Edina High School - Sting Locker Spring 2024

Hornet Player Spotlight. pg 14, 28 Born to Lead. pg 16 Inside the 200th State Win. pg 24

DEFINING

EXCELLENCE

200+ State Tournament Wins. pg 8

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From the AD

200+ State Tournament Wins

Dear Sting Locker Fans: Edina High School won 5 State Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) State Championships this year to raise our Minnesota record to 205 total state championships. What does that record represent?

• 3 5 more titles followed in the 2000’s, including a second perfect 10 for 10 decade for Coach Steve Paulsen’s Girls Tennis program.

The Girls Tennis team also captured the 100th state title in school history in 1998.

The accomplishment of 205 State Championships represents the pride, passion and dedication of our student-athletes in Edina.

In addition, our dedicated coaches at EHS help shape, guide and push our students to compete at their best. Beyond our students and coaches, we have a community that is extremely supportive of our student-athletes and coaches. This includes not only our Edina Athletic Boosters, community members, and business partners, but our parents who provided opportunities for their student-athletes to learn and grow. Our students thrive on that support and they strive to make our community proud.

•T he past fourteen years have seen our athletes and coaches build on Hornets tradition, accumulating a remarkable 63 state championships. This past spring, the 200th state championship was won by the Boys Golf team, as was the first in 1954.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE MINNESOTA RECORD NUMBER OF STATE TITLES: • The 1950’s and 60’s saw the birth of Edina High School and its growth into an athletics power. The 1954 boys’ golf team claimed the school’s first championship and Hornets teams also won championships that decade in football and tennis.

DID YOU KNOW: The Hornets Boys and Girls Swim and Dive teams have combined for 34 state championships - 19 for the Girls and 16 for the Boys.

• In the 60’s, the Hornets won an impressive 16 state championships in 7 different sports including the notable Basketball three peat and 69 game winning streak of 1966-1968 and the first Boys Hockey championship in 1969 under coach Willard Ikola.

DID YOU KNOW: Edina East had 14 Championships, Edina West had 10

• The 1970’s and 1980’s saw the advent of girls varsity sports and an expansion of the state title trophy case. New crosstown rivals Edina East and Edina West combined for a total of 24 state championships over a nine year period including the very first Girls sports championship in school history when Edina East won the 1978 Girls Tennis tournament. This would be the first of 37 for the tennis program!

• Team success continued through the 80’s with Edina teams claiming an impressive 41 team state championships, including 7 alone in 1988.

• In the 90’s, the Hornets brought home 25 championships including 4 first time winners: Adaptive Floor Hockey, Adaptive Soccer, Boys Soccer and Girls Alpine Skiing.

DID YOU KNOW: The first 100 state titles were won in a 44 year span from 1954-1998. The second hundred came in a 24 year period from 1999-2023.

DID YOU KNOW: The most state championships in any sport is Girls Tennis with 37. With Boys Tennis also winning 25, that’s a remarkable total of 62 between the two programs!

DID YOU KNOW: First ever Girls Championship was 78th overall: Girls Tennis Edina East DID YOU KNOW: The most Champs in one school year goes to 2018-19 with 8.

This remarkable number of state championships represents what is possible when students, parents, coaches and our community all work together for the betterment of our students, school and community.

Each year brings a fresh start, different perspectives, and new challenges for our teams and athletes. At our high school and in our community we are fortunate to have established a culture of consistency based on the effort of our athletes, parents, and coaches.

I am looking forward to another year of proudly watching our programs compete amongst the state’s best.

Troy Stein Assistant Principal/Activities Director Edina High School • 6754 Valley View Road • Edina, MN 55439

Edina Sting Locker 3

STING LOCKER

Spring 2024

Table of CONTENTS FEATURES 8

Defining Excellence

By Jane Porter

E dina High School earns 200 state championships, bolstering it’s reputation and pride.

12

Saving Their Best for Last

By Pete Waggoner

Patient approach to the season unlocks Class AA state title for Edina High School Boys Swim and Dive team.

16

Born to Lead

By Pete Waggoner

E dina native Sami Cowger earns 200th career win and 5th state title in 8th year as Edina HIgh School girls head hockey coach.

22 Road to State

M AG A Z I N E A magazine covering Edina High School Athletics programs and alumni.

Published seasonally by Edina Athletic Booster Club.

CONTACT

hornets@edinaboosters.club

PUBLISHER

Edina Athletic Booster Club (EABC)

EDITOR

Pete Waggoner • MNHockey.Tv

DESIGN/CREATIVE DIRECTOR Teresa Lund • Range Printing

PRODUCTION PRINTING Jessen Press

By Whitney Horton

Edina girls swim & dive’s strong work ethic and extreme focus clinch another state title.

24 Inside the 200th State Championship

By Pete Waggoner

Winning key championships in Edina High School history is nothing new to the Boy’s golf team.

32 2024 State Champions

By Griffith Pugh

Leadership and maturity propel Edina Boys Hockey to their 14th state title.

DEPARTMENTS 3 6 14 28 34 35 36 38

ADVERTISING SALES

Jeff Carlson jeffcarlson.email@gmail.com

EABC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Kurt Lange • President Open • Vice President Scott Beuning • Secretary Jeff Ohe • Treasurer Matt Dahlien • Past President

EDINA HIGH SCHOOL Troy Stein Assistant Principal EHS Activities Director

Letter from the AD | 200+ State Tournament Wins Letter from Edina Boosters | Rallying Behind Edina Sports Hornet Player Spotlight | Mason West Hornet Player Spotlight | Izzy Engle Edina Athletic Booster Club Edina Athletic Booster Donations Edina Athletic Booster Members Edina State Titles

­­4 SPRING 2024

© Copyright 2024 Edina Athletic Booster Club Edina High School Edina, Minnesota

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From the BOOSTERS

Rallying Behind Edina Sports: Joining Forces with the Booster Club In the dynamic landscape of high school athletics, few entities play as pivotal a role as the Edina Booster Club. However, with the ever-increasing demands of maintaining competitive standards and providing enriching experiences for student-athletes, the Booster Club finds itself in need of reinforcements: members, volunteers, and donors who share its vision and commitment to excellence.

Edina High School boasts a rich tradition of athletic prowess, with a diverse array of sports teams consistently competing at the highest levels. Behind these achievements lies the unwavering support of the Booster Club, which provides the annual short fall the school needs to operate their sports programs. From funding equipment purchases to organizing fundraising events and coordinating volunteer efforts, the Club’s contributions are indispensable to the vitality of Edina’s sports programs.

At the heart of the Booster Club’s mission is a commitment to ensuring that every student-athlete has the chance to excel and grow, both on and off the field. However, this mission cannot be realized without the active participation and support of the broader Edina community. Herein lies the call to action: the Booster Club needs members, volunteers, and donors to step forward and join the ranks of those dedicated to upholding Edina’s tradition of athletic excellence.

Membership in the Booster Club offers an opportunity for individuals to directly impact the lives of student-athletes and contribute to the vibrancy of the Edina community and all of the Edina MSHSL sports at the High School. By becoming a member, individuals gain access to a network of like-minded supporters, exclusive events, and opportunities to engage with Edina’s sports

programs firsthand. Moreover, membership dues provide crucial financial support that fuels the Club’s initiatives and ensures its continued effectiveness in supporting Edina’s athletes.

Volunteers form the lifeblood of the Booster Club, providing the manpower and expertise needed to execute its various programs and initiatives. Whether assisting with event planning, managing finances, or coordinating fundraising efforts, volunteers play a vital role in the Club’s day-to-day operations.

Financial support is equally essential to the Booster Club’s success, as it relies on donations and fundraising efforts to sustain its operations and meet the diverse needs of Edina’s sports programs.

Whether through one-time donations, corporate sponsorships, or participation in fundraising events, every contribution makes a tangible difference in the lives of student-athletes. Moreover, donors have the satisfaction of knowing that their support directly impacts the success and well-being of Edina’s youth.

In conclusion, the Edina Booster Clubs ability to fulfill its mission hinges on the active involvement and support of its members, volunteers, and donors. Now more than ever, as the demands of maintaining competitive sports programs continue to grow, the Booster Club needs the support of the entire Edina community to ensure its continued success.

Thank you for your support.

Kurt Lange President Edina Athletic Booster Club (EABC)

HEREIN LIES THE CALL TO ACTION: the Booster Club needs MEMBERS, VOLUNTEERS, and DONORS to step forward and join the ranks of those dedicated to upholding Edina’s tradition of athletic excellence.

­­6 SPRING 2024

Go Hornets!

Wishing all Hornet Athletes a successful and safe season. And remember, when it’s time to sell or buy, you need to call

REALTY GUY!

Brent Johnson, GRI, CBR 612-298-5000 BrentJohnson@KW.com Edina Sting Locker 7

­­8 SPRING 2024

Edina High School earns 200 state championships, bolstering its reputation and pride.

By Jane Porter | Managing Editor, Edina Zephyrus The slogan “Defining Excellence” is one that every Edina student comes to know all too well before they graduate.

While Edina teachers and staff emphasize this message heavily in an academic sphere, the aspiration to succeed within the world of athletics at Edina High School is equally as prominent. This has allowed EHS to win 200 championships in just under 100 years, the first high school in the state of Minnesota to do so.

well-rounded students—which have helped achieve not only 200 championships, but also produce the student-athletes who earn these titles. “This felt like an opportunity for us to recognize all of our state champions that were on teams that accomplished so much and give a recognition for the accomplishments, not only of our recent [first place wins], but the historic ones over the years [too],” Troy Stein, assistant principal and director of activities at EHS, said.

In celebration of 200 championships, Edina hosted a tailgate and banner unveiling by the EHS Varsity Boys Golf Team on Sept. 14 preceding the first home football game. “[The Golf Team] did know [they would be the 200th win],” senior Ben Sanderson, Varsity Golf Captain and D3 commit, said. “We saw that badminton won the 199th [championship] and were all joking we should write handwritten thank you cards [to them] because it was such a fun experience winning the 200th.” The tailgate also served as a way to honor the core values of the EHS athletics program—such as being creative, innovative thinkers, effective collaborators, and

Many parents and alumni who attended the event shared their adoration for the EHS sports programs and the teams that their kids had been a part of, believing it helped to raise them into the people they are today. “Speaking for my kids, they get leadership opportunities and a chance to [be a part of something] that isn’t just academic,” Jess Olson, EHS parent, said.

EHS’s first championship was won in 1954 by the EHS Boys Golf Team. Over the next 50 years, EHS underwent huge changes including the division of the high school into East and West—

“ This felt like an opportunity for us to recognize all of our state champions that were on teams that accomplished so much and give a recognition for the accomplishments, not only of our recent [first place wins], but the historic ones over the years [too].“ TROY STEIN, Edina Assistant Principal and Director of Activities Edina Sting Locker 9

“It just speaks to my pride as superintendent that more than anything we want to make sure that our kids are able to engage in things that really truly allow them to thrive and discover new possibilities.”

DR. STACEY STANLEY Superintendent Edina Public Schools

followed by their reunification less than 10 years later—and the addition of many girls’ sports to the varsity level. Through expanding the program to include ever more student-athletes, Edina constantly found new ways to expand students’ education outside the classroom.

Not only did this shift in diversifying the EHS athletics program allow more opportunities for a wider variety of students, but it also led to Edina winning even more championships as the years went on. This includes the Edina Girls’ Tennis Team, who won 37 state championships in just over 40 years, a monumental success as many of these victories were consecutive over a 20-year period. Through all these shifts and changes, Edina’s goals for their student-athletes remained the same: to create a well-rounded student.

With 100 championships being won since 2000, EHS demonstrated the exponential trajectory of their athletic programs, starting from the first time a child puts on their cleats, skates, or sneakers, all the way to the point when they raise the first place plaque above their head. But these championships don’t serve as just another achievement to be boasted about. Rather, they bring the community together, showing how every child can achieve greatness if they put their mind to it. “We strive to provide opportunities for all of our kids to be successful. And, in doing so, we work hard to embrace our community in that process,” Stein said.

While the Edina community seeks to foster growth and opportunities for every kid they can, this also bears a certain added pressure ­­10 SPRING 2024

concerning achieving the excellence that is valued so highly within the community. “I always tell people that growing up in Edina, and now raising my kids in Edina, it is extremely competitive.

Competitive socially, athletically, and academically, and so to even ever play a high school sport at Edina High School is very difficult,” varsity soccer alumni and parent Angella McGarvey said. “But what makes [EHS] great is the people, the parents, and the community, and people who are like, ‘I will do what it takes to get our kids to the next match.’”

The overwhelming support found in the high school for its athletic participants shapes their lives long after they leave the walls of EHS. “[Playing sports at EHS] is really important to me because it’s how I make a ton of my friends and I think just the camaraderie of playing a sport [is important]. Also, it teaches you good habits of working hard and repetition and constantly trying to get better,” Sanderson said. “I think it’s just something that has been a big part of my life.”

200 championship wins not only shows EHS’s incredible athletic legacy but also provides hope and expectations for a continued future of further successes. “We want to make sure that our kids are well-rounded. … It just speaks to my pride as superintendent that more than anything we want to make sure that our kids are able to engage in things that really truly allow them to thrive and discover new possibilities,” Dr. Stacey Stanley, Edina Public Schools Superintendent, said.

Edina Sting Locker 11

Patient approach to the season unlocks Class AA state title for EHS Boys Swim and Dive team.

By Pete Waggoner The Edina High School Boys Swimming and Diving team won the program’s 15th state title this past March at the University of Minnesota’s Jean K. Freeman Pool.

They carry on a tradition of success that stretches back to 1965 when they captured their first state title. That success carries over from year-to-year and decade -to-decade. This year’s Class AA title follows a formula that head coach Scott Johnson believes in and saw through with his team the final weekend of the season at the University of Minnesota.

state championship. We keep training for that final meet of the season.

Win the last meet of the season and you’ll be state champions. That’s the goal every year. Strong teams means that you have to compete against the very best year after year. We are always looking forward to that challenge.”

The state tournament field had a number of teams with the door open to win. Minnetonka, Prior Lake and Wayzata had legitimate shots at the title with EHS standing in the way.

“That kind of dedication to the sport provides a steady stream of talented athletes on our team year in and year out,” Johnson explained.

“Every year we have a group of seniors that have contributed to the team during their tenure. As they graduate and move on to their post-secondary opportunities, freshmen continue to join the team and replace them.

Every season is an opportunity to add a chapter to the ongoing history of this team - which is 68 years and running. The other thing that provides consistency year after year is trust. The athletes trust the coaching staff to place them and the team in the best position possible to place the highest we can. The coaching staff in turn trusts the athletes to perform

“I have a saying with the team: ‘A fast time in January equals a fast time in January,’” Johnson said. “Translation: Posting fast times in the middle of the season doesn’t necessarily equate to state meet wins and championships. So while we finished 2nd in the Lake Conference standings, 4th to Minnetonka, Omaha Creighton Prep, and Prior Lake in the Maroon and Gold Invite, and 2nd to Minnetonka in the True Team Invite, that doesn’t mean that we - or another team - can’t flip the tables and win the ­­12 SPRING 2024

The win is Edina’s 5th Class AA Boys Swimming and Diving state title in the past 6 seasons, which speaks to the level of consistency with the Hornets. While Johnson has his athletes for 3 months a year, he noted the key to his team’s consistency is a large percentage of athletes that train and compete in swim clubs the other 9 months of the year. Senior leadership, and freshmen all contribute and perpetuate the level of success in Edina swimming.

at their very best to realize their potential and finish in the highest place possible.”

- the past 5 years the champion won by an average margin of 94 points.

This was the closest state meet in recent memory,” Johnson said.

At the tournament, it was a good start in the Friday prelims that positioned Edina for their push on the Saturday Finals with every swim and and one of two dives qualifying for Saturday. “The team placed themselves into a great position on Friday prelims,” Johnson said. “All of our swims qualified for Saturday finals. And one of our two divers qualified for finals as well. We made a couple of relay moves for

When discussing what makes Edina so successful, Johnson took a step back in time to examine the history of the sport and illustrated when Edina eventually worked into the scene and has not looked back. “Success breeds success,” Johnson said. “The first Minnesota boys state meet was in 1924. The state champion that year was Minneapolis Central. The state meet was then won by out-state teams from Virginia, Hibbing, and Chisholm for the next 20 years. Then Rochester won 10 championships - including 7 in a row. The first metro team to win since 1924 was Edina under coach Art Downey in 1965. Metro teams have won every year in the large school category since then - except for a 3 year stretch in 1998 (Hutchinson) and 1999 and 2000 (Alexandria). It is an expectation of excellence. We may not win the state championship every year. But we will make the best effort possible to do so. The history of winning championships continues to this day. We are proud to contribute to the overall success of Edina High School and the current tally of 205 overall team state championships.”

“ Our team motto is: Character, Commitment, Community.”

Coach Scott Johnson Saturday. The team knew that they had a real shot at the championship after that. The first event - the 200 medley relay - was a momentum building event from the start. We finished 3rd - but finished ahead of Minnetonka - which was a 4 point swing. That was the beginning of slowly chipping away at the lead throughout the meet.”

The Hornets needed everyone to get the job done. Johnson noted that every performance was crucial for the team title. There were plenty of clutch performances to highlight and coach Johnson pointed out some of those moments in a recent interview. “After the medley relay, Jack Goepfrich took 2nd in the 200 free with an All-American Automatic time. In the 200 IM Jiarui Xue took 2nd with an All-American Automatic time and Mark Jacobi-Krohn took 5th. Rohan D’Souza Larson was the state champion in the 50 free with an All-American Consideration time.

We were tied with Minnetonka with 103 points after four events going into the diving break. After diving, the 100 fly, and the 100 free, Edina was in 3rd place - 32 points off the lead. The tide really turned at the next event - the 500 free. All 4 entrants in the event scored 61 points and Edina took the lead by 14 points. The next event was the 200 free relay.

Edina won the relay, took the lead by 20 points, and never looked back.

The Hornets won the state meet by SIX points. By way of comparison

Top 6 Team Scores 2024 State Class AA Boys Swimming and Diving Meet.

Johnson is proud of this group and his words embody a team that rose to the occasion in the most important of times in competition while being strong in the classroom and out of the pool. “Our team motto is: Character, Commitment, Community,” Johnson said. “I am proud that our athletes are strong in the pool and also very strong in the classroom.

Our student-athletes are consistently posting a team GPA of 3.6-3.7 every year. We also have Academic All-American senior student-athletes with a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or higher. Since the inception of this program in 1987, Edina boys’ swimming and diving has 117 studentathletes named Academic All-Americans. I am also proud that this team shows respect to other athletes and officials, and in return that respect is given back to the team. We strive to be gentlemen 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We work hard to provide a positive image for our team, our school, and our community. These values go beyond winning championships. As athletes graduate and move on in their lives, I hope that they are able to instill these values into their daily lives and be successful with their families and occupations.”

1. Edina 289

4. Wayzata 188

2. Minnetonka 283

5. Lakeville S. 167

3. Prior Lake 252

6. Eagan 102 Edina Sting Locker 13

Athlete Spotlight

Q and A with Sophomore Mason West

Hornet quarterback and center iceman excels on the football field and on the ice.

The Sting Locker interviewed Edina Hornet sophomore Mason West who plays both football and hockey. We have a wide ranging discussion that covers both sports, his academic life, and how he manages a busy schedule.

By Pete Waggoner

Q: What makes you tick as a competitor?

Q: What do you think it takes to have a team buy-in on what the coaching staff wants?

A: A s a competitor, I feel like I want to be the best I can be. That’s how I get motivation to always win and be a competitor. The feeling of A: I t’s a little bit of everything, but I would say it is more like leaders and winning is way better than losing. In hockey, we won and that was a really great feeling, what makes me tick is the ability to play and the ability to win.

Q: The start to the football season was not great for your team, but you guys started churning out the wins, what changed?

A: “ Remember the season before too? We didn’t have the greatest season,

we lost to Centennial on the one yard line. The start of this season we went 1-3. We had a really good first game and we had some really hard opponents the next three games. We didn’t really know where we were going to go from there, so we just started practicing hard, working hard, and putting our heads down. Then we started to win some big games and then after that, our practices started to get more energetic and more exciting. Everyone started to want to go which was really great to see and then down the stretch, we just all bought into the system and we just played really well during the end of the year.

­­14 SPRING 2024

players on the team. Even if you are not a captain, you can still be a leader and help people buy in because maybe you don’t have a good relationship with everybody but someone else does. If I have a friend on the team who knows someone better than me, I will go to him and then he will go to another guy just to try to get him more motivated and him to buy in more, that is what I think it means.

Q: You get a ton of attention as not just a player, but a high end player in two sports and as a sophomore, how do you manage that and focus on the things you need to do as an athlete and a student?

A: I don’t pay attention to it really. I use it as motivation because I know I have so much time, and I don’t want to rush anything. I have to use it as motivation for school and sports.

Q: What are your best subjects?

Q: Jackson Nevers was a freshman like you when he was first on the team and must have understood the dynamic of that.

A: English is one of my strong suits and math a little bit, because Math e taught me a lot too. All of them, John Warpinski and Barrett you have to study to learn it and work hard. I think I am good at A: H working hard and if there is something I need to achieve, I can do it.

After school, I take two hours a day to study all of my homework and I think that really helps.

Q: Time management as a student is very important and it becomes

even more critical as a student athlete in High School and even more difficult in college. How much have you focused on that in terms of athletics, academics, family and friends?

A: It’s huge, you have to plan out your day and on a Sunday, maybe plan out your next week. That’s what me and my mom always try to do just every Sunday, plan out the next week if it is school, events, birthdays, and just whatever. Get those events down so you know and don’t have to last minute rush or anything. Just know what is on your agenda every day, it’s just kind of nice too.

Q: Football or Hockey?

A: I don’t know, I love them both right now. Actually, right now we are not in those sports so, neither.

Q: We heard a rumor that you may be putting the spikes on for baseball.

Is that true?

A: I was thinking about it but I threw a bullpen the other day and my

arm started to really hurt. I just didn’t want to really deal with it the rest of the year.

Q: Does playing center in hockey equate to being a quarterback in football at all?

Dexheimer all taught me a lot and I was talking to Barrett after the tournament and he was giving me tips on leadership and how to be a good captain and how to be on everybody. That’s how our championship team was. All three of our captains knew their role.

Jackson was a more talkative person, Warp was the ice leader, Barrett was just an all-around good leader.

Q: T he Xcel Energy Center was poppin’. There was a huge crowd, the

energy was real and everyone was looking forward to seeing two of the best teams, Edina and Chanhassen, faceoff in what turned out to be an instant classic of a state final. What did that feel like?

A: It was crazy. In warmups you kinda got to take a second to take it

all in but then you’ve got to go right back to work. It’s just super fun, even the things outside of it. The locker rooms and where we warm up, it was just a fun experience. I wish I could experience it right now.

I wish I could be down there everyday and play it again. Even on the ice too, that first puck drop was super fun and that winning feeling.

Q: When your team was down 1-0 to Chanhassen in the state final, where were your heads at as a team?

A: I was thinking, listen to Jackson. We would go for a TV timeout and we would all listen to him and what he thinks and kind of just keep following (Curt) Giles philosophy and just keep doing it. We knew we were going to win. We weren’t afraid of losing, we were just focused on winning to where we weren’t even scared at that point. It doesn’t matter what the score was, we just want to win.”

Q: Do you do any goal setting?

A: For sure because you are always in the middle of the play just like a A: I do goal setting every year. I try to do it every week in planning out quarterback where you are the middle player in your offense. I think it’s huge because sometimes we will be on a forecheck and I have to read it in the middle and see where people are going to go or where people are behind me, it is like a read in football.

Q: You grew a lot over the last year, did that impact your game on the

my week, I just try to do it like that. Then, every year after every hockey season I try to plan out my goals and then reflect on them after the season to see if I achieved them or got close to them.

Q: The football championship was a yard away, it was that close. What

ice at all?

was your perspective of the decision and take me through what went down through that whole moment?

back. But, I think it actually really helped me because I try to play other sports too to keep things fresh. I play basketball every day and I think I grew into my body every week way more and it kind of helped playing those other sports too.

every practice, we practiced that same exact play. I felt really good about it. After we scored that touchdown I went over to coach and he’s like ‘Alright we’re doing this play,’ and I was like alright, let’s go. I was really pumped and then some things just didn’t work out.

They just got off the blocks and I feel bad for Chase but they played it really well.

A: It helped, it was funny I had to buy different sticks like every couple A: I felt actually really good about it. We practiced the play before, after of months because I would get taller and my stick always hurt my

Q: What is the best part about your teams or your locker rooms that are special about your groups?

Q: Is your group preparing for football now and how is that going?

A: It’s honestly, spending time with the team even if it is just meals or A: We have some transfers coming in from other schools too and we going to someone’s house and hanging out. It is super fun to even hang out with a lot of new friends. I made a lot of new friends and give a lot of credit to Jackson (Nevers). Freshman year, I didn’t really know anybody and he took me under his wing. He’s like a big brother to me and I really appreciate him a lot.

tend to work out almost like 3-4 days a week. In the summers it’s more. During the winter a lot of people have a lot of stuff and it is kind of busy but in the summer it starts to ramp up and start to get a good connection with the guys. I already have a good connection with the two guys who are transferring.

Edina Sting Locker 15

Edina native Sami Cowger earns 200th career win and 5th state title in 8th year as EHS Girls Head Hockey Coach.

By Pete Waggoner

­­16 SPRING 2024

Sami Reber Cowger grew up in a hockey town, in a hockey family, as the youngest of three kids, and the only girl with two older brothers. Sami would see hockey become a big part of her life while her life journey brought her back to her hometown of Edina as the girls head hockey coach in 2016. Over her eight seasons as the Hornet bench boss, Cowger has led her team to eight state tournament appearances while winning five titles. According to Cowger, this past season’s win is the sweetest of the five.

The 2023-2024 Edina Hornet girls’ hockey team not only can call themselves state champions, they also helped Cowger earn her 200th career coaching victory. Cowger’s ascent to the elite in girls high school hockey coaching has been as swift and decisive as her teams play. There

are many moments and people in Cowger’s life that helped mold her hockey path and the person she is today.

BEGINNINGS

Cowger’s father Bill played hockey in college and professionally. He was also a draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings in the NHL and the Cincinnati Stingers in the WHA in 1975. As would be the case, Cowger (EHS 2011) spent her time watching her brothers Josh (EHS 2005) and Matt (EHS 2008). She viewed growing up in Edina as a privilege and that included from an athletic, academic, and community perspective.

“I grew up in a hockey family, so hockey was kind of the dominant sport,” Cowger said in a recent podcast interview with the Sting Locker staff. She noted that there was no girls hockey at the time she began and that she played with the boys until she was ten-years old or in hockey years, squirts.

Edina Sting Locker 17

A Life in Sami’s road to an Edina legacy.

“Being in Edina, as a prominent hockey association, was a privilege growing up here and being able to play in the EHA. I played with the boys actually growing up because there wasn’t girls hockey which seems crazy because it seems like I was in high school yesterday. I did start playing with the boys just until I was about ten,” Cowger said.

As girls hockey was beginning to draw more players and grow, the Edina Hockey Association was able to add a 10U A team to the already existing 10U B teams. It was the creation of the 10U A team that allowed Cowger to make the jump from boys to girls hockey and she never looked back. “We got a U10A team, so I was a part of the first ever girls U10A team,” Cowger recalled. “I got to play with my girlfriends and from then on obviously stuck with girls hockey.”

She credits her experience in Edina hockey and soccer as to why she returned to coach at Edina High School. “Edina gave me more than I could ever ask for and is a big reason why I am back here coaching and giving back to the program that gave me so much,” Cowger said.

“Obviously, the hockey side was huge but the soccer side was phenomenal as well. It was kind of my side gig, my side sport, that taught me a lot of things with the ESC (Edina Soccer Club) and then the high school program. I was privileged enough to be coached by incredible people that led the way for me and taught me how to be a pretty successful athlete. I owe everyone truthfully, who came before me so much and they are a huge reason why I am back at EHS to this day.”

COMPETITIVE DRIVE

Cowger is viewed by those around the sport as a no-nonsense fierce competitor that relates to her players and knows what is required to be successful on and off the ice. Those qualities have resulted in Cowger winning multiple awards on the ice as a player/coach and in her professional work life. That is a problematic formula for other teams to deal with when facing Cowger’s Hornets. .

When asked if her two older brothers helped develop that competitive spirit, anyone who knows Josh and Matt Reber are aware they did not give their little sister any breaks in competition. Cowger had to think about her reply when asked if they inadvertently helped create that in her. She watched as they went on to play college hockey and wanted to follow in their footsteps. In order to deliver what they did as student athletes required Cowger to up her competitiveness in both sports and classroom to get to the next level. That was a level she already had instilled in her from her family environment. She wanted to beat them and worked to find a way.

“Beating them physically probably wasn’t going to work out but it gave me that motivation and that drive to follow in their footsteps,” Cowger said. “I never really thought of it that way where it is like I do owe them some credit to that. Aside from the competitiveness they taught me a lot about the game. Without them I don’t know where I would be. I aspired to be them, I grew up in the hockey rink. I remember being dragged to

Sami continues to display the same passion, pride, and care as when she started in 2016. She has assembled a dedicated and knowledgeable coaching staff that has helped provide consistency to her expectations within the program. That team of coaches enjoy each other and collaborate so well as a staff. I have seen her handle some difficult situations with compassion and empathy but has stayed firm in what she believes is the right decision. Sami knows what she believes in and places value on holding that standard of excellence. , Edina Assistant Principal & Activities Director

­­18 SPRING 2024

200 Career

the rink and being glued to the glass watching this game and you see these older boys and kids. They are hitting each other and competing, they are chirping each other and all that stuff, so naturally it just gets instilled in you.”

COLLEGE, BEYOND, AND LIVING A DREAM

Cowger excelled in the classroom and in athletics which landed her an opportunity to play at Harvard University. She was a big-time contributor in college, collecting 26g-82a-108pts in 134 games played for the Crimson. The experience of growth and personal development was big for Cowger in college and she said it was there where she was able to mature into the player, coach, and person she is today.

After she completed her senior year in college, the majority of the Harvard assistant coaching staff went on to be coaches at University of Minnesota Duluth. Cowger was asked to join the staff right out of college and she gladly accepted. Her time in Duluth was short lived and after spending one season there, the Edina job came up.

“It sounds so cliche and I swear I am not just saying it but, it really feels like a dream sometimes,” Cowger said of landing the EHS girls varsity hockey coaching job. “I had this dream of coming back to Edina when I was a sophomore in high school, years ago I dreamt of coming back. Did I ever think if I did come back and have the opportunity to come back that we’d be having the success? No.”

HORNET COACHING OPPORTUNITY

Cowger’s sophomore year at Edina was the school’s first trip to the state tournament in girls hockey and they finished third that year followed by a pair of second place finishes, that included a 3-2 loss to Minnetonka in the state final Cowger’s senior year.

Reflecting back on those teams, Cowger knew they had the talent to win as they had so much success and were very close each year. “I always knew Edina could do it,” Cowger said. “We had been so close. We have had great teams even when I was in high school. We came so close to winning that state championship and we just couldn’t get there.”

When the Edina job came up after then 7-year coach Laura Slominski stepped down, Cowger received word that the job may be coming available. As one could imagine, the job drew a lot of interest. Cowger had just completed her first year at the collegiate level with UMD and considered herself young for the job but also factored in that this opportunity does not come up very often. Cowger applied and got the job. She did not let her age deter her from going after her goal, and part of the competitiveness that she has was on full display as she pursued the job. She did fear being overlooked for her age and lack of experience.

“I got hired and the parents on that team took me in with open arms and yes, I was only five years older than my seniors at the time which is kind of wild,” Cowger said with a laugh. “I am a believer that everything happens for a reason and I am very very blessed Edina took a chance on me and that Troy (Stein) took a chance on me 8 years ago. I don’t know when this opportunity would have presented itself again.”

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

Cowger captured her 200th win on January 25th, 2024 and it was earned the hard way by her Hornets over a strong Andover team that shut the Hornets out 3-0 at the Walser Invitational Tournament earlier in the season. Andover had won four straight games against Edina and the win paved the way for the young Hornets to gain confidence.

The Andover run over the Hornets included a loss in last year’s semifinal round of the state tournament. Edina bounded back and won the third place trophy with a 3-2 win over Minnetonka. The team graduated seven seniors from last year’s team including the Senior Goalie of the Year (now known as the Jori Jones Award) Uma Corniea. There were plenty of questions coming into the season and the Hornets lost a total of six games this past year including an unheard of losing back-to-back games to Hill-Murray and Benilde-St. Margaret’s. Those two teams would resurface later and the Hornets would eventually need to get through both of them to win a state championship. The last season Edina had lost two or more games in a row was 2014-2015 when they had a 3-game skid. Two in a row had never happened under Cowger.

Continued on page 20

Edina Sting Locker 19

BORN TO LEAD Continued from page 19

To many, posting a 24-6-1 record Edina had this year would be the best record in team history. For Cowger, the standard of excellence is so high, the season took on a different look. It is why when asked which of her team’s five state championships was her favorite, Cowger said she has a special place in her heart for all of them yet this year stands out among all of them.

“You go back to that first year and it is so emotional, it is so exciting and it’s a place we have never been before and I will never trade any of them (championships) for anything but this year was one of the years where it was a little rocky at times. At times I was like, oh my gosh, what is going to come of this team at the end of this year? Wow, we have so much talent and we are so young and a lot of immaturities are showing up and we are losing to teams on paper that we have no business losing to and it is just this new wave of Edina Hockey that this program hasn’t seen in years. It was a new phase of how do we handle this, how do we adapt to this adversity we are facing?

There was a key moment in the locker room after the season finale loss to Orono and Cowger said, “All right, I am done with the Orono game.

I don’t want to talk about it, I don’t want to think about it, we’re moving on to sections.” After a 15-minute discussion with the team, Cowger challenged the team to go get it if they wanted it and it started right then with a new season for the playoffs. It all started with practice the next day.

SOARING TO SUCCESS, 5 TIME STATE CHAMPS

“They showed up and they were a team I knew they could always be,” Cowger said. “They beat Minnetonka and Andover in the regular season which was huge but we lost to some weaker teams and some really good teams. We were just up and down. All of a sudden we showed up at the quarterfinal game against Hopkins and won 12-0 and it wasn’t a fluke 12-0, these girls decided to show up and play and from that day on I was like, oh my gosh, we can really do this.”

The Hornets didn’t look back as they went on to avenge their defeat to Benilde-St. Margaret’s earlier in the season with an emotional 5-4 win

COWGER’S COACHING RECORD 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024

28-1-1 28-2-1 27-4-0 28-2-0 22-0-0 27-3-0 23-5-2 24-6-1

TOTAL

207-23-5

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in the Section 6AA Final at Parade Ice Garden. Junior Whitney Horton earned the hat trick to go along with 2 assists to help pace the Hornet win and trip to the state tournament. Junior Camille Dubuc also had 2 assists and goalie Nora Hannan was in goal for the win.

At the state tournament, the Hornets’ opening round 5-0 win over Northfield paved the way for their showdown with Lake Conference rival Minnetonka in the semifinals. Junior Brenna Prellwitz scored the game winning goal at 2:36 just 1:34 after Minnetonka had tied the game in the third period. Junior goalie Reese McConnell made 21 saves for the win in goal setting up their championship showdown with the Hill-Murray Pioneers.

It was a defensive tussle with the Pioneers and the championship game at the Xcel Energy Center was scoreless until a power play goal by Horton broke the ice. Sophomore Lorlei Nelson assisted on Horton’s goal and then later went on a danglefest, beating 3 different Pioneers for the 2-0 Hornet lead. Cowger awarded a game puck to McConnell and it is something that has not happened in a Hornet locker room under Cowger. “I’ve never done this before, but we awarded the game puck [to Reese tonight],” Cowger said. “She proved herself entirely in that game against Northfield and at that point I wasn’t looking back.” McConnell made 44 saves on 46 shots for a .957 save percentage over the three-day tournament.

Cowger embodies what Edina Hockey has been about for 70-plus years.

She has always been honored to be a part of a program no matter her role as a player or coach. Cowger puts the game and program before and understands the responsibilities that come with representing Edina High School through hard work, competitiveness, and class while always respecting the game. Edina now has the most state titles in the Class AA with five. Cowger and her teams have earned that in eight years. Many in the hockey community and media have already put Cowger’s name among the great ones in Minnesota Girls High School Hockey coaching ranks and she is only getting started.

EHS GIRLS’ HOCKEY STATE TOURNAMENT HISTORY 2009 2010 2011 2012 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

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3rd 2nd 2nd 3rd 3rd 4th Champions* Champions Champions 2nd Champions 3rd 3rd Champions

*Cowger’s first year as EHS Girls Hockey Coach

20 SPRING 2024

Edina Sting Locker 21

­­22 SPRING 2024

Strong work ethic and extreme focus clinch another State Title.

By Whitney Horton | Section Editor, Edina Zephyrus | Photography by MSHSL

Edina Girls’ Swim and Dive has consistently set the bar higher every year at the Minnesota State High School League state meet. With a second-place medal in 2021 and a first-place finish in 2022, the team finished the 2023 season with another state championship title. However, the road to success did not come easily as the team was faced with the challenge of losing 10 strong seniors last season.

“We were not really expecting to win state because last season many of our seniors graduated so a lot of strong people from our team last year weren’t there anymore,” junior diver Zara Karimi said. Yet, many underclassmen were allowed to step up and take leadership of the team’s path to a state championship. “I’m one of the older underclassmen, so I had to be a leader for the younger underclassmen especially because there were only a couple of seniors this season,” sophomore swimmer Libby McCarthy said.

Many seniors also felt that the disciplined work ethic of the younger classes helped the team achieve their end goal. “I think [underclassmen] got to learn a different team atmosphere and intensity that we have towards the end of the season. It was really fun to see how it motivated them to do better towards the end because it’s a lot different than the regular season,” senior captain Eleanor Hughes said.

season, I was out with an injury and a lot of the team’s swimmers had shoulder problems,” Karimi said. From recurring injuries to intense practices, the team kept improving. “It’s always hard in the middle of the season. We always have pretty hard practices and meets are not every week,” Hughes said.

However, the Hornets’ work ethic and extreme focus ultimately led them to a victory against their biggest rival, Minnetonka. By centering the team’s attention on state week and keeping their eye on the prize, the Hornets were able to conserve their energy and beat Minnetonka when it mattered. “Tonka focuses a lot on in-season meets, whereas we focus on only the end goals throughout our season. We put all of our preparation into the state meet and the state meets only, so we had our mind set on that,” Hughes said.

With another state championship title, Edina Girls’ Swim and Dive hopes to continue their success throughout the years. The feeling of victory will continue to last with the underclassmen, motivating the team for future seasons. “My first [state championship] win was last year in ninth grade.

With this year’s win, I hope to motivate the younger underclassmen for upcoming years because I know they’ll want that same exact feeling of winning,” McCarthy said.

Motivation and hard work became key to the Hornets’ ability to persevere through adversity during the season. “At the beginning of the

“

I think [underclassmen] got to learn a different team atmosphere and intensity that we have towards the end of the season. It was really fun to

”

see how it motivated them.

Eleanor Hughes, Senior Captain

Edina Sting Locker 23

By Pete Waggoner | Photography by MSHSL

­­24 SPRING 2024

[ Edina Boys’ Golf 200th Win: June 14th, 2023 ]

Winning key championships in Edina High School history is nothing new to the Boys’ Golf team. They won the first state championship in school history in 1954 and the team’s most recent win in June of 2023 lifted Edina High Schools state championship win total to 200.

While Edina High School (EHS) now holds 205 athletic state titles, it was the 200th that hit a stunning benchmark for the athletic department and community. Edina eclipsed 100 state titles in 2000 and since have won an astounding 105 state championships in 24 years while leaving the other schools in the dust. Putting the 200 number in perspective, Wayzata High School is the next closest Minnesota school to Edina with 86 total state championships.

30-minutes later and we had completely flipped the script. We were now up several shots and we never looked back from that point.”

Ben Sanderson, a senior captain on this year’s 2024 team, spoke of the character and depth of the team to shake off the tough start, not panic, and trust their ability. “I think it comes back to our team,” Sanderson said in a recent interview with the Sting Locker Magazine. “During the back 9 I looked at the leaderboard and Torger (Ohe) shot like 5 under on the front 9, David (Colby) a couple under too and just our whole team was playing really well. Just looking and seeing everyone on our team is doing well gives me a ton of confidence.”

The girls’ badminton team pulled EHS to 199 by dethroning seven-time defending champion St. Paul Johnson in the semi-finals and then topped Burnsville in the final on May 17th, 2023. Their win over the Johnson badminton dynasty set the table for It was just a special either the baseball team or boys’ golf team to have a chance to capture number 200. achievement, winning a state A semi-final loss to Rosemount dashed the championship alone is an incredible hopes of the 200th coming from the diamond and that placed the attention to the links and achievement and that was great. directly on the shoulders of the golf team.

“

”

Regarding the remarkable rally, McCollow added, “Although there was a rough start to the day, we really went on a nice stretch a couple holes into the event, third, fourth, fifth, sixth hole. Once everybody was on the course. We caught them, passed them, and went on to a 19-shot win, making up 21 strokes on the final day. It was a pretty big difference to come from 2 down to up 17.”

Coach Mike McCollow It was not an easy route for Edina, although the final scorecards would indicate otherwise, the Despite being down, Torger Ohe not only led his Hornet boys were trailing Eastview by two strokes team on the course but also said the group of six going into the final day and stormed back with an had the confidence to secure the victory. “We had a lot incredible team effort to capture the team’s seventh state of confidence after day one,” Ohe, who is also a captain this title and second in a row. It took some time for things to settle in season, said. We hadn’t played our best and we left some strokes out there on day two of the two-day event as Edina found themselves down even and we were still only down two. We had been in this position before further after the first few holes. and we won before from being down. I don’t think we ever lost any Coach Mike McCollow crafted what he thought was the perfect prematch speech and as the scores of the first few holes came in, McCollow wasn’t so sure he hit the right note with the players. “We were down even more than we started with and I am like well, maybe that didn’t work as well as I thought,” McCollow said. “I did get nervous for a stretch. At that point, I had decided to just put the phone away and not look at the updates on the leaderboard. It was very hard. I like to know things, the more information the better for me. The very next time I looked at it was

confidence in our ability to come back and I think that showed.”

McCollow reflected back on the meaning of capturing the 200th state tournament in Edina High School athletic history. It does not fall short on McCollow and his appreciation for what the accomplishment means to the school, community and alumni. “It was just a special achievement, winning a state championship alone is an incredible achievement and that was great,” McCollow said. “To be a custodian of an athletic Edina Sting Locker 25

2024 Edina Boys Golf Team: Torger Ohe, Sander Ohe, Owen Nielsen, Ben Sanderson, David Colby, Jimmy Abdo, Coach Mike McCollow

The 2023 Boys’ Edina Golf team is much like the other teams that have executed the Edina way and it speaks volumes to how the teams are built and what is required to be the last team standing in a championship season. “I think it can be different for different years and different teams,” McCollow said. “Obviously, there are certain Ohe, who will be a junior this year, noted that there were 199 other components; you have to have the talent. I don’t take for granted the level of talent that comes through this program year-after-year. The more teams that put this group in position to make it happen and talented you are, the easier it is to shoot scores and win said “Winning a state title in and of itself is an incredible championships. There are a ton of intangibles. achievement and having done it, it is something I can Character, work ethic, discipline, camaraderie testify is something you will never ever experience — great teams have camaraderie. Even though anything like it in your life. To be on a team that golf is an individual sport by and large, I makes it 200 puts it into perspective there’s 199 Everybody is expected to certainly feel like the strengths of our program other teams that did the exact same thing we in the last several years are guys that like each compete at the highest level and did. We were just happy to be the one that set other, teammates that get along well, and a the 200. Taking a look back at how storied compete for state championships. good vibe within this program, that helps.” our athletic department has been, we realize program with the history that Edina athletics has and to have that special designation of the 200th championship, it is something we told the kids for a long time when we thought it was a possibility and maybe got closer to being a reality that if they achieve that, it is something they will remember the rest of their life.”

“

It’s an honor and privilege to have

What has been a common theme in and around EHS athletics has been the acceptance the talent that we do in Edina. of the team. From the player’s perspective, Ohe noted that it is about relationship building on and Torger Ohe off the course, field, court, or ice. It is about being Sanderson comes from a family rooted in Edina sports the group’s trust for your team when they need you including his father winning a state championship. “It most and doing the work necessary to be your best in the is just super special to be a part of the legacy,” Sanderson most important times. said. “My dad won a state championship and some other members of we have been a part of a much larger group that made it happen and it would not have happened without any other teams and I am just really thankful to be a part of it.”

my family won a state championship, a lot of my friends and just to be a part of that is really cool. Another thing that is cool about Edina, my buddies that play baseball and hockey, everyone wanted that 200th state championship so it was almost competing with them in a way which speaks to the strength of the Edina athletics that every program thinks they can get the state championship.” ­­26 SPRING 2024

”

“I think it’s doing everything together,” Ohe said. “We practice every day together. Whenever we go out and play, we are always playing together.

It is just building relationships to the point where you feel like we can honestly live with each other. We are each other’s best friends and spending the amount of time together practicing hours at a time and going out on weekends and not having an official practice and playing

with each other is an extra, added component to our success and makes it so much easier and put down your head and say oh, he needs me now.

To know what they are going through and to spend so much time with each other makes it so much easier.”

McCollow spoke of the deep camaraderie developed in his team that had only one senior playing in the tournament. “Golf can be a lonely sport sometimes when you are out on the island and searching for it,” McCollow said. “But to have teammates that you like, teammates that are a hole behind a hole ahead, they are giving you confidence that are putting up good scores, that makes you feel more comfortable that we are in this thing together and that somebody will pick you up if you are having a tough day or a tough couple of holes. I think that combination of things has really helped us have the success that we have had.”

With success and winning comes the attention of other teams around the state in terms of a target placed on all EHS teams as teams will bear down and provide their best effort to win. There is also a responsibility to handle game situations with dignity and respect more so, as all eyes are on the EHS program at all times. Sanderson articulated that responsibility is real and is just fine with his school playing the villain. “I think it just is cool to be a part of the legacy of Edina. It is fun to be the villains and with having a good record, everyone wants to beat you but we always try to handle ourselves with class and add on to the already great legacy that Edina has,” Sanderson said.

McCollow added to Sanderson’s thoughts and discussed how having a target on Edina athletics backs does not fall short on all teams and noted, “I think everybody feels the fact that we have a target on our backs at Edina, but it is something hard that we have earned. We know who came before us and helped us put that target on our back. We are all aware of it, we try to embrace it. We have sayings throughout the program that pressure is a privilege. We feel like we have earned that from all that we have done to be coaches and players at Edina. What we want to do is respect our competition, know that there are a lot of great programs out there, know the teams are gunning for us and everyone is trying to win.

Whether they are Edina or anybody else, people are trying their hardest.

There is an understanding among those of us that are Edina are some special challenges that we face and as Ben mentioned, we try to be classy, we try to earn the respect and embrace the fact that people are gunning for us and we earned that, and it’s ok.”

Wearing the green, white and gold of Edina delivers as a source of pride in all EHS athletes and Ohe summed up there is more to this than the present. He said that players understand the rich history laid out before them and what it takes to carry that on.

“It is just really special to know the history behind it and the expectation of the whole athletic department sets around each team,” Ohe said. “Everybody is expected to compete at the highest level and compete for state championships. It’s an honor and privilege to have the talent that we do in Edina and to be able to have teams that we put together, to bring together a combination of individuals that have a chance to win state championships every year, that is just really special and a special privilege to have.”

3rd

TORGER OHE: Sophomore ROUND 1: 72 • ROUND 2: 68 • TOTAL: 138

11th

JIMMY ABDO: Junior ROUND 1: 75 • ROUND 2: 71 • TOTAL: 146

24th

SANDER OHE: Freshman ROUND 1: 75 • ROUND 2: 76 • TOTAL: 151

25th BEN SANDERSON: Junior ROUND 1: 80 • ROUND 2: 72 • TOTAL: 152

28th OWEN NIELSEN: Senior ROUND 1: 76 • ROUND 2: 76 • TOTAL: 152

50th DAVID COLBY: Freshman ROUND 1: 83 • ROUND 2: 75 • TOTAL: 158

Edina Sting Locker 27

Athlete Spotlight

Q and A with Senior Izzy Engle

Senior soccer player and Athena Award winner looks back on her Edina High School experience and state soccer title.

The Sting Locker discusses multi-sport star’s success on and off the field.

By Pete Waggoner

Q: Y ou have received many awards as a player including the national

and local level, most recently being named the Metro Player of the Year and the Athena award at Edina High School. What does that mean to you as a player and teammate?

tice, making me a better player. Hopefully, I am making them a better player at the same time. All of those accolades are kind of a bonus so I get to play with all these awesome people and to surround myself with such a good community.

A: I think the awards sometimes have the opposite effect but I think all Q: A s winner of the Athena Award that recognizes female athletes that of it humbles me as an individual and as a team, you recognize all of the work that has to go into it. The personal work that I had to do and continue to do to improve my performance on the field, my coaches are working all the time to make sure that our team is where we are supposed to be and make sure that we can perform. My teammates are setting me up and I can also set them up in the same way. We are building off of each other and we are getting better together. Every award I have gotten is this accumulation of a team effort and as a team sport, even with track it’s the same thing. The best thing I can be is so grateful for it and it is just such an honor to even have my name even be considered in all of these because it literally is such a team effort. It does humble me in the fact that I wouldn’t have any of that without the people that surround me and the community that pushes me to be better too. They are also the ones competing with me at prac-

­­28 SPRING 2024

distinguish themselves academically and athletically. How do you find your balance in life?

A: T hat is the biggest secret, not that there is much of a secret to

it, once you find that balance of social life like family social, maintaining all those important relationships outside of your sport, and then having soccer and keeping up with work in the classroom is so important, making sure your grades are good enough. I would say time-management and something super important I learned in middle school is making sure that I am getting my schoolwork done before practice. I am able to get all of my homework done before that and I can maybe go train or I can even get dinner with a friend, hang out with people. It’s just kind of knowing your priorities too. In season soccer and academics have to be some of my biggest priorities and making sure

I give myself enough time to rest and enough time to enjoy people.

These are lessons I have learned through injuries that have made me get that moderation and find that balance in my life. My performance is not going to be as good as it can be if I am not investing in myself, my mental health, and also just the people around me because they are the ones that really ground me. It is hard to do and there are times you are at your breaking point because it just becomes too much and I think that is when going back to your family and going back to what grounds you. For me it’s my faith that really grounds me and that allows me to be humble because I know I have not done enough to get what I deserve and that’s through God. Everyone has 24-hours a day and not trying to waste it and make the most of your opportunity.

Q: W hat got you introduced to soccer?

A: M y mom’s Brazilian and it has always been part of her culture and

my dad is from Minnesota and his is more hockey. All of my brothers were big into hockey. Surprisingly I didn’t even try hockey, I never played hockey. Soccer, it was more like when I was four or five, maybe even younger my parents had me in soccer. I was born in New York City so when we moved to Edina I did Edina Soccer Association and my grandma has videos, I was like not good at all. I was jus the kid that was running around, trying to talk to her friends and I would not really care to kick the ball around. When I was about 10 or 11, I started to take it more seriously. I mainly did soccer and swimming and I didn’t do all that many sports and I think I had a much bigger passion for soccer than swimming so I started dedicating more time to it and I kind of really fell in love with the game. I fell in love with playing, practicing. I am here in Costa Rica and me and my brother will play soccer on the beach. You see other people playing soccer and I think it is a really cool sport and activity that is worldwide and it’s part of the reason why I love it too, you can go anywhere and find it. I have Brazilian cousins, whenever we go down there we are always playing soccer and there is a pick up game going on.

Q: 9 6 goals for you in you freshman through senior year including 41 this past season and that is insane,

A: I don’t know how that happened!

Q: W e are talking almost two goals a game, there are certain skills that players excel at differently. Your goal scoring numbers increased every year. What makes a player such as yourself a goalscorer?

A: S omeone who is obviously able to finish but it seems like it is

explanatory but it is a lot harder than you think. Being able to take the situation at hand and it is one-on-one with the goalie, and not trying to bury it upper 90 and just passing it into the corner. Taking the most of every opportunity because you also don’t know how many opportunities you’ll get in a game. I remember Katie (Aafedt) after my freshman year she said, “Izzy not every goal has to be an ESPN goal, you don’t have to bomb it, you don’t have to score an upper 90 goal all of the time, unless it is an actual ESPN goal, they are not going to remember, they are just going to remember that you scored.” That was really beneficial to me because I am in that situation and it was just taking a deep breath and finishing it instead of shooting it as hard as you can and that results in either skying it or shooting it right at the goalie unless it’s like a perfect shot. That has been huge for me and it also translates into how I practice. Now instead of practicing you have to get the combination of power and aim obviously but hitting it

in the right direction and right spot and also knowing where you are going to kick it. I look up at the goal and ok, the goalie is to the left and the bottom right corner is open so I am going to pass it in the right bottom corner or shoot it in the right bottom corner. That awareness is something that I’ve for sure developed over the last three-four years. It continues to be something I look to improve on. Once you understand the fundamentals of it and the awareness piece, when to shoot hard, all that stuff has really helped me score more goals and become a goal scorer.

Q: Your team had the tough loss to Rosemount in the state final your

junior year, that had to carry over some to this year I would guess.

Then, this year, you don’t lose a game, go 22-0 and then you beat Lake Conference rival Wayzata in the state final. Tell me about all of that.

A: I don’t think you could have scripted that any better, it was

unbelievable. Rosemount was huge but I would even go back farther and go to sophomore year where we lost to Sillwater after being up 2-0 in the state semi-final. Again, talk about the script, getting third place, second place and first place that was just like, what the heck? It was awesome and could not have ended any better. I would say that experience sophomore year, and for a lack of a better word, it traumatized me, Ashley (Thurk), and Grace (Polidahl) and it brought us so close in that experience. Especially senior year we were not letting that happen again. So that was this kind of run-the-table mentality. Junior year, I was also thinking we lost a couple games and we were still third in our section and went into the section tournament third and we still got out and got second in the state which I think was a super big props to our team chemistry where we really came together. That experience, we were very much the underdogs. We had lost games throughout the season. We lost to Wayzata twice, Stilwater, and I was so mad about that Stillwater loss junior year. We wanted our revenge and didn’t get it. Those losses defined us as a team and I remember us being 10-1 in the last 11 games and the one loss being to Rosemount. It was this crazy run at the end an none of us expected it and honestly, I would say the Stillwater loss hurt more than the Rosemount one, I knew the girls on the Rosemount team, they were awesome girls, awesome competitors, awesome players and I felt like you deserved that one we are coming back next year and going to win it. I went into senior year thinking if we pick up a loss or two I am perfectly fine with that. I think it can help define us like junior year.

If we do that senior year I am ok with that. Obviously, I want to win every game but if we lose a couple early on, that’s ok. We went down and we were losing 3-0 to Stillwater at home and we came back and won 4-3. That experience gave me all the revenge that I wanted. I had this like vengeance from my sophomore year. It was like the same thing but an even crazier of a come-back. It brought us really close and our team chemistry was through the roof this year. There were a couple of games like that where we were losing and we came back.

We didn’t lose any but we had these losing experiences where we had to come back. We didn’t need to lose a game to know what it felt like to be an underdog in a situation. We knew if we went down against Wayzata in the final that we could still score and come back. I wasn’t there when my team won in the section final against Minnetonka and that took so much grit. I could not be prouder of them. It was because of these earlier experiences that we actually didn’t lose a game that created this mentality within us that was a huge testament of our Edina Sting Locker 29

success. Every experience this fall, I just tell my parents all the time, this fall was just crazy cool. The amount of cool experiences I could not have asked for better, just the cherry on top and could not have asked for a better way to finish my high school career.

Q: Y ou have all the attributes of a coach. Do you think you will coach someday?

A: H onestly, I like working with kids. I will tell you, I want to have a ton of

kids when I am older and I love being with kids. I work through ESA with little ones and I also do private coaching and very small groups.

Being able to coach and mentor is so much fun for me. I would not be that surprised if that is in my future.

when I had the falling in love with the campus again. About Notre Dame it is what we talked about earlier, the balance of academics and athletics. Academics have always been important to me. My mom has always said you love school and learning. I wanted to be somewhere where I would be pushed academically and also athletically. The sports culture at Notre Dame was huge for me. The fact that there is a faith aspect is super cool. My coach went to Notre Dame and he was a part of a youth group that I hope to attend next year and be able to go to. I hope no one would have to say this but I haven’t regretted the decision since. I know it is going to exceed my expectations next year and I am super excited.

Q: W hat do you want to do after you are done with college?

Q: What did track and field give you that maybe soccer didn’t?

A: I actually want to try to play college after soccer. I want to try to play it A: I would say a lot of the community and I was blessed to have a lot of for as long as I can and hopefully that will be with a career in the U.S. the soccer girls that ran track with me and that was just a super fun sport. There is nothing harder than I have done in my life like any physical exertion activity like running a 400 or 800. It taught me this massive lesson of grit, determination, and perseverance. The end of the 400 is like an out of body experience and I think anyone who runs 400’s competitively can tell you the same thing. You are just gassed, your body is drained but you still have to run those last fifty yards. I am barely in my body, it is barely running without me, it is kind of hurting me right now talking about it but I love it but I hate it. That did translate like the conditioning part doing workouts every day and that helped my conditioning on the soccer field. I am a midfielder and a forward and you need to be able to run a lot and it helps my speed.

I speak Portuguese and French and I went to Normandale for French Immersion and if it’s an overseas thing that would be awesome. I love traveling and I love doing all that. I don’t know what is going to happen in the future. I am majoring in business. Mendoza School of Business, and right now I am thinking I am going to do finance but I don’t really know though. I think the business degree is something I can kind of not do whatever I want with it but it would be helpful in so many different fields. Right now it is get my soccer to a point that potentially I could play after college but we will also see where I am at, what happens in four years. Maybe something in coaching, or something in ministry, I am such a people person I don’t know if you can tell.

Q: A re you participating this year?

Q: How has Edina High School prepared you for your next steps in life?

A: I am sad, I am not actually participating this year. It has been a huge A: I t has prepared me in so many ways. First I would say the blessing to have that community and those people. Those coaches are just awesome too.

Q: You committed to Notre Dame. Why the Fighting Irish?

A: B oth my parents did go there, I’ll just put that out there. It is pretty

important as it is this community that I had grown up with. You could say they brainwashed us, I am joking. They would have supported me anywhere that I chose. They told me that and I knew that to be completely true. They were awesome role models, leaders and also helped me make my own decision. I took all five official visits and I loved all five of them. I took all of them and I really debated them and my final two were Penn State and Notre Dame. There was one day, I was home the whole day and I was just like in my room staring because I didn’t know which one to pick. Now it is kind of crazy for me to say that because it was an obvious decision and I decided on Notre Dame. The thing that prompted it is I saw a picture of me in an old Notre Dame shirt and I was holding a foam #1 Fighting Irish.

I was like OK this is what I have always wanted and I knew it in my heart this is what I am going to choose. I went back to campus, it was like love at first site, well love at seventh site, a month later and that is

­­30 SPRING 2024

academics are really good. There is this expectation of excellence and of competition and that is more in the classroom and I would say more out of the classroom in sports. Boys hockey was like what, our fifth state championship this year? That’s just crazy. It is so special and everyone else just hates us and that is just because they are not us.

I think Edina High School as a program as a community is such a supportive group of people. I can’t testify to the amount of people that are just kind and honest and pushing me to be the best version of myself and that’s my teachers and also my coaches and I am so grateful and blessed to be around such a strong community. It is a tight knit community and Mr. (Troy) Stein has been awesome in helping me out with the Athena and that is something I am so blessed with and knowing there are all these awesome female athletes that I have gotten to play with and am friends with all of them in my grade. To have gotten that award is such an honor and to be in such a competitive community, program, and school system, I am so blessed. Edina has really given me the tools and also the competition to be able to succeed and excel and that is something that I will be forever grateful for.

­­31 SPRING 2024

Edina Sting Locker 31

“ They wanted to win.” Leadership and maturity propel Edina Boys’ Hockey to their 14th state title.

By Griffith Pugh | Online Manager, Edina Zephyrus | Photography by Matt Harrington

Under a minute to go. Chanhassen pulls their goalie. A palpable tension hovers in the air as the Hornets lead by a goal.

The Edina student section holds its collective breath. A team will soon be crowned champion.

30 seconds. Chanhassen pressures Edina with a six-on-five. The crowd gasps as Chanhassen flings the puck on net, barely missing. Their last-second push unsuccessful, the goal horn sounds to declare a Hornet victory! Edina goalie Joe Bertram throws down his stick in celebration as the rest of the team piles onto him. ­­32 SPRING 2024

Before the championship, this year’s Boys’ State High School Hockey Tournament was wide open. The clear-cut number one seed and defending champion, Minnetonka, had their historic undefeated season brought to an end in their section final, beaten 2–1 by Chanhassen.

Similarly, Edina knocked off number tworanked Wayzata during their section final. With the original top two teams out, the tournament was open for the taking.

While Edina was awarded the number one seed in the tournament, their mentality going

into the slate of upcoming games was not one of hubris. “A big part of our team [identity] is we’re under the radar,” senior defenseman Barrett Dexhiemer said. Edina Head Coach Curt Giles described their blueprint for success as a relentless focus on control. “We don’t worry about other teams. They can do whatever they want to do. All we want to do is control what we do. Treat our opponents with respect, treat the game with respect,” Giles said. It was clear the Hornets were coming in laser-focused on their goal: winning a state championship.

The quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 7 against Elk River was mostly smooth sailing for the Hornets. Edina played a solid first period, up 1–0 at the first intermission. They came out fast and dictated the pace, sustaining time in the offensive zone. They maintained their momentum in the second period, hitting Elk River with a flurry of goals. “The second period killed us,” Elk River’s Head Coach Ben Gustafson said. Notably, sophomore Casey Vandertop scored his first hat trick of the year allowing Edina to pull ahead 6–1 by the end of the second period. Edina’s offense cooled off in the third period, but Elk River was not able to complete a comeback. The final score of the quarterfinal was 6–2.

Coach Grant Clafton said. “They [also] score in bunches.” This trend is evident in Edina’s huge multi-goal surges in the second period of game one and the first period of game two.

Four of Edina’s six goals in the quarterfinal came from underclassmen. Contributions from the underclassmen through all three periods helped lead them to an easy win in game one of the tournament. This maturity was built off of strong leadership, something that is necessary in order to persevere through the toughest opponents.“The good thing about this team is we have good leadership,” Giles said.

One of the team’s top leaders on the ice and in the locker room, Captain Jackson Nevers, explained how the experience of playing and losing in the championship last year prepared them for this year’s game. “Half our team has been in this position going into tomorrow,” Nevers said. “The pain we felt losing [the championship] last year, I’ve thought about it every single day.”

Reflecting on the lead-up to the state championship, Giles reiterated his motto of focusing on what the team could control.“The main thing in our thought process is to worry about us,” he said. Harkening back to the maturity and leadership of the group, Giles explained that it’s on the players, not the coaches, to stay focused and in control heading into the championship. “We’re not in the [locker room] all the time. We have to have good leadership.

[The players] control the locker room and set the tempo,” he said.

“ The pain we felt losing (the championship) last year, I’ve thought about it every single day.”

- C a p ta i n J ac ks o n N e v e r s

The barrage of scoring from underclassmen highlighted the lethal nature of this Edina squad. The maturity of the younger players is what makes the team so difficult to defeat.

“They’ve contributed substantially the entire year,” Giles said. “They adapted extremely well [and] have contributed a lot of good situational minutes.”

In the championship game, both teams were evenly matched. Neither team sustained much time in the offensive zone during the first period, rebuffed by powerhouse defense.

While Chanhassen had a couple of good opportunities on a late-period power play, they were still unable to capitalize. Going into the first intermission, the score remained 0–0.

The next day in the semifinals, Grand Rapids came out and matched Edina’s pace of play. They gave the Hornets little space to maneuver creating an evenly matched game for the first half of the first period. However, Edina then opened the floodgates and goals started rolling in. Within the span of 10 minutes, Edina racked up four unanswered goals. Despite some sloppy play in the third period causing Edina to struggle with penalties, they cruised to a 5–2 win against Grand Rapids and advanced to the championship.

The first half of the second period was more of the same. High intensity and physicality from each side made it clear that both teams were getting desperate to score first. With just under seven minutes left in the second period, Chanhassen scored off of a redirect. After two periods of strenuous back and forth, Chanhassen managed to earn a 1–0 lead.

Following the long awaited first goal, Edina froze up offensively, quickly getting outshot 15 to five in the second period as their passing and puck movement grew stagnant. Describing the locker room in the second intermission, Giles noted that his team stayed calm. “The cool thing is nobody panicked. You get down by one against a very, very good team. They just hung

Postgame, Grand Rapids noted that Edina’s size and speed is what makes them such a hard team to beat. “They’re a heavy team and they play with great speed,” Grand Rapids Head

in there. The message was it’s only one shot to get back into it,” Giles said. Playing from behind for the first time in the tournament, Edina looked to regain their momentum and get on the scoreboard.

Starting the third period, Edina came out looking sharp. Their offense came back to life and won more time in the offensive zone, including more looks on the net. The Hornets were outshooting Chanhassen six to zero starting the third period. With about 13 minutes left in the third, the tension building on the Hornets finally broke. With a wrist shot from the point, Robbie Hoch evened things out to 1–1. Another cutthroat period ensued, where each team feverishly attempted to break the tie. The game-winning goal came on the power play from senior Bobby Cowan, who put the Hornets up 2–1 with just under seven minutes left in the third period.

This was an impressive go-ahead goal, beating Chanhassen goalie Kam Hendrickson over his right shoulder. “Best shot in the state,” Nevers said. The last stretch of the game was extremely tight as Chanhassen pushed to even up the game. Edina goalie Joe Bertram stood tall, stopping all attempts to tie the score, allowing the Hornets to hold on and win their 14th Boys’ State Hockey championship.

Following the victory, Giles congratulated Chanhassen for their time and talent. “I can’t tell you how good a hockey team that was,” Giles said. Closing out the presser, he spoke to his team’s resilience and poise throughout the tournament. “This group of kids that we had this year were some of the easiest [players] that we’ve ever had to get prepared to play hockey.

They wanted to win,” he said.

Edina Sting Locker 33

2023-2024 Board & Committee Members

The Mission of the Edina Athletic Booster Club is to enhance the athletic environment for all student athletes so that they may have a positive, rewarding, and fulfilling experience.

The Edina Athletic Booster Club is governed by a formal charter, has established by-laws, and members of the Board are elected to three-year terms.

EABC committees work closely with the EHS Athletic Department and various community groups to achieve the EABC mission.

2023-2024 EABC Executive Committee President: Kurt Lange Vice President: Open Secretary: Scott Beuning Treasurer: Jeff Ohe Past President: Matt Dahlien EHS Activities Director: Troy Stein Advertising/Sponsorship Jeff Carlson, Chair Membership/Communications Sean Broderick, Chair Concessions Natalie Spicer

Hall of Fame Banquet Zibby Nunn, Co-Chair Maggie DeVoe, Co-Chair Homecoming Open Scholar Athlete Banquet Mary Kuehl, Chair

Major Expenditures Matt Dahlien, Chair Annual Fundraiser Event Kristin Kemper Administrator Patty Dronen

Check out our sponsors: edinaboosterclub.com/about/1538

EDINA STING LOCKER • 200+ STATE TITLES • POSITIVE. REWARDING. FULFILLING • 2023 - 2024 • EDINA STING LOCKER •

200+ STATE TITLES • POSITIVE. REWARDING. FULFILLING • 2023 - 2024 • EDINA STING LOCKER • 200+ STATE TITLES • POSITIVE. REWARDING. FULFILLING • 2023 - 2024

EDINA ATHLETIC BOOSTER CLUB

­­34 SPRING 2024

200+ STATE TITLES • POSITIVE. REWARDING. FULFILLING • 22023 - 2024 • EDINA STING LOCKER • 200+ STATE TITLES • POSITIVE. REWARDING. FULFILLING • 2023 - 2024 •

EDINA STING LOCKER • 200+ STATE TITLES • POSITIVE. REWARDING. FULFILLING • 2023 - 2024 • EDINA STING LOCKER •

BOOSTER DONATIONS 2023-2024 Edina Booster Donations The Edina Athletic Booster Club would like to thank the following sponsors of our Hoedown held on April 6th, 2024.

Champion Level $5000 Cahill Financial Advisors Luther Automotive

Hornet Level $2500 Green Level $1000 France Avenue Family Physicians Key Cadillac Grandview Tire & Auto Signature Pools/Barrett Lawn Care Four Corners Explorations Bank Cherokee Megan and David Hardt Meyerhofer Family

US Internet Edina Orthodontics

In Kind Donations Jessen Press Faribault Mill Jerrys Foods

Ten Gallon $500 Jason & Stefanie Meyer Tradition Capital Bank

Edina Sting Locker 35

EABC MEMBERS

2023-2024 Edina Athletic Booster Club LIFETIME $5,000

PRESIDENT’S CLUB $1,000

David & Katie Aafedt Dominic & Brooke Allocco Donnie & Noel Berkholz Steve & Annie Bishop The Broderick Family Jay & Kari Carroll Jay & Angela Chapman Matt & Michelle Cooke Chris & Margaret Davis Scott, Chris, Clay & Hunter Dawson Jesalyn Desjarlais Jeff & Deborah Eckland Jim & Barb Eppel Peter & Kari Espinosa Thomas & Kristen Ewers Pete & Eleni Glerum Brian, Janel, Alexis, Bianca & Jett Goff Paul & Margot Grangaard Adam & Abigail Graves Rob & Sheri Guimont Casey & Holli Hankinson Jay & Betsey Hiniker Josh & Sarah Howard The Idrogo-Lam Family Louis F. Jacques Isabelle, Natalie, Alicia & Alianne Jacques Neil & Jill Johnson Susan Kolden, Lisa Kolden & Jackson Kolden Tim & Mary Kuehl Kurt & Kelley Lange Mike Marinovich Patti Marinovich Jay & Erin Matushak John & Quay Mitchell Marty & Patti Nanne Kirk & Heather Nielsen Jeff & Janna Northrup Rob & Amy Parish The Rowland Family Duke & Lisa Uihlein Gage & Lisa Walker Tim & Andrea Walsh Keith & Carrie White Jim & Julie Wohlford Dan & Carol Wolfe Corey & Carin Wulf

Greg & Monica Ansems Chris Graft Afira & Jafar Hasan The Jezierski family

­­36 SPRING 2024

GREEN & WHITE CLUB $500 Erik & Alison Anderson BJ & Kate Austin The Bowen Family Tom & Rhonda Cronin The Dau Family Justin & Shelly Dekker Ryan & Patricia Engle The Gremmels Family JJ Halverson Anonymous Patrick & Kristin Kemper Margaret & Matt Kershner Matt & Heather Kruse Heather & Ryan Lund Emmy & Tim Mastel Brian & Erna Maxwell The Meyer Family Devon & Liz Muir Scott & Shan Nelson J.P. & Shannon Presthus Erik Perry & Erika Quam-Perry Bill Ramsay Scott & Tracy Schaefer Cheryl L. Segale

ALUMNI CLUB $250 Daniel Allgood Scott & Myndee Anderson The Anderson Family Suzanne Bordeau Jevne Bennett John & Jennifer Berge Brian & Kate Bjerke Jeff & Anna Bodensteiner Caspar & Laurie Borggreve Steve & Jennea Botts

Gary & Katie Brothers Steve & Kat Brothers The Burger Family Daniel Carlson Jennie & Joe Carpenter Tim & Carey Chapdelaine Ted & Jackie Colwell The Conner Family Greg & Marit Corniea Margarita & Deniz Cultu Carol Cutshall Beth & Matt Dahlien Steve & Janet (Grangaard) Dietrich Kate & Chad Donnay Todd & Mary Doroff Jen & Matt Doscotch Ric & Kerry Dressen The Dubuc Family Jeff & Kristi Einhorn Annelys Farrell Ann Flaherty Tim & Kelly Flaherty Toby Gardner Ryan & Teresa Garry Mark & Jennifer Gentry The Gleason Family Greta & Rusty Golfis The Granberg Family Jess Hannan The Hanstad Family Ron & Janis Hardie Trudie Heitzmann Anne Hill Greg & Kristy Hoffmann Mark & Laura Horton Susie & Bob Huff Matt & Brandee Huss The Huston family Rich & Kris Inderieden Jeff Johnson & Susan Link Tara & Troy Johnson Steve & Mim Kagol The Knez Family Josie Koppen, Aaron Koppen Steve & Sarah Kumagai Scott LaFrenz Kari & Mike Lessard Mark & Sara Mason Andy & Jennifer Matysik Thomas McConnell Bobby & Kristi McConnell The McLeans

Jennifer & Mike McLenighan Katie & Dan Moe Kari & Bob Molhoek Laura & Todd Mulliken Andy & Kristine Mullmann Amy Murphy Andy & Koren Nelson Matt & Gina Oelschlager The Peckham Family Brett & Mandy Peterson The Piprudes Bryan & Kristel Pitko The Pofahl Family Rich & Kristi Pohlidal Kimberly Quirk Scott & Katie Reddin Jane & Chris Reichert Rick & Cameron Romer Erik Romslo Greg & Nikki Roth Tony Rubin Curt & Rachel Ruegemer Anne & Tom Salmen Matt & Jennifer Samuel Heidi & Dan Sargeant Dr. Carl & Stephanie Schneider Tina Schwebach Shannon & John Sieve Dan & Carrie Sink Bob & Kirstin Slaney Jeff & Lindsay Sorem Brigid Spicola Matt & Heidi Swinney The Thurk Family Deb Toren Kelly Van Stone & Joel Hutcheson Ann & Nick Velander Jim & Stephanie Vitt Tara & Tom Wagner Mike & Julie West The Wilkening Family John & Karen Williams S & A Williams Brian Wyatt J.T. & Tara Wyckoff

HORNET CLUB $150 The Bookey Family Bob & Deb Anderson Meg & Chris Anderson Armbrustmacher family Lisa Bock The Bovys The Burmeisters Jim & Annie Burt Ann & Jake Carlson Julie Casebolt Brian & Peggy Cepek The Coleman Family Ryan & Stephanie Coogan Chad Cooper Bob & Jennifer Cossack Jeff Couchman Kari & Matt Cox Lise & Slater Crosby Stacey & Dave Curme The Darling Family The DeMars Family Jeff & Gretchen Doom Kevin Drake Jamie & Libby Engelsma Jen Esser & Sarah Danielson Paymon & Christine Farazi Heather R. Fenske The Fitzpatrick Family Alison Ford The Francis-Jones Family Karen & Peter Gabler Mark & Jill Gierach Annie & Todd Gustin Elizabeth & Peter Hang Sarah Hawes Carissa Holley The Hook Family Chris & Kristy Howe Brad & Laura Hunt Sarah & Dave Irwin Garima & Raj Jain John & Amanda Jeske Paige & Ian Johnson Ken & Kristen Johnson Todd & Mary Joing Chris Kachmarzinski

Mike & Emily Katz Scott & Erin Keeley Tim & Beth Kehoe Mike & Gretchen Kelly Koehler Family Angie & Mike Koelbl Bo & Melissa Lewis Chuck & Dixie Lewis Brett & Marcy Libby Karyn & Trent Luger Brock & Lisa Maiser Dene Maloney Pete & Julie McCarthy Lisa & Mark McCleary Marcella & Kyle Smoley Phil & Monica Mero Spencer & Tricia Nichols Mike & Marhya Molepske Paul Molitor The Mowery Family David & Stephanie Nelson Jon & Erin Newburg Lindsay & Haig Newton Matt & Birgitta Nybeck Kate OConnell Joseph L. Orr Kellee Ott Doug Peterson Robert & Joanna Rebischke Kirsten & Scott Rewey Ron & Sue Santrach Mark & Theresa Sexton The Simmons Family Sean & Stephanie Stephenson Sara Strothman Amy & Andrew Teitscheid Kim & Todd Thorsen Yvete Toivola Per & Liz Utne Noelle Varecka Sara & Jeremy Voigts Sara Wegmann & Reed Krider Zack & Kirsti Wenner Ryan & Nicki Williams The Wing Family

STARTING LINE $50 Miski Ali The Barrows Family Mark Benninghoff Dan Bentley Jacob & Melissa Berning The Hidalgo Family Scott Beuning Megan & Mike Bireley Jacob Braegelmann Mary & Tim Braun The Broich Family Jennifer Brown & Porter Brown Sarah & Derek Burgess The Carpenters Carey Caverly Rob Caverly Miles Christenson Paola Contreras Jennifer Cook Long Doan Thomas Ebert Dan & Steph Eicher Julie Nerheim Erlandson Patricio Espinoza Jenna & David Estlick Tom Gatyas Jon & Julie Greene Kristen L Gunderson Mike & Gretchen Hadden Jason LaFrenz & Naomi Hagestuen LaFrenz Kelly & Roger Hauck Leslie Hennigar & Maggie Nuessle Jeremy & Tricia Hipps Casey Holley Stacy & Greg Horwitz Claudia Howard Farhia Ibrahim Jake & Angela Jacobson Leslie Haberkorn Jepson Kristine Jessen Scott & June Johnson Kimberley & Wade Johnson Christian & Stacy Johnson Bocar & Alison Kane The Kapoor Family Noura Khemakhem Meghan Lindblom

Jeff Mace Michael & Ingrid Mahoney The Malinski Family Kerry & Nora McGrain Chris & Cassie Rooney Michele & Phil Miller Arpita Modi Mitch & Bethany Mohs Vanessa Monyenye Heidi Moon Kristina & Patrick Morton Mark & Jody Nahlovsky Jeff & Laura Nielsen Dan Norling Matt & Kari Norman The Oak Family Daniel & Terie Olson James Parker Brent Pickett The Polomis Family The Reeves Family Mara Rendi & Paul Farris Pat Ridgely Betty & Lindsey Ronning Todd & Mandy Schenk Anthony L. Scott The Shane Family Sarah & Cam Siedschlag Archie Sinha Choudhury Gregg Skaggs & Baharak Pezeshki Gwen Skelton The Cake Eaters Podcast Danielle & Peter Theirl Julie Thiel Christine Tompkins Marc & Lisa Ungerman Dan & Mary Utoft Bob & Amy Vose Mark & Tracy Weinstein The Wells Family Nate Wissink Yifei Zhang The Ziegler Family Kristen Zwieg

Edina Sting Locker 37

205 EDINA STATE TITLES Edina High School Athletics

Fall Sports

Winter Sports

Spring Sports

ADAPTIVE SOCCER (CI) 1991*, 2000

ADAPTIVE FLOOR HOCKEY (CI) 1994, 1995

BADMINTON 2023*

CROSS COUNTRY - BOYS 2018

ALPINE SKIING - BOYS 1967, 1979W, 1980W, 1982, 1999, 2002, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021

BASEBALL 1968, 1983

CROSS COUNTRY - GIRLS 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021

GOLF - BOYS 1954, 1970, 1973W, 1977W, 1978W, 1987, 2014, 2019, 2022, 2023

FOOTBALL 1957*, 1965*, 1966*, 1969*, 1971*, 1978W

ALPINE SKIING - GIRLS 1991, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2021

GYMNASTICS - BOYS 1982, 1984, 1990*

BASKETBALL - BOYS 1966, 1967, 1968

SOCCER - BOYS 1999, 2000, 2001, 2019

BASKETBALL - GIRLS 1988

SOCCER - GIRLS 1986, 2023

COMPETITION CHEER 2007*, 2009*, 2010*, 2011*, 2016*, 2018*, 2021*, 2023*

TENNIS - BOYS 1959, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973E, 1975E, 1978E, 1979E, 1980W, 1981E, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2021

GYMNASTICS - GIRLS 1979W, 1980E, 1981W, 1985

TRACK - BOYS 1969, 1970, 1974E

SWIMMING & DIVING - GIRLS 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 TENNIS - GIRLS 1978E, 1979E, 1980E, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019

HOCKEY - BOYS 1969, 1971, 1974E, 1978E, 1979E, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1997, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2024 HOCKEY - GIRLS 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024 NORDIC SKIIING - BOYS 1981W, 1988 ROBOTICS 2022 SWIMMING & DIVING - BOYS 1965, 1967, 1968, 1984, 1986, 1987, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024

E = Edina East, W = Edina West, * = Not included in MSHSL Count ­­38 SPRING 2024

GOLF - GIRLS 1983, 1984, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

Edina Sting Locker 39

Edina Athletic Booster Club Edina High School 6754 Valley View Road Edina, MN 55439