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The 1,000th game of Wendy Kohler’s coaching career was marked with a brief ceremony before tipoff. The current Cardinals players stood alongside their coach, holding a banner that read, “Congrats Wendy! 1,000 Games Coached.” Many of her former players, including several mothers of current players, cheered from the stands.

Joe Mauer becomes the 17th Minnesotan to be inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame.

During Zach Goring’s days as the head boys basketball coach at Apple Valley High School, he blew a whistle all the time. He’s doing the same thing now, but the coach whose teams played in four state championship games and won three titles – and whose rosters included three current NBA players -- is now blowing his whistle as a basketball official.

Sam Helgestad, a senior at New Prague High School, is not alone, and neither are his mother, Karry, and older sister Lucy. The family has been embraced by the community in town and beyond.

Tommaso Costantini is a foreign-exchange student who grew up playing rugby in Italy, and dove right into American high school sports by playing football last fall and wrestling this winter. He was a starting linebacker for the Eagles by the midway point in the season and getting to the state wrestling tournament was another memory that will last a lifetime.

When Delta Airlines flight 3831 returned to earth at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport a few minutes ahead of schedule, all was well for a group of talented students from St. Michael-Albertville High School.

John Lieser isn’t exactly a Forrest Gump-type character, but the longtime MSHSL football and basketball official has seen a lot in 80 years of life in Minnesota.

The Hooker brothers, Amani and Quinton, recently returned to Park Center High School for a second consecutive year to host a duo basketball and football camp. Amani currently plays for the Tennessee Titans and Quinton plays for SIG Strasbourg, a storied team in the French Pro A Basketball League.

Today we begin revealing the top John's Journal stories from 2023-24, beginning with the Honorable Mention honorees.

On the final weekend of the 2023-2024 school year, in the ballpark that every baseball-loving kid in Minnesota dreams about, four state champions were decided after a week of weather delays, uncertainty and waiting … waiting … and more waiting.

2024 Baseball All-Tournament Teams Sponsored by TruStone

East Ridge successfully defended its Class AAAA Baseball State Championship with a walk-off 3-2 victory over Mounds View in the title game on Saturday, June 22 at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis.