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Becca Green of Annandale leads metro Athletes of the Week for Dec. 9-14

By JIM PAULSEN, Star Tribune, 12/16/19, 1:00PM CST

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Also recognized: Henry Abraham (Cambridge-Isanti basketball), Paxton Creese (Shakopee wrestling), Matthew Gleason (Cretin-Derham Hall hockey), Blake Lueck (Spring Lake Park hockey), Adalia McKenzie (Park Center basketball) and Abby Schulte (Maple Grove basketball).


Annandale's Becca Green competed Saturday in the Annandale Invitational, winning the all-around competition. Photo courtesy Nicki Green

BECCA GREEN
Annandale • gymnastics

The nerves, she expected. The result? Well, she hoped.

Green, a senior, made her first high school gymnastics meet a rousing success Saturday, winning the vault, uneven bars and balance beam en route to the all-around championship at the Annandale Invitational. Her scores on the bars, 9.8, and the beam, 9.7, were school records, as was her all-around tally of 38.5. It was also the best reported all-around score in the state this season.

“I was nervous at first because I hadn’t been through the whole process, but my first high school meet was really fun,” Green said. “It was a whole new experience.”

Before this season, Green was a club gymnast, training out of Classic Gymnastics in Chanhassen, where she had reached elite Level 10. But the long training hours and a desire for a more complete senior year in high school led her to leave the club and join the high school team.

“She wanted to be a bigger part of the high school,” said her mother, Nicki, an assistant gymnastics coach at Annandale. “It’s a small community and she wanted to showcase her talents. And she really wants to play softball, too, which you can’t do while you’re in club. Just make the most out of her senior year.”

So far, so good. One meet down, three school records set. And the best part?

“I was able to go to most of the football games,” Green said. “Usually, I couldn’t because I had early Saturday practices. Not having those let me have the experience of hanging out more with my friends.”

HENRY ABRAHAM
Cambridge-Isanti • basketball

The senior guard’s relentless long-range shooting not only helped the Bluejackets to an 85-70 victory over Chanhassen, it also resulted in school records for points in a single game, 50, and three-pointers made, 13.

PAXTON CREESE
Shakopee • wrestling

The senior 126-pounder improved his record to 16-0 on the season with an impressive performance at Kenyon-Wanamingo’s Mauseth Invitational. He won three matches by fall and earned a 13-4 major decision in the final.

MATTHEW GLEASON
Cretin-Derham Hall • hockey

The senior forward had two more multiple-goal games, giving him four in the Raiders’ last five games. He had two goals and three assists in a 10-4 victory over Irondale, and a hat trick and an assist in an 11-2 romp over Roseville.

BLAKE LUECK
Spring Lake Park • hockey

The sophomore forward clearly has a thing for playing against Minnehaha Academy. He scored nine goals to lead the Panthers to back-to-back victories over the Redhawks, highlighted by a career-high six goals in a 10-6 victory Friday.

ADALIA MCKENZIE
Park Center • basketball

The explosive 5-10 forward continued to rack up superb offensive outings. She had 37 points in a 71-50 victory over Andover and 29 in an 82-40 rout of Coon Rapids. McKenzie leads the metro in scoring, averaging 29.6 points per game.

ABBY SCHULTE
Maple Grove • basketball

The senior guard, a North Dakota State signee, scored 15 points in a 53-19 shutdown of Armstrong. She followed that with a school-record 40 points while leading a late Crimson rally against Rogers that eventually resulted in an 87-84 overtime victory.


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Past Athlete of the Week columns

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