Gustafson & Scheuer Named Cloquet Senior Athletes

Wes Vork-NSO

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May 20, 2012

Wes Vork-NSO

Students, coaches, fans and supporters of Cloquet Athletics gathered on Sunday night to honor their own and celebrate the accomplishments of Cloquet student athletes at the annual Cloquet Letter Winners Banquet.

Mikaela Dunaisky addressed the crowd on behalf of all Cloquet Senior athletes and talked about the importance of being a team player and what life would be without sports. “If you play as individuals, you go down in defeat. As Lumberjacks we play as a team, as a family. We play with our friends, respect everyone and win or lose as a team.” Dunaisky added “We play for the love of the game. We will never get multi-million dollar contracts, we play because we can. I play because I know my life would be empty without sports.”

Introduced as the future of Cloquet Athletics, a total of 65 seventh, eighth, and ninth graders were presented letters, most of which for the first time as a Lumberjack. In all a total of 292 athletes were introduced as letterwinners.

Now in its second year of existence, the Superfan award was handed out to Don and Ruth Scow, fans who have seen their four children compete in various Cloquet sports. The Scow’s remain loyal fans and supporters of Lumberjack sports and still attend numerous events.

The Lumberjack award was given out to longtime hockey coach Don Lamirande. Lamirande is the 42nd person to receive the award which dates back to 1972. The first recipients were Doctors RR and Reino Puumala.

Johanna Ellison, a 2005 CEC grad and six year starter for the CEC girls hockey team was introduced by master of ceremonies Mike Bushey as maybe the smartest goalie I know; which is saying something with current CEC goalie John Scheuer and his 4.09 GPA in attendance. Ellison helped the youthful Jacks to a 5-2 win over a well established Duluth East program in their first varsity game in program history.

In her six years between the pipes, she led the Jacks to three state tournament appearances, two of which ended in the state championship game and was named first team all-state three times. Ellison went on to play Division I hockey with Boston College and the University of Minnesota Duluth, where she was a part of the 2008 National Championship team.

Ellison more than lived up to her lofty introduction by Bushey; giving one of the most insightful and articulate addresses in recent memory. She talked about the importance of team chemistry and being a good teammate as well as the journey to the goal being more important than the goal itself. “Sports taught me you must be a gracious winner and loser. You’re not always going to win every game, you’re not always going to get to play or get what you want. Ellison went on to explain “Even if you try your hardest sometimes you will fall short of your goal. But sometimes achieving your goal’s not what is important; it’s the journey.”

Lastly the Male and Female senior athlete awards were handed out to Dalyce Gustafson and John Scheuer. To be eligible a student must be a three sport letterwinner and be in good standing with the high school league as both a junior and a senior. The Lumberjacks had five girls and four boys who were three sport athletes as seniors.

Gustafson played soccer as an eighth grader, then switched and participated in cross country in grades 9-12 where she was a two year captain. She participated in hockey from 8-12 grades and helped the Jacks to a state tournament appearance as a freshman. In softball Gustafson saw playing time as a 7th grader and become the starting shortstop in eighth grade. She was part of the National Honor Society as a junior and a senior and sports a 3.856 grade point average. Gustafson will take her talents to UMD where she will play softball for the Bulldogs.

Scheuer was involved in several firsts as a member of the CEC boys soccer team. Scheuer was the first ever seventh grader to make the varsity team and on the other end of his career was part of the first ever CEC soccer team to make the state tournament. He was a six year participant in tennis and was a goalie on the CEC hockey team. As a senior he was a captain and one of the top goalies in the area for the Lumberjacks. Scheuer also participated in National Honor Society as both a junior and senior and sports an eye popping 4.094 GPA.

Not lost in the shuffle, the entire crowd enjoyed a nice dinner prepared and catered by B & B Market of Cloquet. Cloquet Activities director Tom Lenarz had high praise for the caterers, “John and Kim do just a fantastic job.” Lenarz added, “They organize and put on the entire meal. They go out into the community to get support and banquet donations and then when it is all done they give me a bill, which I guarantee does not cover their costs.”

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@norethlandsportsonline.com