Athletics and Activities Update February 20th

Knowledge Bowl

Coach Charles Miller

The Knowledge Bowl team traveled to Rogers this weekend to take on a smaller field of 41 teams (just one team shy of the perfect number!). It proved to be a lucky number for us, with two teams medaling and four teams winning prizes! In 3rd place overall was Team One (Zander Haws ’18, Gabe Curnutt ’18, Regan Mies ’18, and Tina Chen ’19). Finishing in a close 2nd place in JV was Team A (Carlos Borgert ’20, Miranda Curnutt ’20, Will Pittelko ’20, Sami Severnak ’20, and Henry Chen ’21). JV B (Claire Kissela ’20, Luc Wesling ’20, and Kelsey Christiansen ’21) pounded out a 4th place finish, despite being short-handed. The whole team competed hard, were good sports, and again earned compliments from other coaches.

Up next for the team is the JV Tournament at Tech High School on Thursday, March 1st, followed quickly by the full-team Zimmerman High School meet on Saturday, March 3rd.

Girls’ Hockey

Coach Amanda Monkman

The River Lakes Stars played in the section final on Thursday for the right to go to the State Girls’ Hockey Tournament.  Despite a tremendous performance by SJP senior Jordyn Tomaszewski, the Stars fell 2-0 to Alexandria.  Jordyn recorded 35 saves in the loss-ending her high school career.

Girls’ Varsity Basketball

Coach Bryan Backes & Henry Smith, Jr.

The girls’ played their best half of the season against Ogilvie Thursday night in their last home game. The Johnnies were ready at the start of the game, taking an early 8-2 lead. Ogilvie battled back, and the first half was back and forth action with girls’ holding their own playing inspired basketball. In the second half however, the shots would not fall-while Ogilvie was hot from beyond the three-point arc and that proved to be the difference. Senior A’ishah Smith had 7 points in her final home game and received a standing ovation from her appreciative teammates and fans; Justine Meyer ’20 led the Johnnies with 11 points and was dominant on the boards; Valeryia Woodard ’21 scored 6; Reid Nydeen ’19 nailed a 3 pointer. Sydnee Wick ’21, Hana May ’21, Irene Jiang ’21 and Jaedyn Nydeen ’22 all played valuable minutes-continuing to gain valuable experience as they learn the game.

The JV game also provided a great opportunity for girls who have played very little basketball to get game action. The girls played well scoring a season high 15 points. Jaedyn Nydeen ’22 led with 6; Irene Jiang ’21 scored 4; Nora Miller ’23 also had 4 and Clara Schleper ’23 had 1.

Girls’ Middle School Basketball

Coach Mary Jo Leighton ’80 & Pat Bechtold

The girls played another tough game on Monday February 12th against Maple Lake. Again, we had many players scoring – Jaden Perry ’23, Sylva Bohannon ’23 (with her first points of the season), Kate McGee ’23 and Jaedyn Nydeen ’22 all racking up 2 points each. Nora Miller ’23 adding 4 more. Kate McGee led the team in rebounding with at least 7 in addition to a few steals. Nora Miller had several steals as well as solid pressure on their offense – causing some turnovers. We had Sam Roseboom ’23 back after a few weeks of being out. She added great support for her teammates under the basket with rebounding. Clara Schleper ’23 gets the “speedy down the court” award for her hustle to get to the basket on offense. Great effort by all even though we came up short.

The girls have shown great improvement and we look forward to our next match up in Kimball on Thursday! Our final game is on Monday, February 26th in Upsala; taking revenge on our OT loss against them two weeks ago!

Boys’ Varsity Basketball

Coach Mike Moen

The Prep Boys’ Basketball team were busy again last week with matchups against Ogilvie, Royalton and Swanville. Tuesday the boys hosted the struggling Ogilvie Lions and quickly jumped out to a large lead and never looked back. Eight different players scored to help the Johnnies to an impressive 83-39 victory. The Johnnies were led in scoring by Andrew Moen ’18 with 28 and Nick Foss ’18 with 24.

Thursday’s conference matchup against Royalton proved to be a little more difficult. The Royals built a ten-point lead at half with very strong play from their post players. The second half saw more of the same with Royalton extending their lead before the Johnnies started to chip away towards the end of the game to finish 13 points shy. The Johnnies were led in scoring by Derek Steichen ’19 with 17 points and Nick Foss ’18 with 16.

Friday’s game was an exciting rematch against section and conference opponent Swanville. The Johnnies jumped out to an early ten-point lead, but the Bulldogs were able to put together a nice run to force a tie at the half. The second half saw more of the same, with both teams battling in a tight back and forth game. In the end, a cold night from the free throw line contributed to the Johnnies falling just short to the Bulldogs by a score of 67-63. The Johnnies were led in scoring again by Nick Foss who had an outstanding game with a career high 35 points. Kevin Stark-Haws ’18 also added 10 points.

This week the Johnnies host Osakis and Browerville. At Thursday’s matchup against Browerville, we will honor our seniors; Nick McGee, Henry Smith, Andrew Moen, John Martone, Drew Richter, Kevin Stark-Haws, Nick Foss and Kamso Oneymeh. These athletes have been a big part of our program for many years. We hope for a big fan showing to acknowledge all of their accomplishments.

Basketball Announcer Appreciation

Jon McGee and Andre Estevez ’14

As we wrap up this season’s home games, we offer a big THANK YOU to Prep Parent Jon McGee and Andre Estevez ’14 for their great work entertaining basketball fans as our public address announcers. They filled Guild Hall with fun throughout the entire season.

Thank you Johnnies!