Prep athletes of the week: Kendall Blue shines for streaking East Ridge boys' basketball

KENDALL BLUE

With its travel around the country and focus solely on basketball, many high school players admit to preferring summer AAU basketball.

But for Blue, whose mother is an associate director for the Minnesota State High School League and was a ground-breaking basketball player at St. Paul Central, it makes sense that the slashing 6-6 shooting guard says he prefers the high school game.

"You get to play with your friends and the atmosphere is usually better for making memories," Blue said.

The Raptors have a five-game winning streak, their longest of the season. They defeated Irondale 71-35 on March 8, got past Class 4A, No. 10 Mounds View 69-50 Wednesday and won on the road Friday, defeating Forest Lake 50-47.

Blue had a standout week, averaging 18.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.3 steals over that stretch.

"My rebounding has really improved," Blue said.

As the Raptors' most heralded player, Blue says he tries to lead by example. But he deferred taking credit for the Raptors' recent success.

"The spark has really been about getting my teammates back," he said. "We had a COVID issue with some of our key players, but now everybody is back playing and playing really well."

ROGER ANDERSON

After spending most of the season as the state's No. 2-ranked skier, the senior showed that might have been too low. He won the boys' individual championship at the Nordic skiing state meet at Giants Ridge in an overall time of 20:11.1.

ZOIE DUNDON

The junior forward had four goals and an assist to help the Blaze to three victories and extend their winning streak to 10 consecutive games. She had a goal and an assist as they defeated Lakeville South 2-1 Thursday to clinch the South Suburban Confenence title.

MOLLY MOENING

A season of dominance ended in expected fashion as Moening, a junior, won her second consecutive individual championship with a two-run time of 23:53.7, more than 25 seconds better than the runner-up. Moening was ranked No. 1 all season.

AVA PIHLSTROM

The junior had the best two runs of her career at the state meet at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, surprising even herself en route to the individual state championship with a total time of 1:15.54. "I was hoping to be in the top five," she said.

SAM RENSCH

The junior forward had three double-doubles as the Tigers evened their record at 9-9. He had 21 points and 10 rebounds in Hutch's 55-48 victory over New Prague, 25 and 11 in beating Willmar 69-58, and 32 and 15 in an 85-69 victory over Jordan.

ZACH TROTTO

Motivated by a disappointing state meet in 2020, the senior won the individual championship at the state meet in Biwabik. His time of 1:12.04 included a first-run time of 36.49, a half-second better than anyone else.

JIM PAULSEN

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