Maroons Earn GNC All-Conference Honors

Menominee junior Trevor Theuerkauf was named to the Great Northern conference first team, while three other Maroon boys earned all-conference honors.

Theuerkauf scored 18.1 points per game while adding 4.4 assists and four rebounds per game.

“Trevor has been our most consistent leader on and off the floor all year long,” Menominee coach Sam Larson said. “He is the most vocal one on our team and really steers the ship for this young group. I think Trevor really did a good job of shouldering the scoring load for us this season with not much returning offensive production from last year’s team.”

Theuerkauf didn’t have nearly as big of a role last season as he did this year, and he took it in stride, while making some big improvements along the way.

“Trevor has always been good at attacking the rim, but I think he really developed his game from last year to this year,” Larson said. “He has been a much more consistent shooter, and probably has the best footwork in the post of any guard I’ve seen in a long time.”

Connor Coduti, another junior, was a GNC second-teamer for a year where he scored 12.6 points per game. He made 89 percent of his free throws and 38 percent of his 3-pointers.

“Connor has shown at times this season that he can really score the ball in bunches,” Larson said. “It seems like if he hit one, then he might hit six or seven. Teams recognized him as a shooter and that helped create some valuable spacing for our offense.”

Like Theuerkauf, he’s a junior that will be back next season.

“As the season went on, he showed flashes of being able to be a slasher and attack the rim,” Larson said. “That is something that he will focus on as we move forward, and as he does, he will really be a matchup nightmare for other teams.”

Freshman Tanner Theuerkauf was a GNC special mention. He averaged 6.9 points per game over the course of the year, but he really started to put up more points toward the end of the regular season.

“Tanner grew by leaps and bounds from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. He has a composure that is uncommon for a freshman, and in the latter half of the season became more aggressive offensively to give us an additional scoring punch,” Larson said. “Tanner’s an incredibly cerebral player and has taken on the challenge of becoming one of our best defenders.”

Junior Eli Beal was an honorable mention. He scored 8.5 points per game and grabbed 6.5 rebounds per game.

“Eli’s a really strong, athletic kid who has the ability to push us from average to great,” Larson said. “When Eli is flying around and causing chaos, our defense looks really good. I thought Eli battled well on the boards for us all year long against taller kids.”

It was a clean sweep for Kingsford for the top conference honors, as Nic Nora was named the GNC player of the year, Gavin Grondin was the defensive player of the year, and Dan Olkkonen was named the conference’s top coach.
Menominee junior Anna Axtell was a GNC first-teamer on the girls’ side, also making the conference’s all-defensive team.

Axtell was the team’s top scorer in many games, including its district defeat to West Iron County, where she dropped a game-high 27 points.

She also scored 28 against Peshtigo in a non-conference matchup and 20 in a 39-38 win over Gladstone, among a number of big scoring performances.

In conference play, she scored 15.3 per game, along with 7.6 rebounds and 4.9 steals per night. She shot 39.1 percent from the field.

“Anna really put a lot of pressure on teams this season with her ability to knock down open shots and get into the lane and finish at the rim,” Menominee coach Lucas Chouinard said. “She led us in both offensive and defensive rebounds and steals, which shows her tremendous anticipation skills and ability to attack the ball.”

Junior Hanna Drifka was a second-team selection, with freshman Gianna Coduti and junior Kamryn Olson each honorable mentions.

Drifka scored 7.2 points per game in GNC action.

“Hanna really was able to put pressure on teams with her speed in transition which allowed her to get many open shots in the transition game,” Chouinard said.

Coduti scored 5.7 points per game and averaged 5.3 rebounds per night.

“Being a freshman, we saw a lot of improvement every game from Gianna,” Chouinard said. “As she became more comfortable with the pace of play… her play in all phases of the game got exceptionally better.”

Olson provided a spark off the bench this season. She scored 4.1 points per game in GNC action, though she had some bigger scoring nights in non-conference play, including 12 against North Central and 10 against St. Ignace.

“Kamyrn came off the bench for us most of the year and she provided great energy and scoring which we needed to have a more balanced team on the floor,” Chouinard said.

Escanaba’s Keira Maki was the offensive player of the year and Gladstone’s Lillie Johnson was the GNC defensive player of the year. Escanaba’s Tracy Hudson won coach of the year honors.

“It was great to have these four girls recognized by all the other conference coaches for their exceptional play,” Chouinard said. “I am very proud of the entire team and how they handled adversity all season long. We had our good and bad moments through our season, but the girls always came to practice with the attitude to work hard and get better.”