We have to keep moving forward,” says Grady Rannow ‘24, one of SMB Wolfpack’s defensive backs. Rannow emphasizes the importance of the team’s “next man up mentality,” explaining that the team needs to push forward despite the many setbacks that the team has faced, including multiple starting players who sustained season ending injuries. 

      Regardless of some of the difficulties they have encountered, The Wolfpack has still had a lot of success this season. Their current regular season record stands at 4-3. Stephan Gufstafson ‘24, an SMB linebacker, said a highlight of the season was “scoring a touchdown on a blocked punt against DeLaSalle.” 

     Gustafson adds that the biggest lesson he’s learned this season is that “the coach is always right.” Using this lesson and the many others they have learned this season, The Wolfpack hopes to carry momentum into their next games so they can keep pushing forward in the postseason tournament.

Boys’ soccer had a very rocky season, and Max Vezmar ‘26 provided some reflections after his first season on varsity. “We had kind of a bad start to the season, but we are looking to redeem that in the playoffs” says Vezmar. With a 3-11-2 finish, Vezmar said “we had a lot of quality, we played well, but we just didn’t get results in the game.” 

     In addition, he highlighted a strength of the team, being that “we still have the passion to go on to win,” a good trait for the postseason, he says that a weakness would be “experience, or age, because the players that are playing right now are still new to being a team.” One of Vezmar’s favorite teams to play this season was Minnehaha Academy, because “they were one of the most competitive teams we played, and both matches we played with them got pretty intense.” Altogether, Vezmar was pretty happy with where the team is currently and they will certainly come back better next year.

As the soccer season comes to a close, Jules Noteboom ‘23 looked back on her season. Their regular season ended with three wins, 11 losses and two ties. Noteboom commented that her favorite memory was, “Probably just laughing with my teammates over our many losses.”

      Grace Gullickson ‘24’s favorite moment from the season was beating Mounds Park Academy. Gullickson stated that “It was really fun to beat MPA seven to one because it really boosted our confidence a lot. We weren’t having the best season and so that helped us.” Next season, Gullickson is “looking forward to a better season because this season was better than last season so then maybe next season will be even better.”

      Noteboom advised that “we have to stay positive through the wins and the losses. Especially in my senior season, appreciate every moment even if it’s not what you wanted it to be.”

The Ultimate Frisbee season has also been going strong this year, and everyone is having plenty of fun playing. 

      Looking back on the season so far, rookie Aidan Atmore ‘26. says “Our team is dominating”. He notes that they have gone 5-1, and that “we have good spirit, we work well together on the field, we pass, we catch, we play ultimate frisbee.” For weaknesses of the team, Atmore says that 9th graders were one of the weaknesses, including himself, but he says that “some strengths have been that the captains have been just great at teaching the new players and I think we have accelerated exponentially.” 

       Looking back on the season, he says that Hopkins was his favorite team to play, mostly because “they were so easy to beat, because we played our best.” Overall, Atmore was very positive about his season so far on the team and it seems to be a fun team to be on!

As the weather gets chilly in October, the end of the Girls tennis season is here. Although the Blake Girls Tennis team did not qualify for the State Tournament, they still had a great season, falling to a tough Edina team in the Section Finals. 

     At the end of the season, after the team section competition, each school chooses two singles players, and two doubles teams to send to the Individual Section Tournament. This provides players the opportunity to qualify for the State Tournament as an individual. Head coach Mike Ach sent Blake’s first and second singles Allyson Jay ‘23 and Nana Vang ‘24 to the section tournament as a doubles team, and they eventually qualified for the State tournament in doubles. Vang is pumped for the State Tournament at the Baseline Tennis Center at the U of M as she looks forward to improving her result this year from a consolation champion finish last year. “We can definitely make a better run this year,” Vang stated.

      Both cross country teams are gearing up for sections and looking ahead to state as the season reaches its end. While the team is getting ready, Seth Flikke ‘24 shares some reflections on how the regular season has gone for him and his team. “I’ve really been enjoying [the season], It has probably been my favorite season to be in so far” says Flikke. He also says that they have good captains and “even if you’re not a captain, you can still be a leader”. After all the regular season races, Flikke says his favorite was “probably our Gale Woods meet, which is a lot of fun, it’s a good course, [and] everyone ran super fast.” 

      Flikke adds that their “strong middle school presence” is a strength and that they also have “an 8th grader, and three 7th [graders] that are all super fast and varsity level which is great because I was a little scared going into the season about how well our varsity team would be performing.” The team looks to be prepared for a good run at the section and state levels.