The Golden Rams spent their spring trip traveling to Vero Beach, FL to play in the collegiate invitational at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex. The team was scheduled to play eight games there versus a variety of opponents, mostly based out of the east coast. They included games against other NJCAA opponents (DII and DIII programs), a four-year school's JV team, and an NAIA four-year school's varsity team. The Golden Rams finished the week with a record of 3-5 during the trip. Coach Saulsbury commented, "It was a fantastic trip for our program. For our previous spring training trips, we typically went out to Tucson, AZ to compete in their collegiate invitational. Being our first year participating in the Jackie Robinson Collegiate Invitational, we were not sure what to expect. It was the best trip we have had in the eight years I have coached at Anoka-Ramsey. The facility was fantastic, accommodations were great, the weather was perfect, and we were able to get outside and compete. Additionally, we were able to take some time during the trip, so the team could see the beaches and ocean. It was definitely a great experience; one we will look to repeat."
Anoka-Ramsey was looking forward to getting outside and playing games. As Coach Saulsbury explained, "Obviously, when you go to one of these invitationals for spring break, you look to compete and win. Although, we did not win as much as we would've liked in Florida, we certainly learned a lot about ourselves and the 2024 team. We were able to see areas of the game we excel at, as well as areas we need to continue to work on and get better at. Having that knowledge before hitting the Minnesota-side of our schedule is imperative. It allows us to tweak our practices to place some additional emphasis on growth areas, as well as continue to strengthen areas we did well in. After making those adjustments, we feel really good about this team and how well we will compete during the upcoming games back home."
Results from the Jackie Robinson Training Complex Collegiate Invitational:
Hagerstown Community College 16 – Anoka-Ramsey 7
Anoka-Ramsey 7 – Westfield State University JV 3
Anoka-Ramsey 11 – Roxbury Community College 5
Millennia Atlantic University 5 – Anoka-Ramsey 1
Hagerstown Community College 8 – Anoka-Ramsey 5
Anoka-Ramsey 8 – Roxbury Community College 7
Lefleche (Quebec, CA) 15 – Anoka-Ramsey 3
Hagerstown Community College 11 – Anoka-Ramsey 10
The Golden Rams were slotted to open the Minnesota-side of their schedule versus Century College with a four pack of games on March 23rd & 24th. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is not agreeing with the schedule and those have now been postponed with hopes to get them in later during the Spring. With that being said, the Golden Rams are set to open their Minnesota schedule down in Austin, MN, as the will participate with a four-pack of games in a round robin event versus Riverland Community College and Rainy River.
To view replays of all of the Golden Rams Vero Beach spring training games; they can be found here:
https://youtube.com/@JackieRobinsonTrainingComplex?si=zhDwvxeQBuRxVVdH