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2018-2019 Winter Sports Summary

By Blake Athletic Department, 03/22/19, 9:30AM CDT

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Boys' Basketball

The Blake Boys' Basketball team ended a 6 year drought of losing in round one of section play with a win over Brooklyn Center. They later lost to the #2 ranked team in Class AA Minneapolis North to end their season. The Bears were sparked by the play of their top ranked Sophomore guards, Robert Grace IV, Gabe Ganz, and Jasper Liu, as they all received IMAC All Conference recognition. Blake had strong showings beating  Class AAAA teams in Hastings 82-61 and Minneapolis Southwest 69-56 as well as taking down top teams like Pine City 68-66, Watertown Mayer 65-64, and Mayer Lutheran 63-50. 

The Bears return all but two players from their team next season.

 

Head Coach: Tyler Biwan 

Assistant Coaches:  Tyler Mittelstedt, Josh Harvey, Menzie Henderson

Captains: Robert Grave IV, Gabe Ganz, Alex Martha

Season Record:  13-15

 

IMAC All Conference Players:

Robert Grace IV 10

Gabe Ganz 10

Jasper Liu 10

 

Girls' Basketball

Blake Girls' Basketball finished their season with a first round loss to Southwest Christian 47-49 on a last second shot.  In Coach Jim DeSart's first season he was helped by Senior Captains Morgan Phillips and Sara Gregor. They led a young team to a 10-15 record and a 6-4 record in the IMAC which was good for a 3rd place finish. The season was highlighted with Sophomore Cate Moe scoring her 1,000 career point against Mayer Lutheran on February 9th. The Bears had a great win versus St Croix Prep 57-52 in their last home game.

The Bears return all but the 2 Senior Captains next season.

 

Head Coach: Jim DeSart (1st season)

Assistant Coaches:  Chris Bjorgaard, Alison Nash-Gerlach

Captains: Morgan Phillips & Sara Gregor

Season Record:  10-15

 

IMAC All Conference Players:

Cate Moe 10

Rachel Winkey 10

IMAC  All Conference Honorable Mentions:

Morgan Phillips 12

Sara Gregor 12

Fencing

 

  • State Championship Meet held at Blake was fantastic.  Special thank you to the Buildings and Grounds crew for all their help in and out of the building.  We had major snow Saturday and Sunday and the parking lots were cleared each day by 7am.  Incredible support.
  • Blake Fencing showed very well at State. 

 

 

 

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First-team all-state awards 

2019 Minnesota High School Fencing

Women’s Foil First-Team All-State

Lola Chamberlain


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing

Women’s Foil First-Team All-State

Pippa Pflaum


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing

Men’s Saber First-Team All-State

Richie Pihlstrom


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing

Men’s Saber First-Team All-State

Brandon Sun



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Second- and third-team all-state awards 

2019 Minnesota High School Fencing

Women’s Epee Third-Team All-State

Laila Elbakkal


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing 

Men’s Foil Third-Team All-State

Hank Bernhardt


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing 

Women’s Foil Second-Team All-State

Maddie Hsia


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing 

Women’s Foil Third-Team All-State

Audrey Ronan 


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing 

Women’s Foil Third-Team All-State

Rachel Eggert


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing 

Women’s Saber Third-Team All-State

Kalissa Fruetel


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing 

Men’s Saber Second-Team All-State

Oscar Uhler


2019 Minnesota High School Fencing 

Men’s Saber Third-Team All-State

Tag Smith

Boys' Hockey

The Blake Boys' Hockey Team continued it's upward trend in their second season in Class AA. The Bears finished the season 17-8-2 and 6-0 in IMAC play. They were crowned IMAC champions for the second consecutive year. The team enjoyed victories over Eden Prairie (Class AA runner up), Greenway (Class A runner up), Holy Family, and Cretin Derham Hall twice. Their season came to an end in the Section 6AA semifinals at the hands of eventual State Champions, Edina. 

The Bears return all but two players next season off of the 2018 team.

 

Head Coach: Greg May (3rd Year, Career Record: 84-49-5)

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

Captains: Blake Weyerhaeuser, Will Svenddal, Lachen Reid

Season Record:  17-8-2

 

IMAC All Conference Players:

Tristan Broz 10 

Ben Dexheimer 11 

Joe Miller 10

Aksel Reid 10

Will Svenddal 11

 

IMAC  All Conference Honorable Mentions:

Gavin Best 11

William Matzke 9 

Lachen Reid 11

Jack Sabre 11

Girls' Hockey

The Blake Girls' Hockey Team fell to the eventual State Champion Edina Hornets in the Section 6AA Final for a second consecutive year. The Bears never left the top 3 in the State's Coaches Poll all year and ended the regular season as the state's #1 ranked team. The girls finished the season as IMAC Champions for the seventh straight year and won the Gold Division of the Schwan's Cup for the second consecutive year. The Bears return 16 varsity players for the 2019-2020 season. 

 

Head Coach: Shawn Reid (7th Year, Career Record: 217-77-13)

Assistant Coaches:  Alex Ward, Kendall Christian, and Cody Bishop

Captains: Madeline Wethington, Izzy Daniel, and Maddie Tix

Season Record:  25-3

IMAC Record: 5-0

 

Minnesota's Ms. Hockey:

Madeline Wethington 12

 

Minnesota's Ms. Hockey Finalists:

Madeline Wethington 12

Izzy Daniel 12

 

All State Players:

Madeline Wethington 12

Izzy Daniel 12

Lily Delianedis 11

Addie Burton 11

 

All-Metro Players:

Madeline Wethington (1st Team, Player of Year) 12

Addie Burton (1st Team) 11

Izzy Daniel (2nd Team) 12

Lily Delianedis (2nd Team) 11

 

IMAC All Conference Players:

Madeline Wethington 12 

Izzy Daniel 12 

Lily Delianedis 11

Addie Burton 11

Audrey Wethington 11

 

IMAC  All Conference Honorable Mentions:

Maddie Tix 12

Ava Christie 11 

Bailey Abraham 11

Grace Johnson 11

 

All-State Academic:

Madeline Wethington 12

Grace Vojta 12

Lucy Kiernat 12

Alpine Ski

Regular Season:

Boys team won conference scoring 234 points more than Minnehaha who placed 2nd. Wow! The boys team were led by All-Conference Award Winners:

  • Karsten Farris
  • Will Reekas
  • Will McDonald
  • Tyler May
  • Philip Mariano

All-Conference Honorable Mention:

  • Ryan Cunningham
  • John Erlandson

5 boys earning All-Conference is spectacular. 

Girls Place 2nd!

Girls team placed second scoring 788 points for the season, just 71 points behind SPA. The girls team was led by All-Conference Award Winners:

  • Ava Pihlstrom
  • Payton Crosby
  • Erika Homan

All-Conference Honorable Mention:

  • Lily Erlandson
  • Aiden Higgins

 

Sections:

Girls Team Places 6th

The girls team placed 6th overall out of 17 teams. The girls were led by 9th grader Ava Pihlstrom who placed 10th overall. Ava was followed by captain Payton Crosby (36th), senior captain Erika Homan (40th), 8th grader Lily Erlandson (47th), Grace Homan (57th) and Aiden Higgins (68th). 

Boys Team Places 7th

The boys placed 7th out of 16 teams. The boys were led by 10th grade captain Will Rekas who placed 17th. Will was followed by 9th grader Karsten Farris (19th), Tyler "Shredville" May (40th), Ryan Cunningham (41st), Philip Mariano (49th) and Rohan Harle who had some trouble on the first run and had to hike. Rohan ended up placing 59th. 

Ava Pihlstrom Advances To State!

9th grader Ava Pihlstrom had a great race! Ava's combined time of 1:08.77 earned her a 10th place finish out of 86 competitors! Ava's result was good enough to qualify her for the state meet as an individual. 

Will Rekas Qualifies For State!

10th grade captain Will Rekas also qualified for the state meet this year! Will's combined time of 1:07.21 earned him a 17th place finish out of 84 competitors! 

Nordic Ski

The Blake Nordic team was a victim to the harsh Minnesota winter as there were plenty of reschedules and cancellations throughout the season. The Boys' team finished 4th in the IMAC standings led by Sophomore Ian Acheson with his 12th place finishes in both the classic and pursuit races. Ian also led the Bears in the skate race as he finished 8th overall. The Girls' team placed 5th in conference and they were led by Freshmen Mattie Johnson in the classic race as she placed 19th. Seventh grader Petra Ekstrom was the Bears' leader in the skate and the pursuit race with a 22nd and 24th place finish respectively. 

Head Coach: Charlie Cracraft

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

Captains: Ian Acheson, Josh Vorbrich, Will Lyman

 

IMAC  All Conference Honorable Mentions:

Ian Acheson 10

Boys' Swim and Dive

Breck/Blake started off the Class 1A boys’ swimming and diving State meet with a record-setting victory in the 200-yard medley relay, breaking its own time from the prelims (1:32.43) with a 1:31.26.  Breck/Blake rolled from there to win its third consecutive team title Saturday at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota.

Breck/Blake won with 423 points, well ahead of second-place Northfield (188 points). Breck/Blake once again scored points in every swimming event, with three individual victories and a sweep of the three relays.

  • Boys Swim and Dive won their 3rd consecutive STATE CHAMPIONSHIP this weekend.  More here.  
    • 200 Yard Medlay Relay team of Breazeale, Pan, Pruett and Brown set a new Class A State Record with a 1:23.43.  All American time. 
    • Spencer Pruett won the 200 yard freestyle
    • 400 yard freestyle relay won.  Team of Brown, Breazeale, Bearzeale, and Pruett
    • Spencer Pruett (12th grade) finished 3rd in the 500 freestyle
    • Nam Truong (8th grader) finished 12th in the 100 yard backstroke.  
    • Charlie Egeland (8th grader) finished 20th in the 500 freestyle