Alumni Tracker: February 2014

Kaitlin Mincke

Two former FHS track standouts, 2010 male Athlete of the Year Logan Hussung and 2009 Leslie Lindell Award winner Kaitlin Mincke, are members of the University of Minnesota track team. In the Bill Bergan Invitational indoor meet held last weekend at Iowa State, Mincke was one of three Gopher women to win an event, leading the pack in the 1000-meter run. Hussung finished fourth in the shot put for the Gopher men who won the meet title.

Two other former Tigers now running for Hamline University helped the Pipers to a win in a recent indoor triangular meet at Wisconsin-River Falls. Andrew Thomas ran a leg of the winning 4x400 relay team and Tyler Lerbakken placed 10th in the 800-meter run.

Nadia Lorencz, a two-time state track champion during her FHS career, recently finished fifth in the long jump and eighth in the 60-meter hurdles at the Hillsdale College-Wide Track Indoor at Hillsdale College in Michigan. Lorencz is a freshman at Michigan State.

Former Tiger assistant baseball coach Louie Rutten, now an elementary school principal in the Wadena-Deer Creek public Schools, was back in Farmington for the Tiger boys' basketball game with Chaska last week. Rutten's daughter, Hannah Rutten, is the leading rebounder (9.8) and second leading scorer (14.3) for the University of Minnesota-Duluth's basketball team this winter.

Hannah Rutten is a teammate of 2012 FHS Athlete of the Year Taylor Meyer at UMD. Meyer is averaging 9,4 points and 4.3 rebounds a game for the Bulldogs. In a recent win over Wisconsin-Superior, Meyer scored 19 points in 20 minutes on nine of 10 shooting from the field.

Nadia Lorencz

2011 Tiger grad Jordan Bridges leads in rebounds (6.5 per game) and blocks (53) and ranks second in scoring (10.7 points) for the Jamestown College (North Dakota) women's basketball team that owns a 22-2 season record and is currently ranked fourth in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) poll. Bridges scored a game-high 21 points and pulled down nine boards in Jamestown's 78-70 win over 13th-ranked Mayville State last weekend.

Tiger grad Betsy Anderson (class of 2012) has played in all 22 games for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (16-4-2) women's hockey team that is ranked sixth in the most recent NCAA Division III national poll...Former Tiger standout Krystal Bauman has missed all but three games this season for Gustavus Adolphus College due to recurring concussion symptoms...Ex-Tiger Elena Koch is averaging three points and three rebounds a game for the College of St. Benedict's women's basketball team.

Former Tiger and and Class AA one-meter state diving champion Tyler Magalis finished eighth out of 22 divers on the one-meter board and ninth of 18 in the three-meter dive in the Minnesota Challenge meet held last weekend at the University of Minnesota's Aquatic Center. Magalis is a junior at St. Cloud State University.

Former Tiger and long-time Lakeville North softball and boys hockey coach Randy Schmitz will be a full-time assistant to ex-Tiger Paul Harrington and his Tiger softball team this spring. Schmitz, who was a volunteer assistant last season, replaces yet another former FHS player, Mallory Betzold...Former Tiger baseball coach Mark Opsal is an elementary school principal in the Goodhue Public Schools...The only two seniors on last year's Tiger state tournament roster, Ashley Betzold and Toni Hunsinger, will get a break from the frigid Minnesota winter in a  few weeks when their St. Mary's University softball team (Winona) travels to Florida to play a 10-game "spring training" schedule.

Logan Hussung

2006 Tiger female Athlete  of the Year Kallie Flor, who went on to play Division I hockey at Quinnipiac University (Connecticut), finished 11-13-1 in her first year as co-head coach of the Eagan High School girls' puck team...Ex-Tiger basketball player Jacob Sand is an assistant boys basketball coach at New Prague...Former Tiger Ryan Pietsch will return as head softball coach at Northfield this spring.

Grant Erickson, a 2013 Lakeville North graduate and son of ex-Tiger Jill Horstman and former Tiger boys' basketball coach Randy Erickson has started all 22 games for the Wisconsin-River Falls basketball team this winter, averaging 7.2 points a game and leading the team in assists with 76...1980 Tiger grad John Pellicci has two daughters playing for the Eastview girls' hockey team that plays Burnsville Wednesday night for a berth in the Class AA state tournament. Senior Sarah Pellicci is a senior forward and freshman Kaitlyn Pellicci has been a two-year starter in goal for the Lightning.