Igl dives to 22nd in the state meet

Park junior diver Ruby Igl finished 22nd in the diving competition in the 2025 MSHSL Girls Class AA State Swimming and Diving championships held Thursday through Saturday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Igl finished 22nd in Thursday’s preliminaries with a score of 140.55, just missing the cut to advance to the semifinals. The top 20 divers advanced to the semifinals, with the 20th place diver scoring a 145.45.

Some 32 divers competed in the Class AA 1-meter diving event.

Payne rolling for Maryland

Former Park High basketball star Pharrel Payne, now playing for the Maryland Terrapins, is off to a strong start this season.

Payne, a graduate of Park, started his collegiate career at the University of Minnesota, where he played two seasons. Last year Payne played at Texas A&M, but this winter he’s a 6-9 senior forward with the Terrapins.

Payne scored 22 points in a season-opening win over Alcorn State. He had 17 points and 11 rebounds in a loss to Georgetown, then scored 21 points with 6 rebounds in an 83-61 victory over Coppin State on Nov. 3. He’s averaging 20 points, 7 rebounds and 32 minutes a game for the Terrapins.

After two seasons at Minnesota, Payne transferred to play for Texas A&M. In the first round of the 2025 NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball tournament, Payne had 25 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Yale. At the end of the season, Payne entered the transfer portal, then followed his head coach Buzz Williams to Maryland.

College-bound athletes honored

Park celebrated the past, present and future of 13 student-athletes Wednesday in a college commitment ceremony to recognize seniors that will be playing sports in college next year.

Graycie Smith, basketball, St. Olaf.

 Gabby Faletti and Maddie Finstad, soccer, University of Wisconsin-River Falls

 Alyssa Hill, hockey, St. Olaf.

Ava Elthon, swimming, Gustavus.

 Ava Youngquist, softball, St. Olaf.

 Alayna Adamez, softball, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

 Lauryn Ehrenstrom, lacrosse, Framingham State University.

Eli Firchau, cross country, Augustana University.

Allyson Grobner, softball, Minnesota State University-Moorhead.

Zach DeVaan, lacrosse, Lewis University.

 Fisher Engberg, baseball, Northwestern.

 Ryan Roy, baseball, Gustavus

More results from the Nike meet

In addition to Eli Firchau, Henry Joa and Jana Hafiz, several other Park cross country runners competed in the NXR Heartland Regional championships Nov. 9 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Also running were Liam Fleming (232nd in the Section 2 open, 1,527 combined open), Hamish McAvaney (421 in Section 2, 2,517 in combined open) and Adam Kluz (429 in Section 2, 2,559 combined open) on the boys side and Alli Devine (241 in girls Section 2 open, 903 in girls combined open) on the girls side.

“Our season officially came to an end with our banquet on Tuesday night,” said cross country co-head coach Brad Narveson. “It was a great way to celebrate our season. The runners who traveled to Sioux Falls for the Nike Regional meet had a great time. The race conditions weren’t ideal as it was snowy, windy, and cold. But they had fun and were able to spend more time together as a group, which is why we love coaching this sport so much.”