It took the Great Eight to win the Big Three.
Eight Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf girls helped the Trojans pull off a rare sweep during the 2012-13 school year, as MSAD won all three Great Plains Schools for the Deaf titles: volleyball, girls basketball and girls track and field.
The Trojans’ success this year is no surprise to Tabitha Anderson.
“We have a great bond and are willing to work with each other,” Anderson said. “Many of us take the sports seriously and we believe lots of teamwork will lead to a successful season, which led us to winning three titles.”
Anderson was one of eight MSAD girls who helped the Trojans pull off the hat trick. The other seven were Payton Brown, Morgan Shuda, Emelia Beldon, Eliza Linstaedt, Kelsey Prickett, Jessica Rademacher and Megan Richardson. That group helped MSAD stand out as the premier deaf school in the GPSD this year.
“Our girls winning three GPSD championships was quite an amazing feat,” said MSAD Athletic Director Davey Olson, who coached the girls basketball team at the end of the season. “We have had a nice group of girls in the last five or six years. They are very athletic.”
Shuda, one of two seniors to play all three sports (the other is Brown), said it was a big deal to win all three her final season.
“It meant a lot to win all three because it shows that us girls have the heart and mind to win,” Shuda said. “It says that our school will always do well because the coaches and players contribute a lot.”
“It happened my sophomore year as well (winning all three) and I am so thrilled it happened again my senior year,” Brown said. “It is an indescribable feeling and I cherish every moment. It was a goal of mine to win the GPSD, and now I can check it off my bucket list.”
The GPSD sweep is the MSAD girls’ fourth overall. They also did it in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2010-11. Additionally, the Trojans were named the NDIAA Division II National Deaf Champions in all three sports in 2010-11. The volleyball team received that honor this year as well, but the Rochester School for the Deaf (New York) took the girls basketball honor.
“I have noticed, especially in the GPSD and NDIAA Division II, the level of competition has improved drastically,” Olson said. “I think because we kept on winning they had to figure out how to win or to stay competitive with us as much as they can.”
The first title of the season came on Oct. 13, 2012, when the Trojans volleyball team beat New Mexico 2-0 in the championship game in Wisconsin to win their 11th straight GPSD volleyball championship. Next came the girls basketball team’s GPSD title, when MSAD beat Wisconsin 56-40 on Feb. 9 in Oklahoma. The final feather in the Trojans’ cap came on Saturday in Iowa, when MSAD won the GPSD girls track and field crown for the third straight year, finishing with 164 points, 73 more than second-place Wisconsin.
The MSAD girls just missed taking all three sports last year as well. They lost the GPSD girls basketball championship game to Iowa. Not surprisingly, most say the basketball title was the hardest to come by this season.
“In volleyball, we had won 11 championships in a row and it started to become easy to win,” Anderson said. “In track we won three championships in a row, so basketball is pretty difficult because we play against several good teams.”
Olson said increased participation has helped MSAD over the years. When he started as AD in 2005, the girls’ track team consisted of a half dozen girls. Now, the boys and girls have about 50 combined students out for the team, the most of any MSAD sport.
The numbers are growing, as are the rows of GPSD championship banners in Lauritsen Gymnasium.
“I think it shows the younger girls that it doesn’t matter if we lose any good players to graduation,” Shuda said. “If you put time and commitment into it the results will come out well.”
Reach Sports Reporter Josh Berhow at 333-3119, or follow him on Twitter.com @joshberhow
Reach Sports Reporter Josh Berhow at 333-3119, or follow him on Twitter.com @joshberhow
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