Athletics Archives

December 28, 2020

The following essay is adapted from MPA Class of 2021 member Evan Esch’s Senior Speech.

Playing one of America’s greatest pastimes has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. When I was younger, baseball was always the most fun and something I’d look forward to in the summer. Being an athletic kid, it came particularly easy to me. I was fast, I could also hit the ball pretty well, and I was exceptional at catching and throwing. On top of that, I’m a lefty, among the most desired traits in baseball players. As I continued to progress through youth baseball, my team won a lot of games and tournaments. We had a great coaching staff that was knowledgeable and brought tremendous energy. They really wanted us to succeed. However, when high school came along, and the pressures of the recruiting environment began to ramp up, my relationship with baseball began to change.

Being noticed as a high level baseball player in Minnesota was great, it felt affirming to be one of the best. However, it sometimes made me complacent. That complacency was, at times, detrimental to my game because it made me too comfortable. It was easy to do things that came naturally to me, and they fulfilled me in the short-term, but looking back, I realized I did not accomplish much in those comfortable times. Read More

Meet Boys Basketball Coaches Rich Harris, Nate Bander, and Matt Bander

November 24, 2020

Meet Boys Varsity Basketball Coach Rich Harris

What was your playing career like?
I played four years in high school in Oklahoma and was the starting point guard my senior year. I then played point guard at Southwestern College, an NAIA school in Winfield, Kansas, graduating in 1996.

What coaching experience do you bring to MPA?
After finishing my college career, I stayed on for one year as a student assistant. Since, I have coached a variety of different levels of basketball and many schools. Some highlights include coaching the freshman boys team at Southeast High School in Wichita, coaching JV boys and then Varsity boys at the American School of Doha in Qatar (we went undefeated in 2011), assistant coaching girls Varsity and then boys Varsity at American School in London, coaching Middle School and High School boys at the International Schools Groups in Saudi Arabia (we went 21-4 record and won the conference championship during the 2018-19 season), and coaching girls JV here at MPA. The girls at MPA taught me compassion and commitment and I will never forget that.

What is it about MPA that makes it a great place to coach?
The kids! MPA has such wonderful students who want to succeed. Also, the faculty and staff has been very supportive. Read More

MPA Fall And Winter Athletics Update

November 19, 2020

Yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz released Emergency Executive Order which initiates restrictions/a pause on all organized youth and high school sports beginning Friday, November 20. These restrictions directly impact all Minnesota State High School League fine arts and athletic programs that are in-season (volleyball) or projected to start (alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, basketball, and hockey). The restriction remains in effect through Friday, December 18. More specific MPA athletic program information will be forthcoming as we learn more from the Minnesota State High School League.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Dan Haase, athletic director, via email.

Middle School Athletics Update

November 5, 2020

Middle School Basketball
The Mounds Park Academy athletic department has made the decision not to play Middle School basketball in the Catholic Athletic Association (CAA) this winter due to health and safety concerns. Our athletic department will provide Middle School Students in Grades 5/6 and 7/8 an opportunity to train and play in co-ed in basketball setting. Scheduled sessions are in line with students who are on campus for the hybrid learning.

These training and playing sessions will be supervised by the coaches of these programs. All of these programs will be held after school from 3:30-4:45 PM. Health screenings will occur prior to participation. Masks must be worn during these training sessions. Please bring a water bottle with your name on it. All student pick-ups should be made from Door #7 of the Lansing Sports Center. Click here to register for these opportunities.

Middle School Swimming
The Mounds Park Academy athletic department has made the difficult decision to suspend club swimming for students in grades K-8 for the 2020-2021 season. Health and safety concerns around COVID-19, lack of available pool time due to density control, and transportation issues have prompted this difficult decision. We look forward to welcoming our young swimming Panthers back to the pool in the 2021-22 school year!

If you have questions, please contact the MPA Athletic Director, Dan Haase via email at dhaase@moundsparkacademy.org.

TCRC XC Showcase

October 31, 2020

While the MSHSL did not hold a state meet this year due to COVID, some retired cross country coaches organized the TCRC XC Showcase to give the top cross country runners from around the state a chance to compete against each other. Our own Isak was invited to participate, based on his section meet result.

Isak finished 8th in his pod of individual qualifiers not running with their teams, and he finished 18th overall in the merged results. His time of 17:13.8 was his second best time this season, behind only his section finish.

You can see complete merged results for the boys small class at Wayzata Results.

Section Meet

October 13, 2020

This was a section meet in two acts.

Our girls ran in the morning, enjoying crisp autumn weather but also dealing with blustery winds. Margo ran with the 2nd Breck runner for most of the race, sprinting past her over the last part of the race. She finished 9th overall. Cara ran with another Breck runner for much of the way, but she also kicked hard to finish ahead of her competition. Izzy, running her last high school cross country race, ran one of her best races of the season, finishing strong. And she had to because Teagan was just a few seconds behind her, earning a personal best time. Abigail ran close to her personal best time, set on a flat course at Blake. Sophia, running on legs that were feeling much better after a week of rest, improved her best time on this course from last year.

The girls team, which had been seeded 8th, improved on that, finishing in 7th place in the merged results.

Our boys team ran in the afternoon, enjoying slightly warmer temperatures, but also dealing with the same strong winds. Isak ran with the top Holy Family runner, staying with him until the last hill, when he moved ahead. He finished with a strong kick to win our pod. He finished 3rd overall. Ben moved up steadily the second half of the race, finishing with a good surge to improve his personal best time. Peter, running in his final high school cross country race, started pretty fast, and hung on for his best time of the season. Not bad for someone who broke his ankle in June! Evan started out with Ben, but had some trouble, hanging on to finish as our 4th runner. Trevor ran close to his personal best time and finished well. Eddie also finished well, improving on his best time on this course from last year. Liam also had some trouble during the race, but hung on to close things out for the boys.

The boys team, which had also been seeded 8th, finished in 6th place in the merged results.

Since there is no state meet this year, this section meet marks the end of our season. Thanks to your ability to adapt to many new ways of doing things, your willingness to take responsibility for your own training when you were not on campus, and all your hard work over the summer and during our season, you ran some excellent races today. Congratulations on completing a memorable season!

Results for the girls and boys races can be found at Gopher State Events.

And if you’ve never seen our girls do their pre-race routine, check out this video:

Non-Varsity Time Trial

October 12, 2020

On a beautiful fall afternoon, our non-varsity runners had one last chance to test themselves in a 2400 meter time trial.

Henry led from start to finish. Josh and Leo ran together the entire race, with Josh kicking past Leo over the last 100 meters. Josh ran 10 seconds faster than he did in the virtual meet over the same course. Megan finished only a few seconds behind those boys to lead our two girls. She ran almost 30 seconds faster than she did at the virtual meet a month ago.

Carter and Connor ran close together most of the way, with Carter sprinting ahead at the end. Both Carter and Connor ran much faster than they did over the same course in the virtual meet. Julia finished just ahead of Andrew, running almost a minute faster than she did in the virtual meet! Andrew was slowed by a sore back from hockey.

Ryan wrapped things up for our non-varsity runners.

Almost everyone who had run over this course during the virtual meet a month ago improved on that time. Some of you improved a lot. This is a credit to the work you’ve put in over the course of the season. This ends your season for this year. But hopefully you can make more progress in future seasons!

You can see the results of the non-varsity time trial here.

Girls Tennis Scores Upset Win in Section 4A Tournament

October 8, 2020

Congratulations to the Girls Varsity Tennis Team for upsetting the #4 seed Southwest Christian High School in the opening round of the Section 4A tournament. The girls won in a thrilling 4-3 victory. Check out the recap from Coach Slachta.

We had an exciting, entertaining and intense match against a strong and higher seeded team from Southwest Christian. Freya Rahm (#1 singles), Gabbi Magistad/Maggie Fritsch (#1 doubles) and Alina Ramirez/Mariana V. (3rd doubles) all put up hard fought battles in their respective positions but were denied a victory leaving Team MPA down 0-3.

With 4 remaining positions out on the court Team MPA needed to go four for four to secure a win. Meera Jain came up big at #4 singles with a convincing win (6-2, 6-3, by far her best effort of the season!) to make the team score 1-3. Meanwhile the dynamic duo of Soumya Raman/Nellie L. (#2 doubles) were in a heated battle and prevailed with a 6-2, 7-6 victory. Read More

IMAC Championship

October 6, 2020

It felt like August but you raced like October at the IMAC Championship.

Our varsity boys started things off. It was already getting hot with a stiff wind as well. Isak ran for a short while with the top Breck runner, but he settled in with the 2nd and 3rd Breck runners. He led them through the second half of the race and finished well to earn 2nd in our race, and 4th in the merged results. Isak earned all conference honors for his efforts.

Peter, Evan, and Ben stuck together for most of the race, working against the top Providence runner and the 4th Breck runner. They finished within a few seconds of each other. Liam, Eddie, and Trevor also ran together for most of the race. Liam made a late move, but Eddie surged to finished as our 5th runner, with Liam finishing close behind, and with Trevor sprinting past Breck’s 5th runner.

Our varsity girls toed the line as the temperatures rose into the high 70s. Margo ran with the top Providence runner and the 2nd Breck runner. She surged up the big last hill to separate from them to finish 2nd in our race and 7th in the merged results. Margo earned all conference honors for her work.

Cara ran much of the race alone, but ran well to finish 7th in our race and 20th in the merged results. Izzy, Teagan, and Abigail ran together much of the race, competing against a couple of Providence runners. Izzy pushed hard over the last mile, and Teagan stuck not too far back, to separate from those runners. Abigail held on for a course best time.

I was pleased to see some good racing today. The weather and the course made fast times impossible. But you ran in groups and ran with the runners from Breck and Providence that you were targeting. If you bring that effort and focus to our section races next week, you will do well!

Results are available at Gopher State Events.

Important MSHSL Update & Winter Sports Registration

October 1, 2020

Mounds Park Academy Winter Sports Registration is now live on the Athletic website. The Minnesota State High School League approved this morning that winter sports are a go for 2020-2021. Winter sports will be reduced to 70% of a normal season, 2 meets/games per week. Programs may change due to health and safety recommendations. If you have any questions please let contact the athletics office.

Start dates:
Alpine and Nordic Skiing: November 30
Boys Basketball: November 23
Boys Hockey: November 23
Girls Basketball: December 7

Schedules for each program will be reconfigured to meet the MSHSL requirements. Click here to register >

The Minnesota State High School League voted down tournament play past Sections in all Fall sports. There will be no State tournaments for the Fall season.