From start to finish, the gymnasium was drowned with laughter, with cheers from every class. The Senior-Faculty basketball game was on and everyone was having a great time. The good spirit and semi-competitive playing combined with Mr. Grebner’s hilarious announcing made the 50 minute game the perfect way to start Spring Break… and it only cost one dollar!

In the first half the game started with a tip off between senior Nic Svieven and counselor Rick Walker. The staff held a lead for a very long one and a half minutes and then the seniors kept the lead for the rest of the first half. Dan Heur’s “Illegal Shorts” caused all of the shots he scored to be worth no points.

At halftime, there was a “Halftime show” that consisted of cheers from the cheer squad, and an intense dance battle between the “gorgeous” staff dancers and the student dancers. The staff dancers ended with a hilarious dance that left everyone in tears from laughter.

In the second half, the seniors maintained a solid lead against the staff until their victory. The staff pulled many sneaky uncalled fouls, and Salman Kahn still didn’t even get close to scoring any points.

In the end, the seniors expectedly won, but that did not scare the staff. They are going to be back next year and they will be out for vengeance. They plan on enhancing their defense and hoping some of their teammates can grow a few inches for next year’s game!

With six games to be played in a matter of ten hours, the day was sure to be a rough one.

Going into the first game, Luther Buhr got his team ready by stating what needed to be accomplished if they wanted to win the whole thing.

“To win we will need to run hard, play tight defense and look for the big throws on offense,” Luther said. And they did.

Como Park was able to win three out of their first four games, only losing to Armstrong by one. This set Como up against Cretin in the Semifinals.

Como had played Cretin before in the fall and won, but this was not the same Cretin team. They have been working hard all winter and they were also playing with a chip on their shoulder.

Como started the game with a huge pass from Jesus Caballero to Caleb Coleman in the endzone. Cretin then fired back with a deep pass of their own.

The game started to become a shoot out, with each team using the deep game. The first team to stop the others would win.

After Como was leading 5-4, they started to break down. Due to fatigue the team started making simple mistakes and Cretin was capitalizing on them. Como ended up losing the game 13-6.

Como finished the tournament with a win to take third place. Even without one of their captains Dan Heuer, Como was still able to play strong and show great improvement.

This was a great showing for Como Park. Never before has Como Park been able to play with the big dogs and they did just that.

North Dale, after hours; the zamboni starts moving towards the main rink which now remains as bits of shredded ice and snow. The Blades were here, and they left their mark.

The St. Paul Blades’ season may be over, but their love of the game is not. With only a handful of seniors, they had a good season and finished fourth with a 7-5 record in conference. They went 10-15 overall. Their goal for this year was to be more offensive-minded, and that is what they did.

Not all of the girls on the team are from Como Park Sr High or even the Como area. The Blades are made up of girls from Central Sr., Highland Sr., Johnson Sr., and even two girls from Murray and Highland junior high. Top players Ashley Albindia (Fwd), Kelsey Vandergrift (Fwd), and Melanie Dubay (Def) all go to different high schools but on the rink they are all apart of the same team.

For the next season, the Blades girls are looking to have a stronger offense to combat offensively skilled teams such as Breck and Blake. Next year the girls can be found practicing at the North Dale Rec Center.

The boy’s varsity basketball team had a great start of the season and finished third in their conference going 8-4 with a 14-11 overall record.

The girl’s basketball team worked hard all year round to get better, but February 26th the girls ended their conference season with a big loss to Highland, wrapping up the season with a win over Harding and a tough game against Humboldt. They went 2-8 in the conference.

Boy’s hockey had over 60 goals on the season from their first line and center Adam Crowley racked up 28 alone. Tyler Rose stepped up as a top player in the Tri Metro conference earning recognition by Pioneer Press as an Athlete of the Week February 15^th. They finished their season 11-15-1.

The girl’s hockey team (Blades) finished fourth in their conference going 7-5 and went 10-15 overall.

In the Conference Meet on February 13, Como Park’s Swim Team took 3^rd place with Medals won by Justin Miller, Seyha Saumweber, Carl Kron, Evan Hanson, Shawn Halvorson, and Craig Knuth. They finished 4-2 in conference.

The Nordic Ski team ended their official season with both boys and girls teams finishing fourth at the sections tournament. Leah Roth qualified for state.

The girl’s gymnastics team greatly improved over their season. In the preview meet on December 5^th the team scored 73.30. On the last meet of the season on Saturday, February 20^th the team scored 93.525 which is the highest score reached in the past 2 seasons.

     Captains Sarah Davy and Carolyn Croce are very excited for the season this year. There will be 6 new golfers, some whom have never held a golf club, along with 13 returning golfers with great skill and potential. The varsity team will consist of 2 returning seniors, 2 juniors, and 2 sophomores. Varsity meets will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays while the JV team will play on Mondays and Wednesdays.

     The size of the golf team is growing, due to golf being a fun, social, and relaxing sport that you can play outside in the fresh air. Captain Carolyn Croce said, “I am excited for the season to start so I can get out in the sunshine and play golf for my last year here at Como!” As a team the captains hope to have a successful season, beating Highland Park’s girl’s golf team. They lost the Conference Title by 6 points last season, and are determined to get out on the course to earn that title back.

The Cougars held the lead for most of the first half putting Taylor Smaller, one of Central’s key players in foul trouble early. The beginning of the second half was much like the first. Every time Central would try to go on a run Como would cut them short from their success.

With about 5-6 minutes left Central tried to go on a run again, and this time was successful. They got a couple back-to-back points and several and-one plays. The Como boys were unable to come back and took an 85-73 loss.

Central’s boys will advance to the second round. Taylor led all scores with 23 points, while Joseph Lyons led Como with 16 points. Como Park Boy’s basketball team ends their season with a 14-11 overall record.

With the state tournament only hours away J Frasl isn’t even the least bit scared. In fact, he’s actually pretty excited. On a scale of One to Ten as far as nervousness goes, One being not nervous at all and Ten being as nervous as you’ve ever been, J says he’s at a One and says he’s looking forward to being around other good wrestlers. As far as predictions on placement he says, “I’m looking to take it one match at a time”. His preparations have changed a little and he’s focusing more on the little things and perfecting the things he’s already good at. His eating habits have also changed a little with the induction of more generous helpings of Power Bars.

As a team this year wasn’t the greatest, “we didn’t do as well as we planned, but their’s a lot of promise and potential for next year” J said. Reflecting on the season J also said, “It’s sad to see wrestling come to an end. All the good times and things I’ll never forget.” As far as wrestling in college, J says he’s leaning more towards football. For those of you looking to watch J wrestle he’ll be wrestling at about 4:45 near the end of the first session today at the Xcel Energy Center.

Inspired by the goddess of Greek Mythology for her strength, courage and leadership, The Athena is awarded annually for the outstanding senior female athlete from each school. This year the Como Park recipient was none other than Mara Chin-Purcell.

The Athena award is based strictly on the participation and accomplishments in team sports. It recognizes one female senior from each school for their athletic excellence. This April 21^st at the Prom Center in Oakdale, a luncheon will take place honoring outstanding high school senior female athletes of the Saint Paul area and Mara will represent Como Park at the luncheon.

Mara showed great team leadership throughout her high school career in swimming, skiing, and track. Mara broke a number of school records and held all conference positions in skiing and an all- conference honorable senior mention in Skiing. Mara now holds the school record in swimming for the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle at times of 25.48, 56.3, and 2:06.

Even though Mara had great success in sports throughout her high school career she wasn’t really concerned about possibly winning the Athena.

“I guess I knew I had a shot, but never really considered that I would get it”

There was no real work that was done for the award specifically. Mara devoted much of her time everyday and even Saturdays for herself and for her team. The thought of the award wasn’t something to dread upon for Mara.

“I didn’t really work for the award, but the work it was based on was for myself and for my team. I go to practice every day of the school week, and often on weekends, for Saturday practice or weekend meets or trips. It’s a lot of time commitment”

However about a week ago, Mara was given a pass to go down to the athletic office where Mr. Surrels awarded her the Athena and papers to fill out accordingly.

“I was pretty excited and surprised.”

Even with the accomplishment of receiving the Athena, Mara’s plans for the future hasn’t changed. In the fall she will be attending Bowdoin College in Maine where she will be swimming for their team. She hopes she will be able to get in some good skiing since the skiing and swimming seasons take place at the same time and we wish her good luck and congratulations on her behalf.

With the state meet behind them the Nordic ski team has been more than thankful for the pressure taken off of their backs. From their normal skiing up to 4 times a week it has been decreased to a less rigorous schedule, now skiing only two or three times a week. All though this recent snowfall may bring it back up to 4 for one last time this season.

Many of the athletes on the team are looking ahead to track with a more rigorous running schedule with less weekly skiing. With track on the horizon for many of the skiers this can only be viewed as a gift from their tri-sport coach Chris Lundstrom. While some might think it’s a little strange for a coach to be doing something to benefit the sport the athletes will be playing next, think again, Chris is also the running coach for Track.

The ski team ended their official season with both boys and girls teams finishing fourth at the sections tournament. The standouts being Leah Roth who went on to state, and John Tetlie who came close. With a good season behind them the team anxiously awaits next year.

The swimmers are not done yet, since still upcoming are two of the more important events of the season. Coming up on the Swim Team’s schedule is the Sectional Meets on Thursday Feb 24- Saturday Feb 27. In order to make it onto the State Tournament on March 4-6, it is necessary to get into the top 3 in Sectionals, or beat the State Qualifying time of 23 seconds in the 50 meter Freestyle. This challenge is met by a team who so far, despite its lack of a diving team, and a shortage of swimmers, is still holding its own in the standings.