Author: Nick Perinovic

The 2013-2014 sports year for Providence Academy is coming to a close. Through fall, winter and spring, all of the sports teams have competed at a high level.

The fall sports, including boys and girls cross country, football, boys and girls soccer, girls tennis and girls swimming, all had exciting seasons.

The cross country team had a good season. Jackson Rastetter ’17 says, “We had a good season but sadly we are losing two good seniors.”

The football team also had a good season ending with the record of 4-4. The captains for fall 2014 are Ryan Richelsen ’15, Ryan Ylitalo ’15 and Trent Wiebusch ’15.

Henry Van Dellen ’16, the teams starting quarterback, comments on the teams previous season and the team by saying, “This season was good but next season will be better. We will fly like the Phoenix. When we lose we come back stronger.”

The soccer teams also had successful seasons with the boys going 4-5-1, and the girls going 3-5-2.

The season was good for the girls tennis team, going 12-6. Eva Sullivan ’14 says, “Season went really well. It was sad because it was my last year, but the team accomplished all that we wanted to by going to state and becoming closer as friends on the team.”  

The volleyball team ended their season with a record of 8-17.

The girls swim and dive team was  combined with Osseo. Sarah Whims ’16 sums up the season by saying, “The season turned out really well, a lot of the girls made to to section prelims and a few moved on to finals.  And one relay and one individual went to state.”

For winter sports,  the boys basketball team ended their season with the best record in school history, going 16-10. Dominic Miller ’16, one of the teams captains for the 2014-2015 season says, “The team is always improving and I am looking forward to next season.” The other two captains for next season are Jack Koslrud ’15 and Riley Loew ’15.

The girls also with a great season going 13-12.

The boys hockey team finished with a record of 6-19 and the girls team, which is combined with Minnehaha Academy,  finished off 3-17-1.

The boys swim and dive team was, like the girls, combined with Osseo. The only PA competitor was Joe Beaman ’14. The Osseo High School’s teams record was 3-2-3.

The spring sports also had their ups and downs. The boys tennis team finished in the record of 4-8, losing in the semifinal game.

The boys golf team, consisting of five seniors and one freshman finished currently have the record of 2-5. The girls golf team had a fantastic season ending with a winning record of 6-1-2.

Both boys baseball and girls softball have been having a successful season. The boys baseball team went 11-4 and is currently in the section 5AA playoffs.

Fans and athletes are looking forward to another great year for Providence sports.

With their season starting April 1st, Providence Academy Sailing team is looking to have a good year.

This year’s captains for the sailing team are Frances Christianson ’14 and Patrick Buehler ’14. The team consists of 16-18 students, from grades 7-12. Providence’s sailing team competes and practices against other schools like Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Wayzata and Chanhassen. Ms. Katie Lahti helps out by being the faculty director and Mr.Thomas Jones helps out with other administrative pieces as part of his role as the Upper School Activities Supervisor, but for practices, because of the distant practices, most help is from students from the schools competing.

Practices start April 1st if the lakes are not frozen. The team holds their practices at Lake Minnetonka at the Wayzata Community Sailing Center but compete at lakes across the Twin Cities and other locations. They compete on Lake Minnetonka, Lake Calhoun, and White Bear Lake. The sailing team also plans to go to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to sail Lake Michigan and hopefully Pewaukee, Wisconsin to sail Pewaukee Lake as well.

Sailing competes in two different categories. The first is fleet racing. Fleet racing is when a group of sailors sail a predetermined course and points are assigned for the place they finish (1st gets 1 point, 2nd gets 2 points) and the team with the lowest score wins. Fleet racing can consist of many boats sailing at one time. The second category of racing is team racing. Team races have more complex courses with only 6 boats sailing (3 per team). The scoring is the same for team racing and fleet racing except the fact that in team racing you want to make the sum of your team’s points be less than 10.

Buehler described the sail boats the team uses.

“For the most part, we sail a dinghy boat called a 420,” he said. “It holds two people, one skipper and one crew.  The skipper is responsible for steering and trimming the mainsail.  The crew is responsible for trimming the jib, adjusting the mainsail controls, and helping the skipper with tactics.”

Paul Stankey ’17 has been dedicated to the game of golf, ever since he started playing at the age of two. Stankey says, “Some friends put a club in my hands when I was one or two and my parents just kept me playing since then.” Now, Stankey has an intense practice schedule, which varies with the seasons. In the winter he will practice around two hours a day, but in the summer he will practice as much as fourteen hours a day. In the winters, because of Minnesota’s crazy winter weather, Stankey has to train indoors. Stankey practices at Hazeltine in the winter. Lucky for Paul, he lives on a golf course, so when the weather gets warm enough he can practice in his backyard.

Outside of golf, Stankey will lift weights and run to help and try to advance his play. He competes in tournaments in many different locations, from right here in Minnesota to all the way down South. Stankey says he participates anywhere from 45-60 tournament rounds every year.

Stankey’s ultimate goal is to play at the collegiate level.

Stankey says his favorite player is Jordan Spieth. Paul says, “My favorite player on tour is Jordan Spieth because he is only 20 years old, but he still has a strong faith and family grounding in his life. Plus he lights it up on the course.”