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2019-2020 Winter Sports Summaries

By Sports at Blake, 03/16/20, 1:45PM CDT

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Winter Sports at Blake

This season saw a lot of success and added some "brass" to The Blake School's athletic trophy cases.   It included a lot of firsts, including the first berth of a Blake hockey team in the AA State Tournament and the first time the MSHSL had to cancel tournaments, halting the boys basketball team while they were on the hunt for a Section championship.  We are so proud of all our student-athletes!

Alpine

Head Coach:  Robertson Massie (8th Season)

Assistant Coaches:  Parker Smith, Andy Sundet, Marc Massie, Betsy Strachota

Conference: Blake boys and girls won the IMAC Conference Championships!

Section: Congratulations to Ava Pihlstrom and Will Rekas! Ava skied fast and came in 6th overall.  Will also had two great runs and placed 14th overall. 

State: Ava Pihlstrom finished 11th overall earning All State honors; Will Rekas finished 48th overall

IMAC All Conference: Vivien Pihlstrom, Mariano Carl, John Erlandson, Will McDonald, Tyler May, Payton Crosby, Will Rekas, Chaucer Countryman

IMAC All Conference Honorable Mention:  Kate Rekas, Ava Pihlstrom, Rohan Harle, Will Eckes

Boys Basketball

Head Coach: Tyler Biwan

Assistants: Tyler Mittelstadt, Menzie Henderson, Josh Harvey

Regular Season:  20-6

IMAC Conference Play:  8-1, 2nd place

Post Season: 2-0 Wins over Watertown and Rockford. Reached Section 5AA Final.

IMAC All Conference:  Robert Grace IV, Gabe Ganz, Jasper Liu, Theo Liu

IMAC All Conference Honorable Mention:  Sam Diegnan 

Girls Basketball

Head Coach: Jim DeSart

Assistants: Chris Bjorgaard and Alison Nash-Gerlach

Regular Season:  17-9

IMAC Conference Play:  6-4, 3rd place

Post Season:  1-1.  Defeated Brooklyn Center and lost to Holy Family

IMAC All Conference:  Addison Mack, Cate Moe, Rachel Winkey

IMAC All Conference Honorable Mention:  Cheryl Minde

Fencing

Head Coach:  Harold Buck

Assistant Coaches:  Tyler Clayton & Tom Bergen

Regular Season:  

Weapon Wins Losses
ME 5 5
MF 10 5
MS 2 1
WE 3 6
WF 7 4
WS 1 2

 

Overall team records:

Overall Record Wins Losses
Men's team 13 2
Women's team 10 2

 

Post Season:  

February 22 at SPA (High School Championships): Men’s Saber: 1st; Men’s Epee: 3rd; Men’s Foil: 5th; Women’s Saber: 1st; Women’s Epee: 1st; Women’s Foil: 1st; Men’s overall: 2nd place; Women’s overall: 1st place

Medalists: Richie Pihlstrom, Men’s Saber, 2nd; Taggert Smith, Men’s Saber, 4th; Matthew Sun, Men’s Saber, 5th; Christopher Herr, Men’s Epee, 8th; Pippa Pflaum, Women’s Foil, 2nd; Audrey Ronan, Women’s Foil, 3rd; Maddie Hsia, Women’s Foil, 4th

February 23 at SPA (High School Team Relay Championships: Men’s Saber: 1st; Men’s Epee: 4th; Men’s Foil: 3rd; Women’s Saber: 2nd; Women’s Epee: 4th; Women’s Foil: 1st

Awards: Women's Saber First Team All-State: Pippa Pflaum, Audrey Ronan, Kalissa Fruetel; Women's Saber Second Team All-State: Sarah Hasday Erbsen, Amaka Nwokocha; Women's Foil Second Team All-State: Maddie Hsia; Men's Saber First Team All-State: Richie Pihlstrom; Men's Saber Second Team All-State: Matthew Sun, Taggert Smith; Men's Epee Second-Team All-State: Christopher Herr

GIRLS HOCKEY

Head Coach:  Shawn Reid (8th Season)

Assistant Coaches:  Alex Ward, Kendall Christian, Cody Bishop

Regular Season:  18-6-1

IMAC Conference Play:  3-1, 2nd place

Post Season:  1-1.  Defeated Hopkins/Park and lost to Wayzata

IMAC All Conference:  Adelaide Burton, Lily Delianedis, Audrey Wethington, Bailey Abraham

IMAC All Conference Honorable Mention:  Grace Johnson, Suzi Higuchi, Molly Haag, Julia Blum

Ms Hockey Finalists:  Lily Delianedis, Adelaide Burton, Audrey Wethington

All Metro Team:  Lily Delianedis (1st), Adelaide Burton (3rd), Audrey Wethington (3rd)

Boys Hockey

Head Coach:  Rob McClanahan (1st year)

Assistant Coaches:  Tom Doyle, Jay Phillips, Nick Oslund, Dan Delianedis, Kasey Boyd, Corbin Chapman, JT Wyman

Season Summary:   The Blake Boys Hockey team had one of the most remarkable seasons in the school's history.  Highlights included knocking off the #1 ranked team twice during the year, a big win on Hockey Day MN, winning the conference, earning the #1 seed in playoffs, winning the section and advancing to the Class AA State Tournament for the first time in school history.  At State, the Bears went 2-1 earning 3rd place overall.  Great season. 

Regular Season:   19-6 overall.  

Conference:  5-0.  IMAC Conference Champions.  

IMAC All-Conference: Joe Miller, Jack Sabre, Will Svenddal, Ben Dexheimer, Aksel Reid

IMAC All-Conference Honorable Mention: Gavin Best, William Matzke, Brett Witzke, Lachen Reid

Section:  3-0.  5AA Section Champions.  Defeated Hopkins, Edina, and Benilde to advance to the State Tournament.  

Class AA State Tournament:  2-1 overall, 3rd Place.  Blake defeated Maple Grove in the opening game, lost to Eden Prairie, and defeated St Thomas Academy in the 3rd place game.

State Tournament All Tournament Team:  Will Svenddal, Joe Miller, Jack Sabre

Herb Brooks Award Winner:  Will Svenddal

Nordic

Head Coach:  Charlie Cracraft

Assistant Coaches:  Eric Nystrom, Hudson Van Slooten, Geoff Fuller

Season:  The Nordic team had a great season.  The small numbers allowed for more specialization.  Students were hitting PR's and felt really connected to each other as a team.

Awards: Blake Nordic Girls MVP: Maddy Florida, Blake Nordic Girls Most Improved: Ella Johnson, Blake Nordic Boys Most Improved: Oskar Alexander, Blake Nordic Boys Rookie Of The Year: Lucas Schattenmann, Blake Nordic Girls Rookie Of The Year: Jing Jing Munson, Blake Nordic Girls Rookie Of The Year: Alyssa Krig

 

Boys Swim and Dive

Co-Head Coaches: Michelle Carlson & Brian Wright

Assistant Coaches:  Jack Markusen

Dive Coach: Craig Croaston

Section: The Bearstangs won the Section Meet.  The team sent 1 diver, 26 individual swims and all 3 relays at the MSHSL State Meet 

State:  The Blake/Breck BearStangs won the Class A State Championship for the 4th year in a row. 

  • 200 Medley Relay.  1st Place. Charlie Crosby, James Pan, Mitchell Brown, Dominc Frerichs

  • 200 Free.  Neils Wu (2nd), Charlie Egeland (3rd), Lucio Bollettieri (13th)

  • 200 IM.  James Pan (2nd), Dominic Frerichs (11th), Byron Jia (12th)

  • 50 Free.  Charlie Crosby (1st)

  • 1 Mtr Diving.  Colin Craig (16th)

  • 100 Fly.  Mitchell Brown (3rd), Nam Truong (8th), Aidan Choate (11th), Mathew Chen (14th)

  • 100 Free.  Dominic Frerichs (12th)

  • 500 Free.  Niels Wu (2nd), Lucio Bollettieri (4th), Josiah March (12th), Colin Bynum (13th)

  • 200 Free Relay.  2nd Place. Crosby, Brown, Pan, Wu

  • 100 Back.  Charlie Crosby (1st), Nam Truong (11th), Spencer Okoronkwo (13th)

  • 100 Breast.  James Pan (2nd), Mitchell Brown (4th), Charlie Egeland (7th), Byron Jia (14th)

  • 400 Free Relay.   6th Place. Wu, Frerichs, Gabriel, Egeland

Awards: