Nine Lakeville North athletes will sign National Letters of Intent on Wednesday at 7:30 AM in the commons at Lakeville North High School.
Included are Carter Brooks, Brooke Genzler, Katarina Seper, Max Johnson, Mitch Frederick, Joey Larson, Luke Anderson, Brianna Vetter and Shayla Steinley.
Carter Brooks, a senior basketball player, is set to sign a NLI with Concordia-St. Paul. Brooks played a key role in Lakeville North’s fourth place finish last season when Panthers’ leading point-scorer Connor Flack sat out because of a back injury.
Brooke Genzler, a senior girls’ lacrosse player, will also sign her NLI with Concordia-St. Paul where she will join former Panther girls’ lacrosse coach Mo Gaitan. Concordia-St. Paul’s girls’ lacrosse program is a new Division-II program, which Gaitan helped found. Genzler will help Gaitan in furthering not only lacrosse at Concordia-St. Paul, but she will also help further the brand of lacrosse that Lakeville North plays.
Katarina Seper, a senior defenseman on the girls’ hockey team, will sign her NLI with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), which is a Divison-I women’s hockey program. As a defenseman on the 2014-2015 girls’ hockey team, Seper scored eight goals and registered eight assists in the regular season. In 2015-2016, Seper will join sophomore Maggie Flaherty, likely a future Division-I skater, on a defense with a new goaltender.
Max Johnson, a senior boys’ hockey player, will sign his NLI with Bowling Green, a Division-I men’s hockey program. Johnson played an integral role on the 31-0 state championship team last season, scoring 19 goals and 31 assists. Johnson had the opportunity to forgo his senior year and head to the USHL, but he chose to stay, citing Nick and Jack Poehling’s decision to stay as a factor in his decision.
Mitch Frederick, a senior baseball player, will sign his NLI with Minnesota State-Mankato, a Division-II program. Frederick started at second base for the Panthers in 2015, helping lead Lakeville North to the state championship game. He had a .273 batting average, scoring 11 runs and registering 21 hits.
Joey Larson, a senior baseball player, will sign his NLI with Augustana University, a Division-II baseball program. Larson, both an infielder and pitcher for Lakeville North, had a .384 batting average for the Panthers in 2015, scoring 23 runs and registering 33 hits. Larson also played on the Lakeville North football team. He saw time at both running back and safety.
Luke Anderson, a senior lacrosse player, will sign his NLI with Marquette University. Anderson helped the Panthers get back to the state tournament for the second consecutive year last year. Anderson committed to Marquette during his sophomore year.
Brianna Vetter, a senior golfer, will sign her NLI with the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Vetter tied for 22nd place in the 2014 state tournament. She is a captain and one of the top two golfers on the Lakeville North girls’ golf team.
Shayla Steinley, a senior softball player, will sign her NLI with Northern State University. Steinley is an outfielder and three-year starter for Lakeville North. In 2015, her batting average was .326 and her on base percentage was .431.
Other news and notes:
–The winter season is upon us. All sports and activities are underway as of Monday, and girls’ hockey has its first game this Friday against the Blake School.
–Boys’ hockey had its first practice on Monday, and talking with players, one lesser-known name to watch for this season is Spencer Schneider, a freshman. One player I spoke with said he is “unreal.”
–The boys’ hockey team loses a large part of its state championship team, and I talked about the turnover on StarTribune.com with Vineeta Sawkar here: http://video.startribune.com/prep-power-play-lakeville-north-loses-veterans/344151712/
Nick Kelly 