Husky Athletics
World athletes come together at St. Cloud State
Joao Orsi
St. Cloud State University’s growing population of international students has not only helped create success in the classroom, it also has helped the intercollegiate athletic program score points in the arena of competition. St. Cloud State’s international student community is well represented with 21 international students listed on various Husky squad rosters for spring 2013. The most visible of the international connections over the years has been the Husky hockey teams’ links with Canada. This season, the women’s team
Michelle Burke
has five student-athletes from Canada on its roster while the men’s team has four. The men’s hockey team also is benefiting from the play of rookies Kalle Kossila (Haukulathi, Finland) and Rasmus Reijiola (Espoo, Finland), who played with the Espoo Blues U20 in Finland last winter before enrolling at St. Cloud State. The contributions to the hockey programs by international studentathletes has been considerable with six of the top 30 career point producers on the men’s team and 12 of the women’s top 30 scorers coming from international hometowns. On the court Gemechu Belkecho
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Outlook Spring 2013
St. Cloud State’s men’s and women’s tennis programs have also established a
pipeline that has brought international talent to Central Minnesota. Wojciech Batorski ’09 of Michalowice, Poland, was one of the first international players to make an impact on SCSU’s men’s team. “The addition of our international student-athletes to our rosters has really played a key role in the success of our program in recent years,” said head tennis coach Jerry Anderson ’84. The men’s Husky tennis team features five international students this season — including four from Brazil and one from Spain. The women’s roster includes two international players. These international student-athletes have been a major part of the ongoing success of the tennis programs here at SCSU, which includes 12 consecutive NCAA Division II tournament bids for