Alpine: Cougar girls finish 3rd, both 5th in NWSC

The Centennial Alpine teams concluded the Northwest Suburban Conference season last week with three allconference individuals, a thirdplace team finish for the girls among nine schools and a fifthplace finish for the boys.

“What a great night at Trollhaugen, wrapping up the NWSC race season,” coach Derrick Taylor said. “Our coaches are all very proud of the team and the accomplishments we’ve been able to make, through many practices, two invites and five conference races.”

Cougar freshman Jordin

Sports Briefs

Flohaug earned third place in the season girls standings.

Brooke Halverson, a senior, finished 16th, also earning all-NWSC honors, as did Bruce Johnson, a junior, who placed 18th in the boys standings.

In five NWSC meets, the Cougar girls placed third three times and fourth twice, while the boys placed fourth twice, fifth, sixth and eighth.

In the finale Thursday, girls placements were (3) Flohaug

(12) Halverson (17) Kelli

Halatsis (20) Kate Tensing

(36) Hadley Goochey (41) Ella Nelson (48) Sofia Anderson (50) Gwen Halverson (61) Emily three matches in that tournament were Logan Fu, Jaden Lilly, Joe Streff, Marcus Whiting and Owen Hackett. Whiting has a 25-7 record at 220 pounds, Hackett is 21-8 at 285, and Fu is 19-13 at 113 with 10 straight wins

Stokkeland.

Boys placements were (10) Johnson (16) Luke Lofgren (35) Griffen Lofgren (43) Danny Schooley (57) Caleb Nelson (59) Owen Crandall (64) Luke Peterson (67) Seth Semmler (77) Jackson Copiskey (88) Levi Struve.

Blaine nabbed the championships for both boys and girls. Individual champs were Stella Gronkski of Anoka and Lucas VanWechel of Blaine. Next for the Cougars is sectionals on Feb. 7 at Giants Ridge.

Boys Basketball

Centennial got back in the win column with a 73-58 conquest of Coon Rapids at home Thursday evening, snapping a 10-game losing streak.

Eleven players scored for the Cougars (3-12), who led 41-27 at halftime. Jackson Driessen with 13 points and Jack D’Agostino with 12 led the way. Luke Gunderman and Tyler Mabry added nine points each. Jackson

Wrestling

The Centennial wrestlers have a 1412 record, their most wins in a season since 2016, after winning four of six dual meets last week. The Cougars lost at Anoka 46-22 on Wednesday. On Thursday at Roseville, the Cougars beat Roseville 48-24 and North St. Paul 60-6, and lost to No. 6 ranked Mounds View 69-3. On Friday at home, the Cougars defeated Coon Rapids 59-18 and Maple Grove 48-24. Third-year coach Chase Steffen noted how much progress has been made. “We have gone from 19 wrestlers in 2019 to 43 wrestlers currently,” said Steffen. “Very proud of our kids and our coaching staff that make wrestling fun and bring the best out of our kids.” The Cougars placed third in the Bloomington Kennedy tournament on Jan. 22, where they beat Hopkins 72-11, lost to Eagan 40-24 and beat Kennedy 48-21. Winning all

Hettwer led the Cardinals (4-10) with 17. The Cougars lost to Anoka 67-47 on Tuesday. Driessen sank 10 points and Henry Pirner eight for the Cougars. Reagan Reeder pumped in 29 points and Peyton Podany 16 for the Tornadoes (6-6).

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Centennial has a four-game win streak after defeating Anoka 59-54 last Tuesday and Coon Rapids 7830 on Thursday, both on the road. Against Anoka, Marisa Frost sank 19 points, Kati Anderson 13 and Autumn McCall nine. McCall snagged 10 rebounds and Emma Walsh seven. Maddy Freking led Anoka (11-5) with 21 points and 14 rebounds. The Tornadoes were 13-for-17 on free shots, with Freking 7-for-8. Against Coon Rapids, eleven players scored, led by Frost with 19, KJ Tharp 10, and Anderson and McCall nine each.

Kaylin Green led the Cardinals (1-

Centennial Wrestling

Owen Hackett, senior heavyweight wrestler, is a third-year captain for the Centennial Cougars, and one of their top performers, holding a current 21-8 record with 14 pins. He recently beat a ranked wrestler from Mahtomedi during a 10-match win streak. “Owen is one of the smartest wrestlers on the team, and he has incredible hips,” coach Chase Steffen. Hackett typically stays in good position and avoids danger, the coach noted. “He also has the instincts to sense when his opponent is vulnerable, and is an absolute hammer on top.”

Hackett is a respected team leader, wholeheartedly embracing the captain role, Steffen said. Owen

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15) with eight. The Cougars are 11-7 overall and ranked 17th in Class 4A.

Girls Hockey

Centennial/Spring Lake Park was humbled by No. 5 ranked Andover 7-1 on Tuesday last week, then defeated North Wright County 6-0 on Saturday. Andover (17-3) got two goals each by Madison Brown, Hannah Christenson and Ella Boerger. Lauren O’Hara scored for Centennial. The No. 8 Cougars (16-5-1) blanked NWC with Kaitlin Groess making 24 saves while Noelle Hemr and Teagan Kulenkamp each scored twice and Ellie Newpower and Ella O’Hearn one each. Jaydin Weiser in goal made 41 saves for NWC (10-10-1).

BOYS HOCKEY

Centennial went overtime against two of the top NWSC teams last week, losing to Champlin Park 3-2 Thursday and beating No. 4 ranked Maple Grove 7-6 Saturday. The Cougars led Champlin Park 2-0 on goals by Peyton Blair (short-handed) and Drake Ramirez. Goalie Easton Cody made 37 saves, including 19 in the third period, but Will Burnevik got one past him on a power play at 11:44 to tie the score, and the Rebels (13-5) won on Drew Puajunen’s OT goal. Against Maple Grove (15-4-1), Brock Carls’ 10th goal of the season won it for the Cougars 3:47 into OT. Ramirez delivered three goals (two on power plays), and Austin Petersen, Harper Searles and Avery Clarner one each. The Cougars were outshot 55-35, with Cody making 49 saves. Maple Grove had six players with a goal each. The top five teams among 13 in the NWSC are Rogers

9-0-1, Maple Grove 10-2-1, Andover 9.2, Champlin Park 9-3 and Centennial

“It

8-4.

Swimming

Max Scheurer had Centennial’s only two wins and set a pool record as the Cougars lost to Maple Grove 101-80 on Thursday, giving them a 4-2 record in the NWSC. “The boys took on a very good Maple Grove team, who I believe will be the conference champion this year,” coach Pete Crawford said. “It was senior night and the boys performed very well, in that we had 68 seasonal best performances.” Scheurer broke the pool record in breaststroke with 58.78 and won individual medley (2:03.46). Placing second were George Atkinson (butterfly) and Ben Condon (100 free).