John’s Journal: One Year, Two Inches And A State Record

For exactly one calendar year, the only thing between Jarod White and the No. 1 spot in the record book was two inches. At the 2021 Section 1A track and field championships, the then-junior at Pine Island High School pole vaulted 16 feet, 0 inches. He went on to win the Class A state title a week later, clearing 15-9.

Ever since last year’s section meet at Triton High School in Dodge Center, White has been thinking about 16 feet, 2 inches. The all-time state record in the event was 16-1 ¾ … until Tuesday.

In the 2002 Section 1A championships, White cleared 16-2 to put his name at the top of the record list. Now second all-time is 16-1¾ by Mounds View’s Calvin Ciganik in 2018, followed by 16-1¼ by Blake’s Grant Krieger in 2013. No one else in Minnesota history has vaulted 16 feet. White is the only athlete from an outstate Class A school to have a current top spot in the state track and field record book.

White’s feat is the third new state track and field record set this spring. The Mounds View boys 4x800-meter relay team of Maximus Gregory, Victor Lelinga, Elliott McArthur and William Skelly ran a state-record time of 7:39.91 on May 24, which also is the fastest time in the nation this spring. Earlier, Rosemount’s Ava Cinnamo set a state record of 41-6 in the girls triple jump.

White, the newest member of the state-record club, said, “I’m just on Cloud Nine right now. I’m ecstatic.”

After setting the record, he missed three attempts at 16-5, calling it “another big milestone that I’m trying to hit.”

He will get that opportunity in the MSHSL state championship meet at St.  Michael Albertville High School. The meet will be held June 9, 10 and 11, with the Class A boys pole vault on June 9.

White opened Tuesday’s competition by easily clearing 13-9 on his first attempt. He had the bar moved to 14-9 and did the same. He made 15-6 on his second try before he asked for the bar to be set at 16-2. He knocked the bar off the standards on his first two attempts before clearing the record height on his third and final try.

As he sailed over the bar and was on his way down to the pit, he looked up at the bar and thought, “ ‘Just stay up’ and luckily it did. It was super exciting.”

After landing, he jumped off the pit and sprinted to his family and coaches, hugging everyone as the crowd cheered.

“It was pure elation,” said Pine Island coach Matt Northrop.

“He set this goal at the beginning of the season,” Northrop said. “Everybody knows what he’s about as a person, and his character. To be able to set the goal, achieve it and celebrate with his teammates, that was special.”

White’s previous best this season was 15-3, which he did at the True Team state championships on May 21.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

 

John’s Journal: 42 Years Of Softball Memories

WABASHA -- When Mike Schumacher graduated from college in 1980 and went looking for a job as a teacher and coach, he found a nice little setup at Wabasha-Kellogg. Shortly after being hired as a math teacher and junior high football coach, another gem of an opportunity presented itself.

“When they saw that I had some previous softball coaching, they said, ‘We're thinking of starting softball.’ So I became a softball coach,” Schumacher said earlier this week.

That was 42 years ago. Schumacher, a graduate of Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s High School and the University of Minnesota Morris, will close the books on his softball coaching career when the current season ends, and everyone would relish a repeat trip to the Class 1A state tournament as a finale of his legendary career. The Falcons opened the postseason this week with Section 1A wins over Schaeffer Academy and Mabel-Canton by a combined score of 39-2 and will face Southland on Thursday.

It took a while to get the program off the ground; there was no softball field or youth softball program before the inaugural team was assembled in the spring of 1981.

“I can still remember some of the games back in the ‘80s when in the last inning we’d have an eight-run lead and all of a sudden we've got a six-run deficit,” Schumacher said. “Those kinds of things don't happen quite that drastically now. But back then you never knew what was going to happen.

“Over the first 10 years we won like 35 games. So either I say goodbye or I get a summer program going and get serious. I started doing that.”

Coaching in the summer was not new to Schumacher, who had played high school baseball and coached summer girls softball in Sleepy Eye. Among his softball players was a young lady who was a year behind him at St. Mary’s; he and Georgette Meyer were married after college and have raised three kids in Wabasha.

“I married my high school sweetheart, who was my second baseman,” he said with a smile.

Schumacher considered several job offers in 1980, including positions in Annandale, Kenyon-Wanamingo, Alexandria and Kimball.

“But none of those had the combination of high school math and some football coaching,” he said.

“When Georgette and I were looking at where to live after college, we wanted to either go up north by some lakes or southeastern Minnesota, and there happened to be an opening here. For me, it was a perfect fit because it had the geometry, the upper-level math that I wanted to teach with the exact same classes and the exact same books I had student-taught with.”

The other communities also didn’t have the outdoor attributes of living alongside the Mississippi River.

“Right now the water is up high enough that we can just take the kayaks behind our house and we can go right through the trees from the backwaters and get anywhere we want,” Mike said.

In 2016, Schumacher was inducted into the Minnesota Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame and received the Bob Mertz Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Minute Men group of the Minnesota Twins. His career record of 451-418 (including 412-304 since 1991) puts him among the top 20 winningest softball coaches in Minnesota history.

Before Monday’s playoff opener against Schaeffer Academy, Wabasha-Kellogg activities director Tim Klingbeil looked around the Falcons’ softball complex, pointing out the fields, batting cages, a concession stand/pavilion area and more.

“Over 42 years, he's absolutely built everything you see,” Klingbeil said.

Before that game, a special announcement was made: The complex will be named Schumacher Fields – in honor of Mike and Georgette -- when the 2022-23 season begins.  

There are four seniors this season -- Ella Lineweaver, Sophie Graner, Jacqueline Avilez and Megan Solberg -- who will see their high school softball careers end as their coach steps away.

“He's been coaching forever,” Sophie said, “and a lot of people love him.”

The Falcons went to state last season, as they did in 2003, 2006 and 2007. The memories from last season’s accomplishment are still fresh.

“It was awesome to go to state with Mr. Schumacher, specifically because we could really see him open up with us a lot more,” Sophie said. “He was already open but he just was way brighter than usual and more talkative and it was just a really good experience.”

Jacqueline said, “I don't think I've ever seen him happier than when we won that section championship game.”

Klingbeil, who is the seventh activities director at Wabasha-Kellogg since Schumacher’s arrival, said, “I'm always asking for help, for wisdom, for experience. What he's seen over the years is just tremendous. With his philosophy and his approach, you can't argue because he’ll say, ‘You know, back in ‘87 we did this’ and ‘Back in ’92 we did this.’

“I think every coach who coaches thinks to themselves, ‘I want to be Mike Schumacher. I want to move to a small community and make that corner of the world better.’ ”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

John’s Journal: Gopher Football’s Most Sizable 2023 Recruit

--This is the second of two stories about small-town, multi-sport athletes who will play football at the University of Minnesota.

Reese Tripp made his 2022 pitching debut one evening recently, taking the mound for the Kasson-Mantorville KoMets in a home game against Goodhue. Tripp was impressive, striking out two hitters, walking one and pouncing on a bunt before firing to first base to throw the runner out.

He showed good athleticism and quick feet, as well as the ability to run the bases when he singled in the third inning and hustled to second on an error.

It’s all pretty amazing for someone who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 325 pounds. Tripp is finishing his junior year at Kasson-Mantorville, 17 miles west of Rochester. He has made a verbal commitment to play football at the University of Minnesota after he graduates in 2023. When he announced his college plans in January, he was the first in-state player from the Class of 2023 to commit to the Gophers.

Tripp’s big-time football future was not a sure thing until he worked hard and did something drastic: he lost nearly 60 pounds. That’s right, Reese weighed around 380 pounds.

But there’s no question that he’s an athlete. He has played football and baseball from a young age and played basketball through ninth grade.

“He's got a really good swing and good hands for a big guy, but he just was really slow last year as a sophomore,” said Kasson-Mantorville baseball coach Matt Franke. “He came into the offseason, dropped 60 pounds and now he can get down the line and he can move at first base.”

Tripp’s main position is first base and he sometimes is the team’s designated hitter. He throws and bats lefthanded.

The Kasson-Mantorville football team played in the Class 4A state championship game last season at U.S. Bank Stadium, losing to Hutchinson 42-14. Reese would love to close his high school football career with another long playoff run.

“Our team goal is to make it to state again,” he said. “It was an incredible experience last year. We did lose quite a few guys, but with the guys that were playing scout team all last year, I'm hoping we can all get back up there again.”

While focusing on football, Tripp is glad he has remained a multi-sport athlete.

“It helps me compete,” he said. “I used to play three sports my whole life, I minimized it to two. It's taught me to compete and it’s taught me to play every sport to its fullest potential, to the best I could do it. And it's fun.”

It’s also fun watching him move on the baseball field, and his teammates appreciate him off the field, as well.

“He’s 6-7 so to throw to him at first base is perfect for any infielder, and he can get down and scoop it, too,” Franke said. “He’s legged out a few double plays and got some RBIs by hustling down the line. Teams think he's going to be a lot slower than he is and they’re kind of surprised.

“He’s a great guy to have in the dugout, too. He gets everyone going and all the kids have grown up with him. He's kind of the guy that they rally around.”

Tripp accepted a scholarship from the Gophers the day it was offered, calling it an easy decision. The key to his rise in the recruiting world was losing all that weight.

“There was probably no way I was going to see the field because I was just too slow,” he said. “My size was there but my legs weren't keeping up with my size. So I started to lose the weight. And then once my film started getting out and they can see I have some speed and my size with it, it all came together.”

Tripp trains regularly at ETS Performance in Rochester, which is co-owned by Rochester native and former Gophers and Viking player Marcus Sherels. Before cementing his college plans, he figured the summer of 2022 would be filled with visits to college football camps as a way to draw interest. Now the pressure is off. He will have a summer job with a local heating and cooling company.

“I’ll be training every morning, like I usually do,” he said. “Now that I don’t have offers to worry about and don’t have to worry about going to camps and stuff, it saves me a lot of time. When I got offered, I was already starting to plan camps out. I was kind of stressing about that; ‘How am I going to work if I’m going to camps every week?’ I want to make my own money. And when Minnesota offered it was just a no-brainer. All the stress just kind of disappeared.”

When his senior years begins in the fall, he plans to graduate from high school early. That will enable him to enroll at the University of Minnesota in early 2023 and take part in spring football practice.

Among his biggest fans is his sister Delaney … although “biggest” is not very accurate. Delaney, who is a manager for the KoMets baseball team, stands only 5-foot-5, and she and Reese are twins.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

John’s Journal: From Three Sports In High School To Gophers Football

--This is the first of two stories about small-town, multi-sport athletes who will play football at the University of Minnesota.

Tony Nelson thought about graduating from high school early and moving to the University of Minnesota for the 2022 spring semester, getting a head start on his college education and Gophers football career. But home is important and Nelson had more to accomplish as a three-sport, small-town high school athlete in southwest Minnesota.

Specifically, he wanted to remain with his teammates on the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton basketball and track and field teams.

“I know that all the sports help me with football,” he said after competing at the Trojan Relays in Worthington on Wednesday. “I can still be practicing footwork for football and everything in the offseason and during basketball or track. And it’s going to keep me in shape and those sports keep me in the weight room.”

Nelson, who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 300 pounds, will be an offensive lineman at the University of Minnesota. The decision to accept a scholarship offer from the Gophers was easy, he said, calling it “a great honor.”

On the basketball court, Nelson averaged 20 points and 13 rebounds per game for the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers and was named the 2021-22 player of the year in southwest Minnesota by the Marshall Independent. TMB finished 20-9, doubling their victory total from the previous season and recording their best season in six years.

In the Marshall newspaper’s story about Nelson’s Player of the Year award, Panthers basketball coach Rick Haberman told reporter Sam Thiel, “Off the court, he’s really level-headed and has matured the last couple of seasons. He’s well-respected in the school; a kid that big could be intimidating to seventh- and eighth-graders but he’s really a gentle giant. We’re going to miss him on the court and in the school.”

Nelson will move to campus in Minneapolis in June after he graduates from high school and competes in the state track meet, where he is the defending Class A champion in the shot put. His major remaining high school goal is to break the state record in that event.

Nelson’s personal best came at the April 29 Hamline Elite Meet, where he threw 64 feet, 5½ inches. That mark stands fifth on the Minnesota all-time list, topped by the state record of 65-8 set by Andover’s Thomas Anderson in 2012.

He said he thinks about the state record “All the time. Any time I'm throwing, any time I'm not throwing, for sure.”

At track meets, Nelson is known for sticking around after the throwing events are finished to help kids from other schools work on their technique.

“He is incredible as a teammate, too, he's always helping,” said Tracy-Milroy-Balaton head track and field coach Marie Hanson. “He's teaching our younger kids all the time. In fact, today we had to tell some of the other throwers that they need to start making sure they have everything they need because Tony is going to be gone next year. Because they'll just say, ‘Tony will get it.’

“He's just very reliable. And he works hard. When basketball ended I said they could take a few days off (from track practice), but there were a couple of kids that were there right away. He was one of them. He's just always wanting to go the extra mile.”

Nelson has grown up on a farm, the youngest of four kids in an athletic family. His dad, Terry, a 1980 Tracy graduate, still holds the school record in the 300 hurdles.

Farm life has instilled a strong work ethic, Tony said with a smile; “You know, picking up heavy rocks in the spring.” And throwing a few of them. The same week he threw 64-5½ at the Hamline Elite Meet, he finished second in the soils judging contest at the Minnesota FFA convention. He plans to major in agriculture business in college.

Tony, who won the Trojan Relays Class A shot put with a distance of 61-4, wants the state record for reasons that extend beyond the personal. His father recalled a conversation on that topic in which Tony said, “Dad, I want to do it for the community.”

If he sets a new state record, he would be the only small-town track and field athlete, male or female, from rural Minnesota to hold that distinction.

Asked what he enjoys most about being a high school athlete, he said, “Just the community, I think, more than anything. Being out there with your buddies and having a good time. It's all fun.”

--Next on John’s Journal: another small-town athlete and future Gophers offensive lineman who participates in multiple sports.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

John’s Journal: Some Thoughts On The Volleyball Decision

News was made earlier this week when the 48-member Representative Assembly, the legislative body of the MSHSL, voted against making boys volleyball a sanctioned sport. The vote was 31-17 … one short of the 32 votes needed for approval. The people pushing for boys volleyball did a great job in making their case.

There are three steps to making a change in League bylaws, and adding a sport would be a bylaw change. First, the board of directors must approve. Then at least nine of the 16 region committees across the state must do the same, The final step is approval by two-thirds of the 48 members of the Representative Assembly.

The boys volleyball proposal reached the Rep Assembly one year ago and fell short by two votes. This time it was one vote short. Lots of people, including some who have Twitter accounts, asked me to explain the no votes, but I can’t presume to speak for any assembly members. The 17 members who voted no may have 17 varying reasons. What I do know is that those folks take their responsibilities very seriously.

Last year the proposal asked for boys volleyball to be a spring sport. This year’s proposal didn’t ask for a specific season, stating that the season could be decided following approval.

The Rep Assembly includes 24 members from small schools and 24 from large schools. These are coaches, activities directors, principles, superintendents, teachers, etc. By my unofficial count during the roll call vote, the 24 small-school members approved boys volleyball by a vote of 14-10 and the 24 members from large schools voted 17-7 in favor.

It was all very dramatic as the vote was held. The meeting was held in a large hotel ballroom and there was a big group of boys volleyball players and supporters in the back of the room. To be honest, I thought it would be approved and for me it was jarring when I looked at the tabulation in my notebook and realized that it fell one vote short. I had a Tweet pre-written with the news that boys volleyball had been approved, the vote totals and a sentence explaining that a task force would be formed to decide whether boys volleyball would be played in the fall or the spring, and when the first season might be held.

Before the vote, the 48 delegates broke into six small groups for discussion and someone from each group reported to the entire assembly before the vote. Their concerns included finances, transportation, officials, gym space when weather is bad and other teams are forced indoors, and the uncertainty of when the season would be held. Some smaller schools may be concerned that if boys volleyball is approved, they will have boys who would want to play and that would mean forming cooperative teams with kids from several schools, resulting in logistical challenges, including transportation. And some assembly members may be unsure how much of the push for boys volleyball is coming from those affiliated with Junior Olympic volleyball and the business of training volleyball players away from a school setting. I’m not sure the optics were great when boys volleyball supporters held a rally before the assembly meeting at the Minnesota Select Volleyball Center in Osseo instead of outside a high school.

And I wonder if there isn’t some sense of pandemic hangover involved in this decision by those who voted no. We’ve all been through so much, and people working in schools certainly have been pushed to the brink. I hear the sentiment that schools have been doing so much for so long, and some of the folks on the front lines are wondering if schools are already doing more than they can handle. And where exactly is that line? And the uncertainty with school funding in Minnesota certainly doesn’t help.

The passion of those involved in boys volleyball is impressive, especially among the boys who participate in the sport. A few of those boys spoke to the Rep Assembly during the public comment portion of the meeting, and they did a wonderful job.

I feel bad for boys who want to play volleyball as a sanctioned MSHSL sport. But the sport is not going away. Minnesota boys have been playing high school club volleyball for five years and the sport has really grown. Schools will continue to play volleyball as a club sport, they will continue to hold a state tournament every year, and I expect the numbers of players and schools will continue to climb. We’ll just have to see what happens from here.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

John’s Journal: Let’s Celebrate Our Future Teachers

WILLMAR -- One by one, a dozen soon-to-be graduates of Willmar High School stood up and talked briefly about why they want to become teachers. The reasons were varied but they were similar in their sense of service.

--“I want to inspire children.”

--“I want to make a difference.”

--“I want to help shape the next generation.”

--“I know how much a teacher can change lives.”

The kids were honored one morning before school last week at a gathering to honor members of Willmar’s Class of 2022 who are headed off to college to become educators. The students were joined by parents or mentors and teachers who have made a difference in their own lives.

Breakfast was served before principal Paul Schmitz welcomed everyone to the happy gathering. Tammy Knapper, representing the teachers in Willmar, spoke about the importance of educators, and I was honored to speak to the group, too. I talked about my mom and my daughter, who are both educators, and the teacher who had the greatest impact on my life.

Her name was Mrs. White and she was my high school English teacher. She knew I loved sports, she seemed to think I had some writing ability and when I was in 10^th grade she encouraged me to write about our school’s sporting events for the local weekly newspaper. That was in 1974 and 48 years later I’m still writing. I think of Mrs. White often and I wish she was still alive so I could say thank you.

In 2017 I learned that Norwalk High School in Iowa was holding a signing ceremony for future teachers, much like many schools do for students who will be college athletes. I spoke with Norwalk superintendent D.T. Magee and teacher Johanna MacKenzie about their first signing ceremony in May 2017 and wrote about the idea here on John’s Journal.

Magee said the idea for the signing ceremony came to him as a way to highlight the crucial role of educators in America. “When I became a superintendent, I said to our staff on the first day, ‘We have to do a better job of promoting and honoring our profession.’ This ceremony dovetails off of that. We’re going to put some things in front of students who want to go into education: It’s a good career choice, a noble career choice, and we as educators support you.”

In 2018, Maple Lake High School became the first school in Minnesota to hold a similar ceremony. Burnsville did the same in 2018 and Willmar joined in 2019.

The pandemic put a stop to such gatherings but they are back in 2022. Maple Lake held a signing ceremony the same day as Willmar’s event and Burnsville will honor its future teachers on May 18. (If other schools are doing the same, I would love it if they would let me know via the email address below.)

In Willmar, the event culminated with each of the future educators signing a “letter of intent.” They read in part, “I want to inspire in my students motivation to achieve excellence. I promise to provide a safe learning space for all students. I want to teach future generations, to encourage them to be brave, to be strong, to stand up for what matters to them, but most of all to be kind to one another.”

--Read a story from the National Education Association about Minnesota’s future teacher signing ceremonies here: https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/new-minnesota-teachers-get-superstar-treatment

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

 

John’s Journal: New Elk River Stadium Is ‘Absolutely Amazing’

Everything was a go for a girls lacrosse game on Thursday evening, with the Knights of St. Michael-Albertville making a 14-mile bus ride to Elk River, home of the Elk River/Zimmerman Elks. The game began right on time at 7 p.m. and ended at 8:15 with the Elks winning 14-4.

The temperature was in the 60s, the breeze was mild, and the athletes enjoyed playing on the new turf in the new stadium that is the new home of the Elks’ lacrosse, soccer, track and field and football teams, along with many other school and community events.

But the game almost didn’t happen there. A couple days earlier, not enough officials had been found. And the stadium was so new that another possible sticking point was looming. The first-class facility includes a new nine-lane track, which had been completed a day before the lacrosse game, but painting of the stripes for those nine lanes had not been finished.

Thankfully, officials were located, the painting crew finished its work earlier Thursday and the game didn’t have to be moved to another site.

Elk River’s stadium, which includes new bleachers, digital scoreboard, press box, a concession/ticket/restroom building, storage areas, team rooms and a room for officials, is among the finest at any Minnesota high school. Some small things were not yet complete before Thursday’s lacrosse game, including proper water pressure in the restrooms. A few porta-potties are on site, a reminder that the old stadium had only portable units.

Elk River activities director Mike Cunningham said, “Right now the biggest reaction is, ‘The bathrooms don't work?’ That was probably one of our biggest selling points and a lot of people didn't realize the importance of restrooms. Some coaches would ask, ‘How come you guys keep talking about indoor restrooms?’ And I finally had to sit some coaches down and told them to look at every mom in the stands. They don't want to use (portables), they want a restroom.”

Other than that, Cuningham said the reaction he hears when people walk into the stadium for the first time is along the lines of, “Holy blank, blank, blank.’ ”  

“There’s been a great reaction, even though some stuff still needs to get fixed and redone,” he said. “We're getting there slowly but surely, but aesthetically it’s beautiful.”

The only remnant from the old stadium stands tall on a large concrete apron inside the main gate: a metal Elk sculpture, with the beast raising its antlers high. That’s a reminder of the proud history of Elk River High School, where football has been played for 133 years. The Elks reached the state football semifinals every year from 2016 through 2019, winning the Class 5A state title in 2016 and finishing second in 2017.

The project included improvements at all three high schools in District 728, including Rogers and Zimmerman, which also have turf fields in their stadiums. In a 2019 vote, nearly 63 percent of voters in the district approved bond funding for facilities improvements and more than 56 percent approved an increase in the operating levy to fund school materials, student support and academic programs. The turf field at Elk River means all 14 schools in the Northwest Suburban Conference now have turf in their stadiums.

“Oh, it's amazing,” Elk River/Zimmerman girls lacrosse coach Stephanie Anderson said of the new stadium. “Absolutely amazing. It's nice to have the turf, the sound system is better, the view is great. It's beautiful here.”

The lacrosse team had practiced on a grass field a day earlier because the track was being completed. The difference is stark.

“It's a whole different story,” Anderson said. “It's like turf is 10 times better, you see less torn ACLs, less rolled ankles. They play quicker and the ball bounces a little different.”

There are more than 100 turf fields at Minnesota high schools, all of them installed since 2000.

The range of new facilities at Elk River High School is impressive. A new two-sheet ice arena, Furniture and Things Community Event Center, is a state-of-the-art multi-purpose site operated by the City of Elk River. There are new tennis courts and baseball and softball fields.

One over-arching question was vital in the design process, Cunningham said.

“How do we make this a state-of-the-art facility while doing things right, because this is our one shot ever.”

Mission accomplished.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org