Bryceton Butkiewicz walked off the football field as a rebel and on to the ice to play with the Minnesota Wilderness.
Kristofer McKinzie played at Mars Lakeview Arena for Marshall Schools but now he wears a different jersey.
This week’s Northern Star spotlights Ely senior Josh Heiman, who’s working towards his goal of attending West Point Academy.
USA Hockey allows kids to try youth hockey around the nation for free.
Spencer Wehr continues his successful junior season into State.
In Cromwell the undefeated Cardinal football team is being lead by a senior quarterback driven by legacy.
Jay Boder almost couldn’t play soccer but it turned out to be the perfect fit.
Duluth Marshall senior Alli Mckenna is leading the Hilltoppers girls soccer team with some serious spirit.
Scott Anderson was inducted into the Duluth East Hall of Fame this weekend.
Out in Cloquet two brothers are showing the Lumberjack football team exactly what it means to be a family on the gridiron.
Makenzie Stariha is this week’s Northern Star
At Duluth Denfeld Senior quarterback Cody Brown is proving that brain over brawn isn’t just a metaphor, and that football is no longer just a big man’s game.
Gunnar Gronski and Gunner Johnson are both helping Superior to a successful season.
Cloquet’s captain leads the team in stats and on the field.
Hermantown junior Breanna Thomas uses softball to overcome shyness.
Ryan Cunningham is a freshman pitcher at UMD.
“Justin’s not just a pitcher for us, he’s also our number three hitter. Hes got great bat speed, he runs the bases well so he helps us in all areas of our game,” said Don Dembroski, Superior baseball coach.
Jaustin Culbert has won two state championships and is looking for a third.
Proctor senior Jake Malec will not only be making the transition to the college game next year but also to the outfield.
Esko’s senior catcher Nick Emanuel is this week’s Northern Star
Amy Lemenager has always been a natural on the ice.
In Washburn, the basketball team is like a family, so when sophomore Cody Christenson’s family fell on hard times, the team was there to support him.
In this Northern Star we looked outside of the mainstream sports and found Miles Rohrbaugh a Duluth East diver that is making some waves.
Thomas Madison and Nick Bostrom of the Hermantown Hawks basketball team are heading up a group of seniors determined to keep their season alive.
Brandon Newman treats the difficult transition from high school to college basketball just like a lay up.
Skiing runs in Mckenzie Bremel’s family.”My dad is the assistant coach for the high school team so he kind of got me into racing. He raced in high school when he was younger, so he got me in to it,” Bremel said.
Every hockey team needs a leader out on the ice. Someone who can handle pressure when things get tough, lucky for Denfeld they’ve found that in one of their seniors and they aren’t the only one’s taking notice.
Many teams have one star player but the Duluth East basketball team is lucky enough to have two.
On this week’s Northern Star, a Superior senior has been growing his whole life, and will continue to grow right here in the Northland.
For this week’s Northern Star we travel to Hermantown to meet a senior whose strong play on the ice is paving the Hawks’ way back to the state tournament.
Basketball is a sport enjoyed by many. But for some it goes beyond the domaine casual sport and develops into a lifelong passion. For Esko’s Adam Trapp, basketball is in his blood.
Getting an offer to play hockey for the University of Minnesota Duluth was a dream come true for Scott Perunovich.”I’ve wanted to play there since I was a little kid,” Perunovich said of UMD. “My uncle Doug Torrel played at UMD. A good friend Davey Johnson also played there.”
It’s a choice many hockey players face. Play your senior season for your high school, or try your hand at junior hockey. Grand Rapids’ Mitchell Mattson chose the former.
As a junior, Eva Reinertsen scored her 1,000th career point for Lakeview Christian Academy, the first Lion girl to reach that milestone. However, a lack of players forced Lakeview to suspend its program this year, leaving Eva without a team mere weeks before the start of her senior season.
As preseason basketball practice grinds on in Washburn, the Castle Guards’ big man has one less worry.
Cook County High School was in the school’s first ever trip to the volleyball state tournament. And even with plenty of familiar faces in the stands, Viking playerss couldn’t avoid a few wide–eyed stares.
18 year old Bridget Villebrun of Nett Lake started watching hockey as a way to bond with her dad.
Danny Lilya has been part of the Moose Lake/Willow River football program since the 5th grade. But Danny isn’t like his Rebel teammates. Danny is in a wheelchair, but that doesn’t lessen his love for football.
As a kid growing up in Esko, Karson Kuhlman had a dream to play hockey at the University of Minnesota Duluth.”UMD was always here,” said Kuhlman. “We always went to games as kids. It was a pretty obvious choice when the time came to choose a place to play college hockey.”
In Hermantown, the name Hoff is synonymous with girls soccer. Junior Callie Hoff is scoring goals for the Hawks, while Hailey Hoff, no relation, is the hawks’ all–time leading scorer. However, Hailey’s sister Kylie Hoff chose a different path.
On the football field, Will Hartman is a key member of Two Harbors’ defense. His classmates think so highly of him, that Will was voted Homecoming King. But it’s what happened after will got his crown. That showed this king’s true class.
The top roles on high school tennis teams are often filled by upperclassmen. Not at Duluth’s Marshall School, where 7th grader Nore Heinitz has been dominant at number one singles.
While hitters get the glory, setters often go overlooked on the volleyball court.Duluth East volleyball coach Danna Anderson says her setter, Alayna Baker, is a prime example.”She doesn’t get a whole lot of credit for the amount of work that she puts in on the court,” Anderson said. “It’s a pretty thankless position.”
Swimming wasn’t the first sport Allie Mayfield tried, however once she was in the pool, it didn’t take Allie long to realize she’d found her sport.”I kinda tried really every sport before i got to swimming,” she said. “Swimming was different from every other sport I tried. I really love being an individual while still being on a team. I like testing my ability.”
Esko native Molly Trapp and Duluth East grad Bailey Romans thought they playing volleyball for Division I South Dakota State. However, a change of coaches, led to an unexpected change of scenery.
Thursday May 28th, the Hermantown Hawks won two games to advance in the Section 7AA baseball playoffs.An impressive performance, considering the loss Hermantown suffered just 24 hours earlier.
Grand Rapids track coach Darrin Hofstad heard the stories.”You hear a lot of stories,” he said. “You never believe anything until you see it with your own eyes.For Hofstad, seeing was believing when it came to Andrea Contu.
Duluth’s Ryan Watson is one of the top amateur heavyweight boxers in the country, even though he hasn’t fought in what Watson describes as “in forever.” Watson’s coach Aaron Resberg believes Ryan’s reputation is a big reason why.
Like many high school athletes, Denfeld’s Ashely Taipale plays three sports. But her favorite is softball. And her favorite part of the game is swinging the bat.
“Just knowing that I made division one basketball makes me feel so good because that was always my goal,” said Lakeview Christian senior Bjorn Broman.
