Always A Hornet

Marty Collins (EHS Class of ‘90) and Brett Johnson are two of the best-known restaurant owners in the twin cities. Brett is an owner of Hilltop in Edina and Marty, Brett, Peter Hoff and a group of others own and operate NOLOs Kitchen and The Basement Bar in the north loop of Minneapolis. Brett and Marty have been huge supporters of the Edina community especially students and athletes in Edina Publ...

Will grew up playing youth basketball in Edina. He became a 3 year starter and 2 time captain for Edina High School. In his time at Edina he was All-State and one of the all time leading scorers, scoring over 1,000 points. ​While playing collegiately at the University of St. Thomas, where he was a member of a national championship team, he started coaching young players in Edina, which ultimately...

Jaime Gaard Chapman , a 2003 Edina High School grad was a dominant force on both the basketball court and the tennis court during her high school years. In addition to leading her team to three state tournament appearances in basketball, Jaime earned four state championship tennis titles. After a successful career at Gustavus Adolphus College, Jaime returned to her alma mater to coach basketball a...

Edina Girls Swimming and Diving Assistant Coach Mellanie Pusateri has been teaching and coaching at Edina Public Schools since 1993. Mellanie is currently teaching physical education at Edina High School and assistant coaching with the girls swimming and diving team. She was recently (2025) inducted into the Edina High School Athletic Hall of Fame. To make the conversation even more interesting an...

A 2012 Edina High School graduate, Cavonte (“CJ”) Johnson established himself as a three-sport star and scholar athlete during his time at EHS. He was a varsity football, basketball, and track and field athlete who was a member of the Edina Boys’ Track and Field record setting 4 X 100-meter relay team. Cavonte was the recipient of four awards coming out of high school that included the Howard Merr...

Sisters Kathryn and Christine Graf were teammates on the first volleyball team from Edina High School to make the state tournament (2018). Kathryn went on to play volleyball at Bradley University and Christine played 4 years at California Baptist before playing a post-grad year at High Point University while getting her MBA. The Graf sisters talked to us about how they came to focus on volleyball,...

Art Downey began coaching swimming and diving at Edina High School in 1956 when he founded the swim program. He coached for 62 years retiring in 2018. Under his leadership the Edina Boys’ Swimming and Diving team won 10 state championships. Art is in the Minnesota Swimming Coaches Hall of Fame and the National Swimming Coaches’ Hall of Fame Scott Johnson was a teacher & assistant coach with th...

Lifelong friends Jay Bennett and Jeff Wright, both 1967 graduates of Edina High School, were two of the most successful athletes to come through EHS. Jay and Jeff led the Hornets to four state titles in three years - two in football and two in basketball. After high school, Jay attended Dartmouth College where he played football and still holds the record for the longest punt in program history (8...

A 1997 EHS grad, Greg Buth played 4 years of varsity basketball for Edina High School. During his senior year, he was named 1st team All-State and a finalist for the statewide Mr. Basketball award. Greg went on to play 4 years of NCAA Division I basketball for Dartmouth. As a sophomore, he was presented the Edward S. Steitz Award for being the top three-point shooter in the nation in Division I Me...

A 2013 Edina High School graduate, MC McGrory was recently named head girls basketball coach at Edina High School. MC was a Minnesota Miss Basketball Finalist in 2013 and the MVP of the Minnesota Coaches All-Star Game. At Creighton University, MC was a three-year starter, earning two All-Big East selections and helping her team to a Big East regular season championship and a second-round NCAA Tour...

A 2018 graduate of Edina High School, Emily Kompelien competed in cross country, track & field and Nordic skiing at Edina High School. She was a two-time team state champion in cross country , 2018 state champion in track for 1600m and 800m events and was named the 2018 Gatorade Track & Field Player of the Year as well as the ExCEL Award Winner-Scholar with Distinction. After attending Bro...

We begin Season 3 of Always A Hornet with a home run! A 1996 Edina High School grad, Dan Fitzgerald has established himself as one of the top college baseball coaches in the country. He is currently the head baseball coach at the University of Kansas and was recently named the Big 12 coach of the year. His teams have been successful everywhere he’s been and he is known for his outstanding recruiti...

In this episode, we catch up with 1984 grad Lea Blackwell Favor. Lea won eight letters in soccer, tennis and basketball while at Edina High School and led the Hornets to a state Class AA runner-up finish in basketball her junior year. After Katie shares her fangirl moment, we talk to Lea about her experiences growing up in Edina, her college years that included her two All-Big Ten seasons in baske...

Troy Stein is the Assistant Principal in charge of Activities and Athletics at Edina High School. Troy has led the EHS athletic department for 12 years overseeing 34 varsity sports and numerous other independent and intramural opportunities for students. He started his career in education as a math teacher and coach in Edina and, after a brief detour, was hired to be the AD in Edina in May of 2013...

A 1996 graduate of Edina High School, Katie (Ryerse) Aafedt excelled in soccer in both high school and college at Gustavus Adolphus. As Edina High School Girls' Soccer Coach for 11 years, Katie led the Hornets to a state championship in 2023. In this episode, recorded as part of the Hornet Buzz podcast in June of 2024, Katie shares her experience growing up in Edina as the daughter and grandd...

A 2022 Edina High School graduate, where she was a team captain in basketball and soccer, Dorothy (Dottie) went on to play basketball at the Coast Guard Academy. Dorothy is experiencing quite a bit of success in basketball at the academy. In January, she became only the 12th player in Bears women’s basketball history to break the 1,000 point scoring mark. Dorothy was also named to the First Team A...

 A 2018 Edina High School graduate who played both football and basketball for the Hornets, Luke Glenna went on to the University of St. Thomas where he became the first ever Tommie Division I All-American football player in 2022. Luke is entering his 3rd season in the European League of Football and has signed a contract with the Nordic Storm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Luke shares his favorite...

This week we talk to Hilary Lunke about her youth sports experience and how she got into golf and made a career out of it. The Star Tribune 1997 Metro Scholar Athlete of the Year, Hilary shares her experiences at both EHS and being recruited to Stanford University. She also talks us through, in great detail, her experience winning the LPGA Women's US Open in 2003. 

Paul Nitz is one of the most decorated athletes in the history of Edina High School. A five time Paralympian, Paul won 5 medals (4-gold, 1-bronze) in track. Paul shares with us his experience as a student and athlete in Edina and how his athletic experience evolved from basketball to track and ultimately to his competing in the Paralympics. Paul also acknowledges and explains his status as an EHS...

This week we were fortunate to talk with Jeannette Cluskey Vickman, EHS Class of '00 and back to back State Class AA Singles Tennis Champion in 1998 and 1999. Jeannette went on to play college tennis at the University of Richmond and the University of Minnesota. She shares with us her experiences developing her tennis game and how they continue to impact her perspective in all areas of her li...

As we expand our reach to persons who have become fixtures in the community but are not EHS alums, a great person to start with is Dave Dickey, the "Voice of Edina." Dave has been a public address announcer for EHS sports teams for 25 years. While his main focus lately has been football and basketball, Dave has called numerous other EHS sporting events and, beginning in 2019, became the...

From Athens, Greece, where he is playing basketball professionally, Anders Nelson EHS '18 shares his favorite memories of youth sports, especially basketball in Edina. One of the top scorers in the history of Edina HS basketball, Anders went on to Unversity of St. Thomas where he participated in the transition from a Division III basketball program to Division I. Anders spent his post-graduat...

Coming off a remarkable first year of soccer at the University of Notre Dame, where she was named ACC Freshman of the Year, Izzy Engle, EHS '24, talks to us about her experience as a young athlete growing up in Edina and the challenges of playing soccer at the collegiate level. Izzy also shares with us the pressures of growing up around the corner from her high school coach and mentor Katie A...

Join us for our conversation with Drew Johnson EHS '10 as we talk to him about his incredible swimming career both at Edina High School and The University of Minnesota. Drew shares his perspective on the EHS swim program under the leadership of the legendary Art Downey and and an appreciation for some of the people who made his experience in Edina Schools so special.