
Prep Scene
This week’s column features a new head basketball coach in the high school ranks, an annual awards banquet honoring senior student-athletes, and yet another honor for the state’s top track and field athlete.
Robinson new coach at Tartan
The new girls basketball coach at Tartan High School is former St. Paul Central and Marquette University standout Angel Robinson.
On the way to capturing Miss Basketball and Metro Player of the Year honors as a senior, Robinson led the Minutemen to the 2007 Class AAAA state championship before embarking on a Hall of Fame collegiate career at Marquette University and playing professionally overseas.
Winfield Awards held
A couple of weeks ago, the 47th Annual Winfield Awards Student Athlete Banquet was held at the Intercontinental St. Paul-Riverfront Hotel.
The Winfield Awards, named in honor of St. Paul Central, University of Minnesota alum and Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer David M. Winfield, honor the top student-athletes from St. Paul.
For the first time, instead of having 12 finalists (six boys, six girls) and two winners (one boy, one girl), the committee chose to honor two student-athletes (one boy, one girl) from each high school, public or private, in St. Paul. Below are the 2023 honorees.
Girls: Aissatou Faye (Central), Shania Nichols-Vannett (Como Park), Morgan Redden (Cretin Derham Hall), Morgan Yang (Harding High School), Emily Rademacher (Highland Park), Jocelyn Mann (Humboldt), Trinity Adams (Johnson), Veronica Rosales (St. Agnes), Maryeva Gonzales (St, Paul Academy and Summit School), and Jamaya Cusic (Washington Technology).
Boys: Tye’Jawn Cox-Curtis (Central), Gael Manzi (Como Park), Justice Linton (Cretin Derham Hall), Ashton Adesoro (Harding High School), Monaire Vaughn (Highland Park), Dontae Willis (Humboldt), Ka’ Jon Jordan (Johnson), Tysan Nguyen (St. Agnes), George Peltier (St. Paul Academy and Summit School), and Chuchi Xiong (Washington Technology).
More accomplishments for Hughes Jr.
It has been quite the year for Irondale High School track and field phenom Juriad Hughes Jr.
After breaking the 41-year-old long jump record set by St. Paul Central’s Von Sheppard at the 2023 meet a couple of weeks ago, Hughes leaped 24’ 9” last week to capture top honors at the Nike National Outdoor.
Oh, yeah! He’s a rising senior member of the Class of 2024, so there’s more to come.
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