By Jeremy Behnke

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM — The New Ulm Club held its 2020 Virtual New Ulm Club banquet Thursday night and six student-athletes from the three New Ulm High Schools were selected as the Outstanding Senior Male or Female Athlete of the Year.

The show aired on KNUJ and was originally supposed to be held in April, but it had to be canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The six student athletes are as follows:

New Ulm High School

Nolan Drill

New Ulm High School’s Outstanding Senior Male Athlete of the Year is Nolan Drill.

Drill is the son of Rachel and Brant Drill. He’s is a three-sport athlete who has participated in football, hockey and baseball and has earned three letters in football, three letters in hockey, and two letters in baseball, giving him a total of eight letters in his high school career.

In football, Drill was a captain and played quarterback, defensive back and linebacker for the Eagles. He rushed for more than 100 yards in a game two different times and his teammates named him “Hardest Worker” on this year’s team.

He finished his hockey career with nine goals and 15 assists and he excelled in defensive situations and penalty killing.

In baseball he competes as a first baseman and pitcher. Last year, he had a .414 batting average, with 10 doubles, 17 runs, and 23 RBIs. He also threw 30 innings for the Eagles sporting a 2.60 era while striking out 17.

Next year, Drill will be continuing his academic and baseball career at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa.

New Ulm High School

Molly Scheid

New Ulm High School’s Outstanding Senior Female Athlete of the Year is Molly Scheid.

She is the daughter of Stacy and Scott Scheid and is a three-sport athlete who has participated in soccer, hockey, and track and field. She has earned four letters in soccer, four letters in hockey, and four letters in track and field, giving her a total of 12 letters in her high school career and a 13th would’ve been earned for track and field.

In soccer, her speed and quickness along with agility and determination, frustrated her opponents as she denied them numerous scoring opportunities. As a defensive center-back, there aren’t many specific stat categories, but she had two assists and 27 shots on goal.

In hockey, she was a steady contributor for the last four years. She has had an impact on the group both on and off the ice while helping the team win the Big South Conference title in each of her four seasons, winning the Section 2A championship in 2017-18 and participating in the MSHSL State Tournament. She played in 110 career games while accumulating 61 goals, 50 assists, for 111 career points. She also received All-Conference honors in 2018-19 and 19-20.

In track and field, she earned four letters and was always competing in a variety of events, including distance events along with hurdles, long jump and discus.

Next year, Scheid will be continuing her education and soccer career at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall.

New Ulm Cathedral

Chris Knowles

New Ulm Cathedral High School’s Outstanding Senior Male Athlete for 2020 is Chris Knowles.

Knowles is the son of Terry and Franni Knowles and is a three-sport athlete who earned nine letters during his high school career: two in football, three in basketball, and four in baseball. He also excels in the classroom carrying a 3.707 GPA.

He lettered in football his junior and senior year. He was a football team co-captain as a senior. In his career, Knowles has accumulated 265 receiving yards on 16 catches and scored five touchdowns.

Defensively he finished with 82 career tackles, one interception, which was returned for a touchdown, and five sacks. He earned all-district honors as a senior for the Greyhounds. He has been a big reason for the team’s success over the past two years.

He was a three-year letter winner in basketball. He was also a basketball team co-captain as a senior. Knowles has been a big part of Cathedral basketball’s success over the past three years. His career totals include 770 points, 345 rebounds, 187 assists, and 91 steals. He was an efficient scorer with a career field goal percentage of 55.9% which ranks fourth in school history.

He also scored a school record 51 points in a playoff game against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop this year. He earned all-conference honorable mention honors his junior season and was a unanimous all-conference selection as a senior.

Knowles earned four varsity letters in baseball and has been a big reason for the team’s success over those years. For his career, he was a .347 hitter with 30 RBIs, 41 runs scored, and seven stolen bases. Knowles earned all-conference honors as a junior. On the mound, Knowles was 1-0 with a career 2.31 ERA and 5 strikeouts. He battled an elbow injury his sophomore season which limited his ability to pitch.

He will continue his academic and athletic career at Gustavus Adolphus College next year and play baseball.

New Ulm Cathedral

Maggie Fliszar

New Ulm Cathedral High School’s Outstanding Senior Female Athlete for 2020 is Maggie Fliszar.

She is the daughter of Eric and Rebecca Fliszar. She’s a three-sport athlete who will earn eight letters during her high school career: three in volleyball, two in basketball, and three in track.

Fliszar lettered in volleyball her junior and senior seasons. She was a co-captain of the team as a senior. In her career, she totaled 418 kills (fourth in Cathedral history), 623 digs (third in Cathedral history), and 60 ace serves with a serving percentage of 92.6%. She also earned all-conference honors her senior season and all-conference honorable mention honors as a junior. Maggie brought a lot of energy to the volleyball court and was a big reason for the team’s success the last two years.

She was a two-year letter winner in basketball. She was also a basketball team co-captain as a senior and her career totals include 124 points, 215 rebounds, 46 steals, and 49 assists.

This spring, she was set to compete in her third track season at the varsity level. Her personal records for her open events are: 800-meter (2:43.1), 1600-meter (6:19.8) and 3200-meter (13:38.38). She would have earned three total letters in track along with being part of two section true team championships.

Minnesota Valley Lutheran

Mason Cox

Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School’s Outstanding Senior Male Athlete is Mason Cox.

He is the son of Randy and Becky Cox and is a three-sport student/athlete who has participated in football, basketball, and baseball where he earned 10 letters. He earned three letters in football, three in basketball, and in a COVID shortened spring earned his fourth in baseball.

Cox was also a 2-year member of the National Honor Society all while maintaining a 3.82 GPA. His leadership has been recognized by his teammates who have voted him captain in football, basketball, and baseball. His postseason awards include football-All-District and an Honorable Mention, Basketball-twice All-Conference and All-Journal. His baseball postseason honors include All-Conference, Honorable Mention as well as All Journal. He has three Academic All-District Awards, three Academic All-Conference awards in basketball to go with three Academic All-Conference Awards in baseball.

In football, he was a three-year starter and left his mark in so many categories. He had more than 500 total yards in three major categories of passing, rushing, and receiving. He passed for 860 yards, with 11 touchdowns, he rushed for 525 yards with four touchdowns while catching 45 passes for 510 yards and two touchdowns. His combined offensive stats were 1,895 total yards scoring 17 touchdowns and scoring 10 2-point conversions.

In basketball, the three-year starter and a two-time All-Conference player scored 947 points, pulled down 594 rebounds while handing out 108 assists in 85 games winning 68 games, and losing only 17. He helped his teams win a subsection championship, a subsection runner-up, and a conference championship.

In baseball, the COVID-19 pandemic cut this four-year starter’s high school career short. His career numbers are a .358 batting average, 43 hits, four doubles, two triples with 20 RBIs.

Next year he will attend Martin Luther College, majoring in secondary education while playing basketball and baseball.

Minnesota Valley Lutheran

Emma Nelson

Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School’s Outstanding Senior Female Senior Athlete is Emma Nelson.

She is the daughter of Jeff and Julie Nelson. She is a three-sport athlete who has participated in volleyball, basketball, and track, earning 11 letters: three in volleyball, four in basketball, and earned her fourth in a COVID-19 shortened senior track season.

Her postseason honors include All-Conference in volleyball this year, basketball twice All-Conference, and one season as Honorable Mention while earning All-Conference in track three times.

She has also been a two time All-Journal selection. She is a two-year member of the National Honor Society and carries a 3.88 GPA. She has earned Academic All-Conference nine times: three in volleyball, three in basketball, and three in track. She earned All-State in basketball this year as well as a two-time All-Academic All-State in track.

In volleyball, Nelson added her name to the record books this season. She tied two single-match records in a match against New Ulm Cathedral where she put 33 serves into play and finished with 27 service points — both school records. Her leadership and positive influence have been recognized by her teammates and coaches as captain her junior and senior years for basketball and sophomore, junior years in track.

Nelson’s basketball stats include 1,103 total points (sixth all-time), 1,003 total rebounds (second all-time) second girl in MVL history to have over 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, school-record 478 offensive rebounds, 41% career field goal shooting percentage (49% junior and senior year), had 105 career assists, 161 steals, and 71 blocks.

Her track stats include one of the top five scorers on the team every year. Her personal records of 17.9 in 100-meter high hurdles (16th all-time), 35-feet-1-inch in the shot put (second all-time), 49.29 in 300-meter hurdles (sixth all-time), 2:38.59 in the 800-meter and 14:29 in 3,200-meter. She also has run in all four relays 4×100, 4×200, 4×400 and 4×800 (fourth all-time), New Ulm Journal Athlete of the Week, 2 time Academic All-Conference and 2-time Academic All-State.

Next fall, Nelson plans to attend Martin Luther College where she will study elementary education and play volleyball and basketball for the Knights.