Athletic achievements amount to nothing in high school if academics are sacrificed. In most cases, you have to make the grades if you want to play. And this is as it should be. Juggling responsibilities is one of the greatest life lessons learned in high school, and this month we’ve touched base with seven student-athletes who’ve aced that skill to become true Prep All-stars.
Tough Guys
Alec Horton and Joseph Borchardt never shy away from physical contact. If a ball-carrier is unfortunate enough to meet them on the football field, a loud pop and a dead stop is usually the result. The raw strength of Borchardt, a 5-foot-10, 215-pound defensive tackle for the Maple Grove Senior High football team, fuels him in the trenches, while Horton, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound linebacker, relies a little more on his feistiness.
Horton, a varsity football player since his junior year, also has played varsity baseball and hockey since his sophomore year. The upcoming senior hockey captain is the Crimson’s top returning goal-scorer after racking up 22 goals and 39 points on a team that finished 20-4-3 last regular season. Juggling three sports and a 3.8 GPA isn’t always easy, as Horton finds himself getting home some nights at around 9:30 p.m. in the spring after baseball games and hockey commitments. But he always makes it work. “He’s one of the top kids I’ve ever had as far as accountability,” Crimson hockey coach Gary Stefano says. “There are no excuses with him. When you tell him to do something, he looks you in the eyes.”
Dedication to various responsibilities is also something Borchardt thrives on. A football player for most of his life, he was encouraged to take up wrestling as a freshman to build lower-body strength. Two years later, Borchardt became the second Crimson wrestler ever to reach the state finals, after finishing with a 34-11 record in 2009.
A tedious training regime has been a major factor in propelling Borchardt to the top in such a short period of time. “Joseph’s biggest asset is he has put in the time in the weight room and is as strong as anybody he wrestles,” Crimson wrestling coach Troy Seubert says. “He’s also a student of the sport.”
Borchardt admits that his two sports of choice intertwine to help him become better in both. “The physical aspect is definitely related,” he says. “You want to be stronger, faster and more explosive in both sports. In football, it’s for pushing on the line, and for wrestling it’s getting those takedowns.”
Borchardt, who led his wrestling team with 56 takedowns and 157 team points in 2009, is aiming to build on his successful junior campaign as a senior captain this winter. “We’re kind of expecting a lot,” he says. “I want to make sure I meet those expectations.”
Hot Shots
When it comes to building a successful high school team, experience is valued like oil. Luckily for the Maple Grove and Osseo basketball programs, Julie Kruse, John Rowland and Aaron Anderson have a whole well of it. While Kruse has been a starter for the Crimson girls since ninth grade, Rowland and Anderson enriched their stock in the 2008-2009 season alone, when the Orioles took a storied journey all the way to the state title game.
Towering over opponents with an athletic 6-foot-1 frame, the sheer appearance of Kruse is enough to mark her home on the basketball court. However, it’s her mental traits that allow her to also succeed in the classroom with a 3.99 GPA. “She does a tremendous job balancing her priorities,” Crimson girls basketball coach Mark Cook says. “She truly represents what being a student-athlete is all about.”
Kruse’s lengthy career will be remembered in the Crimson record books, as she ranks fourth in school history in career points (848) and rebounds (418), and is second in blocks (60). Kruse, who is known to blend her low-post size with a dangerous mid-range jumper, still has a year left to add to those totals. And it’s a good bet those accomplishments won’t come at the cost of her grades. “I have really high expectations of myself. I’m a firm believer in ‘student-athlete’ and the fact that ‘student’ comes before ‘athlete.’ So [academics] are definitely more important to me than basketball,” Kruse says. “Then again, basketball is still a huge part of my life. I’m proud of these girls and how far we’ve come. I’m excited to see it all come together this year.”
Basketball is also a huge priority for Rowland and Anderson, who have experienced more change, success and heartbreak in two years than most prep athletes encounter in a career. Two years ago, Anderson was playing for Hopkins, while Rowland, as an Orioles junior varsity player, watched the nationally ranked Osseo varsity team go through an undefeated season only to fall short of the state tournament with a loss to Robbinsdale Cooper in the section finals. A year later, Anderson transferred back to his hometown school, where he helped Rowland and the Osseo varsity team defeat Cooper in a section-finals rematch. Although the Orioles went on to lose in the state championship game to Anderson’s former Hopkins squad, labeled arguably the best team in state history, Osseo surpassed many expectations. “Everyone doubted us because we weren’t as big as the team before us,” Rowland says. “But we kind of proved everyone wrong.”
Rowland, a tall forward who hones an accurate shooting touch, and Anderson, a play-making point guard who can get to the basket at will, hope to carry over last season’s momentum into their senior year. “I think it’s up for grabs,” Anderson says. “Anyone can go in and take it.”
With two experienced Orioles back and hungry to take care of some unfinished business, fate begs a question: Why not Osseo?
Straight Aces
A sense of comfort covers teammates and coaches like a blanket when a softball is gripped by Jenna Brady and Becca Girvan. That’s because, for Brady and Girvan, the pitching mound might as well be a driver’s seat, and everyone knows they hold the keys for their respective softball teams at Providence Academy and Osseo High School.
Girvan has played on the Orioles varsity team since ninth grade, but her name spread throughout the softball landscape like wildfire last year after finishing 18-1 in the regular season with 276 strikeouts, leading her team to a fourth-place finish at the state tournament and earning all-state honors. In 2009, she went 12-3 with 183 strikeouts in the regular season with a miniscule 0.58 earned run average. Along with those numbers come expectations, but none are higher than those Girvan has for herself. “I like to go after girls,” Girvan says. “I like to get them out. And if I don’t, I’m really hard on myself.”
Osseo softball coach Eric Ruska sees his star pitcher’s determination on a daily basis, not only on the field, but also in the classroom with a near-perfect 3.9 GPA. “She simply doesn’t accept anything but the best from herself,” Ruska says.
The Osseo softball program has shifted along with the emergence of Girvan. A year before she arrived in 2005, the Orioles finished 1-18. Last season, when Girvan hit her peak, Osseo earned a trip to the state tournament for the first time since 1993.
Much like Osseo and Girvan, the Providence Academy softball program developed around Brady, who has been a varsity pitcher since seventh grade. This past season, as a captain, Brady racked up 92 strikeouts in 69 innings with a 2.13 earned run average. While tricking batters with an arsenal of junk pitches, including a dropball and a curve, she also paced her team at the plate, hitting 0.559, with 25 stolen bases and an on-base percentage of 0.605.
But Brady’s talents aren’t justified with numbers. “Jenna thinks the game better than any player I’ve ever been around,” says Providence Academy Athletic Director Kurt Jaeger, who was once Brady’s varsity basketball head coach. “She’s not the biggest kid on the team or the fastest kid on the team, but she understands the game better than anyone else on the team.”
