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New Ulm Club honors 6 senior athletes

Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke New Ulm Club senior award winners are: Front (l-r): Rose Hazuka (Cathedral), Haley Birkholz (MVL), Sarah Longtin (New Ulm). Back (l-r): Nathan Hauser (Cathedral), Jakin Anderson (MVL), Hunter Ranweiler (Cathedral).

NEW ULM — Six senior student athletes were honored by the New Ulm Club on Saturday at Martin  Luther College as they were selected as the Outstanding Athlete of the Year. Each high school in New Ulm selected a boy and a girl athlete for this honor.

New Ulm Cathedral selected Nathan Hauser and Rose Hazuka, Minnesota Valley Lutheran selected Jakin Anderson and Haley Birkholz and New Ulm High School selected Hunter Ranweiler and Sarah Longtin.

Cindra Kamphoff, the guest speaker for the New Ulm Club banquet, emphasized the importance the mindset of an athlete stating that mental toughness in sports and in life is important.

“Thoughts have power only if you believe in them,” she said. “Everything starts with a thought and you need to focus on every opportunity that you have.”

She told the student-athletes to “stomp the ANTS” which she referred to as “Automated Negative Thoughts” and stay positive.

“Impossible means ‘I am possible’ and can do things. You can control yourself and your attitude,” she said.

The following is a brief writeup of each of the award winners:

New Ulm Cathedral

Nathan Hauser

Hauser was named Cathedral High School’s Outstanding Senior Male Athlete for 2018. He is the son of Gary and Danelle Hauser.

Hauser was a three-sport athlete who will earn nine letters during his high school career: two in football, three in basketball, and four in baseball. He also earned a 4.0 cumulative GPA and was selected as the male Triple AAA winner for Cathedral this year.

For football, Hauser rushed for 1,092 yards and 12 touchdowns along with 264 receiving yards and one touchdown catch. Defensively he finished with 83 career tackles and one interception. Hauser earned all-district honorable mention honors as a junior and all-district honors as a senior for the Greyhounds.

He was also a three-year letter winner in basketball. He was a basketball team co-captain as a junior and senior. He finished his career with 1,135 points (fourth in school history) and also has a career 3-point field goal percentage of 44.8 percent, which ranks eighth in Minnesota State High School League history. He earned all-conference honors his junior and senior season.

Hauser has already earned three varsity letters in baseball and will once again be counted on to contribute this spring. For his career, Hauser is a .274 hitter with 12 RBIs and 35 runs scored.

Rose Hazuka

Cathedral High School’s Outstanding Senior Female Athlete for 2018 was Rose Hazuka. Hazuka is the daughter of Paul and Joan Hazuka. Hazuka was a three-sport athlete who earned 10 letters during her high school career: three in volleyball, three in basketball, and four in softball.

Hazuka lettered in volleyball her sophomore through senior seasons. In her career, she totaled 733 kills (second in Cathedral history), 601 digs (third in Cathedral history), and 61 ace serves with a serving percentage of 90 percent. She also earned all-conference honors her senior season and all-conference honorable mention honors as a junior.

She was a three-year letter winner in basketball. She was also a basketball team co-captain as a senior. She has been a big part of Cathedral’s basketball success over the past three years. Her career totals include 625 points, 178 rebounds, 72 steals, and 55 assists. She was selected to the all-conference team her senior year.

This spring, Hazuka will be playing her fourth softball season at the varsity level. Her career totals at the plate include a .356 batting average, 59 RBIs, and two career home runs. She was named to the all-conference team her sophomore and junior season.

Minnesota Valley Lutheran

Jakin Anderson

Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School’s Outstanding Senior Male Athlete is Jakin Anderson.

He is the son of Quin and Sharon Anderson and is a three-sport athlete who has participated in basketball, golf and this year cross country and track at MVL.

He has earned four letters; one in cross country, two in basketball, one in golf and a good chance of earning another in track while maintaining a 3.32 GPA. He was a captain in both cross country and basketball. His postseason awards include All Conference in cross country and he represented MVL in the Tim Orth All Star Basketball Game.

This fall Anderson decided to run cross country for the first time. He was the top runner for the Chargers at every meet and he had four top 10 finishes. He placed fourth overall at the conference meet and was 22nd out of 149 runners at the section meet.

In basketball he played all four years, each year growing in his love and knowledge of the game. He shot 50 percent from 3-point range and he was supporting his teammates from the sidelines when not playing.

Haley Birkholz

MVL’s Outstanding Senior Female Senior Athlete was Haley Birkholz. She is the daughter or Jacob and Emily Birkholz. She is a two-sport athlete who has participated in volleyball and basketball while earning six letters: three in volleyball and three in basketball.

Her postseason honors include volleyball All-Conference, second team All-Journal and numerous Spotlight on Scholarship Awards while carrying a 3.73 GPA for this National Honor Society Member.

In volleyball, she was a three-year starter. She was a captain and earned All-Conference honors her junior year. She is listed in MVL’s career Top 10 in two categories where she finished seventh in kills with 435 and first in digs with 692.

On the basketball court, she played in 78 games as a Charger, starting in 43 of them while scoring 464 points and gathering 287 rebounds with 118 steals.

New Ulm High School

Hunter Ranweiler

New Ulm High School’s Outstanding Senior Male Athlete of the year was Hunter Ranweiler. Ranweiler is the son of Brady Ranweiler and Nicole Schroeder and is a three-sport athlete who has participated in football, wrestling, and baseball.

He earned four letters in football, five letters in wrestling, and three letters in baseball, giving him a total of 12 letters in his high school career. He is an all-conference performer in football, wrestling (twice) and baseball (twice). He was a two-time section champion, two-time state entrant, and finished fifth as a junior in wrestling. He is also a two-time All-Section and All-Journal performer in baseball.

In football, he transitioned from running back to quarterback this past fall and he broke the single season school passing touchdown record with 18 touchdown passes. He completed 109 passes for 1,774 yards and also rushed for 341 yards on 74 carries and four rushing touchdowns. He broke five school quarterback passing records, including throwing for 455 yards in a game and six touchdown passes in a single game.

In wrestling, he was 83- 7 his final two years of high school. He was a two-time Big South Conference Champion, a two-time Section 3AA champion and finished fifth at the state tournament. His 160 career wins ranks him third all-time in school history. He finished his career 160-49, with 57 pins and 251 takedowns.

For baseball, he enters his senior year with a .382 batting average, .551 on base-percentage, with 32 stolen bases.

Next year, he will be continuing his academic and baseball careers at Minnesota State University-Mankato.

Sarah Longtin

New Ulm High School’s Outstanding Senior Female Athlete of the year is Sarah Longtin. Longtin is the daughter of Alan and Anita Longtin.

She is a two-sport athlete who has participated in volleyball and gymnastics. She has earned two letters in volleyball, four letters in gymnastics, and four letters in track and field, giving her a total of 10 letters in her high school career.

She is an All-Conference performer in volleyball (junior year), and two-time All-Conference performer in gymnastics. She was also a state participant in the balance beam during her junior year and was also the recipient of Triple A Award.

As a senior in volleyball, Longtin played in 68 sets, with 11 kills, eight serve aces (91 percent serve percentage), and 222 digs.

In gymnastics she was a strong all-arounder, competing on all four events. She averaged an 8.9 on the vault and had a season-high of 9.25. She averaged an 8.2 on bars and her season high was 8.45. Her beam average was an 8.1 and season-high was an 8.625. Her floor was a 9.0 and high was a 9.35. Her All-around average was 34.1 and her high was a 34.975.

Next year, Sarah will be continuing her academic career at Minnesota State University-Mankato.

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