High School Pre-Season Update: Girls

With the girls season kicking off yesterday, it's time for my final pre-season predictions.

Top Dozen

AAAA

1. Hopkins. The closest thing to a dead certainty you're ever going to find. Awesome talent running 10 girls deep cannot be beat. Nia Coffey may even assert herself as the best player in the state.

Then there's five teams capable of getting to the state title game.

2. Osseo. I liked the Orioles at #2 even before I learned that Olivia Antilla has moved up here from Benilde. But make no mistake, this is Phyllis Webb's team.

3. White Bear Lake. More talent than you think, not just Alexis Foley. (I had them here, at #3, before yesterday's upset win over DeLaSalle.)

4. Bloomington Kennedy. Lots of talent, lots of depth, led by Kenisha Bell and Jade Martin.

5. Eden Prairie. 2 superstars but not quite the supporting cast of recent years. Still Jackie Johnson and Shayne Mullaney make 'em contenders at the highest level. Sam Trammel gets her baptism by fire.

6. Lakeville North. The opposite of EP: Lots of depth but no stars (unless you count coach Andy Berkvam). Key question: Will Simone Kolander blossom, or does she spend too much time playing soccer?

The there's a big drop-off to the next group.

7. Wayzata--Timmerman and Grossfeld lead the way

8. Edina--Katybeth Biewen's last hurrah

9. St. Paul Central--lost Jen Hill, but there's lots of talent back, though it's still young

10. Cambridge--not just Whitney Olson anymore, Natalie Larson is also terrific

11. Anoka--last year's diaper dandies cope with expectations this time around

12. Bloomington Jefferson--Brittney Scherber's last hurrah

AAA

1. DeLaSalle--like Hopkins, the Islanders' defending state champs are an obvious favorite to repeat. Tyseanna Johnson one of the top 5 players statewide.

2. Richfield--Jessica January and company may be able to displace Benilde at the region level.

3. Hill Murray--Tessa Cichy returns

4. Benilde-St. Margaret's--lost Antilla, but return Schumpert, Coughlin and others

5. Park Center--Cayla McMorris will emerge as a superstar

6. Marshall--waves of talent from out on the prairie

7. Sartell-St. Stephen--Abi Whitney and Hailey Guetter return for their senior seasons

8. New Prague--coach Ron Gunderson just reloads

9. Fergus Falls

10. Hutchinson

11. Red Wing--Tesha Buck...

12. Chisago Lakes---...and Whitney Tinjum star!

AA

1. Braham--another possible repeater. The AP poll has Braham #2 in a surprise, but I don't see that suprise occurring at tournament time.

2. Providence

3. Watertown-Mayer--Marissa Janning's last shot

4. Caledonia

5. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva

6. Jackson County Central

7. St. Peter--Tailor Raymond is back

8. New London-Spicer

9. Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial

10. Esko--Savanna Trapp gives the Eskomos hope

11. Hawley

12. Sauk Centre--if Kali Peschel can come back from her injury

A

1. Goodhue--anxious to reverse its tournament collapse of a year ago. Erika and Mikayla Tipcke now lead the way.

2. Maranatha--on paper, the Mustangs should repeat as A champions but I have a hunch.... Still, this is a great team.

3. Hancock--returns Kendra Schmidgall, among others, from a team that took the eventual state champs, Maranatha, into OT

4. Parkers Prairie--Mikayla Noga and Madison Dorn lead the way.

5. Fulda

6. Canby

7. Isle

8. Sebeka

9. Spring Grove

10. Barnum

11. Faribault Bethlehem--a new era with coach Tammy Metcalf Filzen, recently of Carleton

12. Upsala

Section Forecasts


AAAA

1 Lakeville North
2 Bloomington Kennedy (#4) over Eden Prairie (#5) #4 seed
3 Eastview
4 White Bear Lake #3 seed
5 Osseo #2 seed
6 Hopkins #1 seed
7 Cambridge (#10) over Anoka (#11)
8 St. Michael-Albertville

State Final: Hopkins 67 White Bear Lake 48

Coach of the Year: Finally, it can be told: Jeremy Post of White Bear Lake is the best young coach around these parts.

AAA

1 Red Wing
2 Hutchinson (#10) in a wide open section, upsetting #6 Marshall; Hutch #4 seed
3 DeLaSalle #1 seed
4 Hill Murray #3 seed
5 Big Lake
6 Richfield (#2) surprises Benilde-SM (#4) #2 seed
7 Chisago Lakes
8 Sartell-St. Stephen

State Final: DeLaSalle 56 Sartell 43

Coach of the Year: Katie Martin, Sartell-St. Stephen

AA

1 Caledonia #3 seed
2 New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva #4 seed
3 Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial
4 Minnehaha
5 Providence #2 seed
6 New London-Spicer
7 Braham #1 seed
8 Hawley

State Final: Braham 55 Providence 53

Coach of the Year: Bill Gottenborg, Hawley

A

1 Faribault Bethlehem (#11) in an upset
2 Nicollet
3 Canby #4 seed
4 Maranatha #2 seed
5 Isle #3 seed
6 Parkers Prairie in a tough section over Hancock and Ada #1 seed
7 Barnum
8 Northern Freeze

State Final: Parkers Prairie 47 Maranatha 45

Coach of the Year: Tammy Metcalf Filzen, Faribault Bethlehem

Big Five


AAAA

Jackie Johnson, Eden Prairie
Nia Coffey, Hopkins
Shayne Mullaney, Eden Prairie
Jade Martin, Bloomington Kennedy, jr.
Kenisha Bell, Bloomington Kennedy, soph.

AAA

Tyseanna Johnson, DeLaSalle
Tessa Cichy, Hill-Murray
Kayla McMorris, Park Center, soph.
Jessica January, Richfield, jr.
Whitney Tinjum, Chisago Lakes

AA

Rebekah Dahlman, Braham, jr.
Marissa Janning, Watertown-Mayer
Savanna Trapp, Esko, jr.
Kelsey Sorensen-Giffrow, Braham
Emma Lange, Caledonia, jr.

A

Kendra Schmidgall, Hancock
Riley Nordgaard, Canby
Erica Tipcke, Goodhue
Onye Osemenam, Maranatha
Micaela Noga, Parkers Prairie, soph.