Alley Jensen

Is there something in the water in Huxley? Creighton stuggled but downed Drake Friday night to move on in the MVC tournament and may well get the automatic bid. Frosh, "Ally Jensen scored a career-high 18 points on Friday, making 6-of-12 three-pointers." Her bio states "Ballard High School A 2009 McDonald’s All-America nominee ... Tabbed her team’s MVP all four seasons." Her bio reads the same as Miss Basketball, Amanda Zimmerman. That must have been an awesome team. Surely Bill must at least have been tempted to offer her.

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Originally Posted by BenEClone

Is there something in the water in Huxley? Creighton stuggled but downed Drake Friday night to move on in the MVC tournament and may well get the automatic bid. Frosh, "Ally Jensen scored a career-high 18 points on Friday, making 6-of-12 three-pointers." Her bio states "Ballard High School A 2009 McDonald’s All-America nominee ... Tabbed her team’s MVP all four seasons." Her bio reads the same as Miss Basketball, Amanda Zimmerman. That must have been an awesome team. Surely Bill must at least have been tempted to offer her.

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Nicky Wieben's sidekick for four straight state titles at Ankeny also went to Creighton. Now that was an awesome team. Ended up ranked something like #2 in the country.

My guess is since we had an several young PG's (Willliams, Yackley) + Aus and Denae he didn't offer her because we were deep in that position. Since we didn't know Yackley was going to transfer, why offer another PG.

Speaking as someone who grew up in Huxley & whose mother still worked in the Ballard school system until 2 years ago, I can tell you that all the athletic success the school has enjoyed the past decade or so is due in large part to an influx of growth because of it's proximity for people working in Des Moines, Ankeny, Ames, etc.

If you check out the past state champions by sport, I think Ballard has had three boys golf championships, two team wrestling (w/multiple individuals), two dual wrestling championships, one girls basketball championship (w/multiple opportunities but the head coach is McDermott bad, one or two boys track championships as well as consistent contenders in boys & girls cross country, many playoff football teams, state qualifiers a couple times in soccer & decent boys basketball who nearly missed state on multiple occasions (which used to be our only dominant sport). There are also a few kids who play hockey for Ames High & have won state championships w/them as well - although I think that may be closer to 15 years ago.

I remember my older brothers senior year when every single boys team & all but 1 girls team qualified for state.

I know many of these athletes have gotten the opportunity to go on & play in college at various levels but State has had Aus, Zimmerman, Trent Weatherman (wrestling) & Matt Gatchel (golf) for sure & Fennelly could land highly touted Taylor Greenfield in a year, too!

It's def a 'preppy' small town school but the championship level athletics & a strong academic reputation make it a very good choice for anyone looking for a small town close to lots of things in Central IA!

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Originally Posted by skibumspe

one girls basketball championship (w/multiple opportunities but the head coach is McDermott bad

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McDermott is a Rhodes scholar compared to Merle.

Well they have good programs for the youth, money, and they recruit pretty well.

Some of you folks seem to have good insight into the community. I was hoping someone would say that we've got a pipeline and Greenfield is a lock. Regardless, or as in one of the senior speeches, irregardless, they do turn out D-1 WBB players.

Really not sure where these "recruiting" comments come from.

Taylor Greenfield will be the most sought after Bomber ever...both parents graduates of Ballard. Trent Weatherman, his cousin Brock, his brother is a lock for wherever he wants to go, his Uncle Jeff....all natives of Cambridge. The list goes on and on.

Summary is, MANY more local Bombers have gone on to accomplish great things in college. There have been a few kids move in, I would guess no more than any other comparable school to its demographics.

Pick any one of your local Catholic schools if you want to find some great recruiting. Ballard Huxley? That's funny.

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Originally Posted by gizzsdad

McDermott is a Rhodes scholar compared to Merle.

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It's funny cause it's true, which is a terribly sad situation....Merle was completely clueless as my baseball coach & it sounds like he's lacks just as much knowledgeable when it comes to girls hoops!

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Originally Posted by lmsoup

Really not sure where these "recruiting" comments come from.

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Spot on! Any community that has the same family roots for many generations can't hardly recruit....sure, families move in & I've heard things about Jensen's father having pull on other families making Huxley their home but nothing solid.

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Originally Posted by skibumspe

Speaking as someone who grew up in Huxley & whose mother still worked in the Ballard school system until 2 years ago, I can tell you that all the athletic success the school has enjoyed the past decade or so is due in large part to an influx of growth because of it's proximity for people working in Des Moines, Ankeny, Ames, etc.

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I'm just impressed that you used "proximity" correctly, as opposed to "close proximity," which is redundant...
+1!

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Originally Posted by Tornado man

I'm just impressed that you used "proximity" correctly, as opposed to "close proximity," which is redundant...
+1!

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Ahhh, thanks - you really know how to make an English teacher feel special....seriously, though, thanks!

There's enough redundancy on this board as it is:jimlad:

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Originally Posted by Tornado man

I'm just impressed that you used "proximity" correctly, as opposed to "close proximity," which is redundant...
+1!

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Of course, the apostrophe in "it's" is incorrect. :smile:

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Originally Posted by mred

Of course, the apostrophe in "it's" is incorrect. :smile:

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Oh wow, you're right. I was so distracted by "proximity," I didn't catch that...

oops, got so caught up in the excitement of big vocabulary I neglected to pay attention to the apostrophe rule....my bad!