McClellan is Cougar girls Triple A pick

BY BRUCE STRAND SPORTS WRITER

Ash McClellan, a volleyball standout with numerous artistic pursuits, is Centennial’s female nominee for the Triple A Award — a Minnesota State High School League program honoring seniors for arts, academics and athletics achievement.

“Outside of class, I spend my free time with various activities: painting, sketching, writing poetry, knitting, crocheting, and designing,” McClellan said. “I also taught myself how to play guitar, ukulele, and the keyboard.”

McClellan was a peppy setter on the Centennial volleyball team that placed fifth in the state, capable of

Girls Basketball

After Elk River snapped a four-game win streak by Centennial 48-41 last Monday, the Cougars got back in the W column against Champlin Park 63-44 on Wednesday.

The Cougars are 12-8 overall, 10-3 in conference. Elk River (14-5) had Jordan Langbehn with 14 points, Kayla Christy 12, and Ella Johnson 11. The Elks held the Cougars to their low total of the year. Marisa Frost sank 11 points and Macey Littlefield 10. The Cougars were 0-for-14 on three-pointers. The Elks were 2-for-15 on three’s but 20for-26 on free shots. Against Champlin Park (8-9), Littlefield led the attack with 20 points and seven rebounds. Frost notched 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Jordan Metz added 12 points, and Autumn McCall nine points and 11 rebounds. The Cougars dramatically improved on three’s, going 9-for-17. Reese Engebart had 12 points and Ava Holman 10 for the Rebels.

Boys Hockey

Centennial journeyed to Duluth East last Tuesday and lost to the Greyhounds 7-4, then drubbed a pair of conference opponents, during a busy week. The Cougars are 12-7-1 overall and 10-4 in conference. In Duluth, the score was 2-2 after two periods but the hosts drilled five goals in the third. Cole Christian had three goals for the Greyhounds (14-6-1). Cougar goals came from

Brock Carls, Nick Carls, Austin Petersen and Harper Searles. Centennial downed Osseo 8-0 on Thursday, led by Peyton Blair with two goals and two assists. Scoring a goal each were Tanner Graczyk, Hayden Frank, Casey Coenen, Brock Carls, Searles, and Drake Ramirez. Goalie Gavin Schahn stopped 10 shots by the Orioles (10-11). At Anoka (3-18) on Saturday, Centennial took a quick 2-0 lead on short-handed goals by Searles and Ramirez and went on to win 11-1. Searles finished with four goals. Blair, Sam Menne, Nick Carls, Petersen, Palmer Lemay, Anders Wessman, and Ramirez had one each.

Boys Basketball

Centennial has a 3-14 record after losing two conference games last week. Elk River (7-9) edged Centennial 69-67 on Monday evening, led by Cade Osterman with 30 points. Centennial got 24 points from Ty Burgoon. Jack D’Agostino and Jackson Driessen added 11 points each and Josh Lee 10. Champlin Park (5-10) downed the Cougars 75-64 on Wednesday evening in Champlin. Molly Komara sank 17 points and Luke Graff 14 for the Rebels (5-10). Burgoon and D’Agostino each netted 15 points and Henry Pirner added nine.

dumping kills over the net herself along with setting up her teammates with aplomb. She has sung in school choirs from seventh through 12th grade, including Honors Concert Choir the last two years. Scholastically, she has spent the last three semesters as a PSEO student (unweighted college classes). Her grade-point-average is 3.94 weighted and 3.92 unweighted.

While playing just one school sport, she also gets physical in water sports, mainly skiing, surfing and wakeboarding.

Next year, McClellan hopes to attend University of Washington to pursue Web Design or Computer Science.

Cougars among top teams at girls wrestling gala

Girls Hockey

Centennial/Spring Lake Park closed the regular season 18-6-1 after shutting out two conference opponents last week, then losing to a hot goalie at Blake. The Cougars were 8-4-1 in the Northwest Suburban for fourth place. They edged Elk River 1-0 on Tuesday as a first-period goal by Lauren O’Hara (assisted by Hannah Thompson and Katie Ball) stood up, with Kaitlin Groess making 20 saves. The Cougars blanked White Bear Lake 4-0 on Thursday on goals by O’Hara, Thompson (power play), Ella O’Hearn and Jayce Chatleain and 22 saves by Gross. On Saturday, Blake goalie Janie McGawn stopped 45 shots, with Teagan Kulenkamp getting one past her, and the Bears (14-12) beat the Cougars 3-1. Ani Fagley, Sam Broz, and Samantha Negard (empty net) scored for Blake. Groess made 20 saves.

Boys Wrestling

Centennial has a 14-13 record after last week’s matches and will close the regular season Tuesday in a quad at White Bear Lake. The Cougars lost to Andover 43-21 on Thursday. They lost to Park 49-30 and beat Irondale 53-15 on Friday. Marcus Whiting, junior co-captain, has won 11 of his last 12 matches, seven by pin. He beat No. 9 ranked Tramaine Davis of Andover. His lone loss in that span came against No. 3 Quin Morgan of Mounds View.

Swimming

Centennial officially placed fifth in the Northwest Suburban by defeating Blaine 97-81 in the crossover match Thursday. The Cougars finished dual meets 5-2. Event winners were George Atkinson (200 freestyle), Max Scheurer (individual medley, breaststroke) Joseph Murray (50 free), Gavin Manthei (diving), Max Larkin (butterfly), Benno Schuhbauer (500 free), Caleb Cregen (backstroke) and all three relays. Next is Section 7A set for Feb. 23-25 in Coon Rapids.

Centennial’s squad of six girls earned eighth place among 59 teams Saturday in a huge event for girl wrestling at Pine Island. Jaden Ruegsegger placed second at 132 pounds. Placing fifth were Sophia Nurkka at 235 and Alaina Franco at 145. Nora Akpan placed sixth at 138. Ade Flaschberger and Lucy Dropps were both in the seventh place match at 120 and didn’t wrestle each other. The Cougar coaching staff all work with the girls as well as the boys, although head coach Link Steffen cited Kathleen Jolly, new to the staff this year, for doing “an incredible job with our girls.” Jolly was not at Pine Island because she wrestles for Augustana and had a tournament. The Cougar girls will compete in the Section 3 and 4 tournament Saturday at Hastings. The top two in each class advance to state.

Athlete Of The Week

Sam Menne

Centennial Hockey

Sam Menne is a third-year starting defenseman and a consistent point producer in a winning Centennial hockey program (12-7-1 this year, 45-18-5 in his career).

“Sam is a dynamic D-man who plays well in all three zones,” said his coach and dad, Ritch Menne. “He brings an intensity and physicality that make everyone around him better.” Menne has 20 assists and two goals this season. At 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, he plays what the coach calls “a very heavy game,” while displaying clear rink vision and good puck movement. Menne also plays baseball for the Cougars.

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