty good energy,” Halverson said. “It’s fun when you’re around a lot of skill and guys who were pretty successful. It’s competitive.”
The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Halverson is getting a jump-start on his college plans this week. He plans to play running back for the Comets next fall.
Halverson said his college decision came down to choosing football or baseball.
“I went back and forth, and it was a lot of feeling it out,” he said. “I guess I just fell for football.”
Halverson said there wasn’t much to be disappointed about with the end of the baseball season.
“You’re a little down, but I wasn’t to the ground because we had to fight with some close games in the first and second rounds,” Halverson said. “The hope was always to go back-to-back, but the team we played was good. They had to earn it.”
On Thursday, the Shrine football players heard from the Shrine Hospital and patients receiving help during treatments via the Shriners.
“It’s pretty eye-opening to hear their stories and learn about what they’ve gone through and how Shriners have worked for them,” Halverson said.
Shrine Bowl rosters:
