Last year at this time, DeLaSalle forward REID TRAVIS was a two-sport athlete (football-basketball) who had everyone in the state guessing which one he would play in college. Today he is a student athlete who will play basketball next season at one of the top athletic and academic institutions in the country.
Entering the 2012-13 hoop season, the then-junior was one of the state’s top football prospects after leading the Islanders to the state playoffs in football at quarterback. As basketball season progressed, however, Travis found himself among the state’s top three Division I prospects along with Apple Valley’s TYUS JONES and Robbinsdale Cooper’s RASHAD VAUGHN. (Vaughn has since transferred to Findlay Prep for his senior season.)
Ooops! My mistake! Travis found himself (along with Jones and Vaughn) among the top Division I prospects in the country. He proceeded to lead DeLaSalle to its second consecutive Class 3A state crown last March.
After an outstanding summer playing with Howard Pulley (along with Jones), he found himself among the nation’s top 25 prospects (No. 23, according to ESPN). To the dismay of gridiron fans, he gave up football to concentrate on basketball.
His decision proved to be the right one when he announced last weekend that Stanford University was his choice to pursue higher education and participate in intercollegiate athletics on the men’s basketball team.
With that announcement out of the way, Travis can now focus on attempting to complete his prep career with a three-peat of state titles.
Former female prep starts representing
With the high school season beginning in the next two weeks, I thought it would be appropriate to point out there are some former girls’ basketball prep stars off to a good start in their collegiate careers.
SEANNA JOHNSON, the guard who led DeLaSalle to four straight Class 3A state tournament appearances (with titles in 2011, ’12 and ’13) is starting as a freshman for Iowa State University. She averaged 10 points per game in three exhibition victories. Johnson also helped Minneapolis North capture second place Class 2A state honors in 2009 as an eighth grader.
JESSICA JANUARY, the Richfield superstar athlete who also starred in track and volleyball during her prep career, scored 16 and 21 points respectively in her first two exhibition games for DePaul coming off the bench. January led Richfield to consecutive Class 3A state appearances in 2012 and ’13.
JADE MARTIN, the shooting guard who led Bloomington Kennedy to the Class 4A state finals before losing to Hopkins last spring, scored 12 points in 25 minutes for Georgetown in a recent victory over Richmond.
JANAY MORTON, who along with PHILLIS WEBB led Osseo to consecutive state tournament appearances in 2012 and ’13, scored 14 points in helping Eastern Michigan University to an exhibition victory over Wayne State University. Webb also plays for EMU.
NIA COFFEY, the guard who led Hopkins to a three-peat in Class 4A competition in 2011, ’12 and ’13, scored 14 points in an exhibition game for Northwestern University and 19 points in their season opener.
Not a bad start for some of Minnesota’s finest.
Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.
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