June 15, 2021
With an older brother considered one of Minnesota’s most accomplished distance runners in recent memory, Evan Ferlic had some big shoes to fill. But with a list of accolades that looks like his brother Mason’s, Ferlic has proven he is up for the challenge.
Ferlic earned numerous all-conference and all-state honors, team MVP awards, multiple captainships and varsity letters in cross country running, Nordic skiing and track and field. But his two most important accomplishments both came as part of the team.
Ferlic played a critical role in leading the boys cross country team to a runner up finish at the 2013 state meet, their best finish ever. “This was a true team effort, since our top four runners were very close to each other in most of our races that season,” said MPA cross country coach Dan Ethier. “Evan’s contribution was critical. We couldn’t have accomplished this without him.” Ferlic’s success in cross country set the stage for an even more memorable track and field season. Read More
Late October nights in Minnesota tend to be cold and dark. Soccer players competing in section tournament games, played under the lights, bundle up any way they can.
Jaima (Solie) Salagovic excelled on the soccer field for the Panthers and longtime girls soccer coach Mike Scinto. A part of the 2002 state tournament team, Salagovic chose to play collegiately at the University of Minnesota Morris after graduating from MPA. At UMM, Salagovic earned Academic all-conference in the in each of her four years and was named to the UMAC all-conference first team her senior year.
Jude Hull ’12 was like many of the new seventh graders starting at MPA in the fall of 2006. He was excited and eager to learn, perhaps even a little nervous. But he was certainly the only incoming Panther whose father and grandfather are hockey hall of famers. Hockey is literally in Hull’s blood. So, it comes as no surprise that even as he relished the opportunity to play other sports at over his next six years at MPA, including being named captain of the golf team, he was a hockey player first and foremost.
Team captain, girls tennis and equestrian team state champion, chamber choir member, National Honor Society inductee, thespian, Science Olympiad participant. Kate Roach ’11 accomplished amazing feats at Mounds Park Academy, but her latest and loftiest goal, the opportunity to represent the United States in the Tokyo Olympics, would top any of that.
When Kim Bourne ‘12 looks back on the MSHSL state Nordic ski championships her senior year, her second consecutive year at state, her most distinct memory doesn’t come from the actual race but rather the feeling she got when four of her MPA teammates also qualified.
Kristen Bourne’s senior Nordic ski season didn’t begin with the hot start she had hoped for. Even after devoting her entire off season to training and coming in to the winter in top form, she was in a funk mentally that was proving hard to break. But with supportive teammates and coaches, she found herself relaxing more and midway through the season, approached her races from a different perspective. Success soon followed.
As Lukas Lindgren, then a ninth grader, walked through the fieldhouse at St. Olaf College after his first ever appearance at the MSHSL state cross country meet, he got an important lesson in mentorship. “As we were entering the facility, I told two upperclassmen that I had just gotten a big personal record, and they told me that I was going to be a great runner someday,” he recalls. “Now I walk through that same facility on my way to practice every day and I often think about what they said.” Maybe it was chance, maybe it was meant to be, but four years after that prophetic day, Lindgren became a proud member of the track and field and cross country teams for St. Olaf College.
Maggie Harper was just a ninth grader when she was asked to step up and play an important role on the 2008 MPA girl’s golf team. The team had never won a conference or section title in the 20 years since girl’s golf began at MPA in 1988. But 2008 would be different, and Harper proved she was up for the task. In a season in which she would be named the team’s rookie of the year, Harper finished as one of the top six girls for the class A state champion Panthers.
There was a time, long before national championships and the Olympics, that Mason Ferlic had to be coaxed into running. Ferlic, among MPA’s most decorated athletes of all-time and one of the most accomplished distance runners in Minnesota history, grew up a soccer player. It wasn’t until his sophomore year of high school that he truly focused on cross country running and track and field. When he did, it was lights out for the competition.