I got quite a bit of feedback re my reference to Stella Swenson, the next super-star setter from the Twin Cities. Apparently I was not the only one who didn’t know she existed.
New Reader R.N. and his wife, J.N., that I met at the H.S. Tournament, relays that J.N. spoke with Stella – and her twin sister, Olivia, in the stands after their quarter-final match. (An inside scoop!) The Swenson Twins haven’t officially committed yet, but J.N. felt they were definitely interested in becoming Gophers.
I didn’t mention Olivia, a 6-3, sophomore, outside hitter for Wayzata, because I didn’t notice her. I hadn’t seen Wayzata play before. Stella stood out immediately, but she had several good hitters to feed great sets to, there were two matches going on at the same time, and the other match was more competitive (Wayzata won handily). But it turns out that Olivia is the #2-ranked prospect in MN (after Stella) in the class of ’24.
Apparently, there was some bitterness in Hopkins, where Samantha played, when the Swenson Twins enrolled at Wayzata. I get it; there are those that don’t approve of kids transferring schools for athletics. Then again, if you are an elite athlete with legitimate professional prospects, I don’t know that’s any different than transferring schools for better academic opportunity. And it’s certainly not new, Hopkins (the “victim” in this complaint, has had a lot of basketball players, boys and girls, from North Mpls.
I am also reminded of the story of Marcus LeVessure. LeVessure, who grew up in the Mpls Roosevelt neighborhood, was a star wrestler (in the late 90s?) – I think he was undefeated in his high school and college careers, winning 5 MN State Championships, and I guess 4 NCAA (D-3) Championships (at Augsburg). But Mpls City Conference Wrestling wasn’t very strong in those days, and no one would wrestle him in Conference Meets. LeVessure would try to wrestle up a weight-class, or sometimes 2 or 3 weight-classes, and still the other team’s coach would decline to send anyone out to wrestle LeVessure. Eventually, LeVessure transferred to Bloomington Kennedy – not the strongest wrestling program in the area, but at that time part of the powerful Lake Conference – just to find competition.
I give Mother Swenson the benefit of the doubt regarding the Twins H.S. career – as long as she steers them to the Gophers.