Milaca duo honored with AAA Award

Surprising to very few that have had the chance to interact with the two, that success has not stayed exclusive to the athletics.

Devoting large time to not just sports but their academics and arts as well, the pair was selected to represent Milaca as the school’s Academics, Arts, and Athletics Award winners. Requirement for the AAA Award requires that the nominee be a senior, hold a 3.0 or higher-grade point average and participate in League-sponsored athletic and fine arts activities.

Abby and Clay Anderson both represented the Wolves on Wednesday, Jan. 11 as part of the Subsection 18A in a banquet held in St. Cloud.

Picked for the awards, both were incredibly honored to receive the selection.

“I am very grateful that I got to be chosen,” said Abby Anderson. “They don’t always see that I am in choir and I keep up with my good grades so it’s kind of nice to be recognized.”

As for Clay, he shared the same feelings that Abby had while crediting those who helped get him to this point.

“It’s the thing I’m most proud of, but I know for a fact, I can’t take credit alone this. To get there, it hasn’t been just me. I’ve gotten help from everybody, I have great people all around me and they are the reason why I’ve been able to get here,” Anderson said.

One of those people who helped Anderson to where he’s at today in wrestling coach Clay Hoeck fully endorsed the selection of Anderson.

“He’s a great student in the classroom, a great leader to his own peers and to our youth wrestling program. All around, great leader, not just in wrestling but in school and other sports he is involved in,” said Hoeck. “He’s a pretty special kid.”

Likewise, for Abby Anderson, her coach on the hardwood wasn’t not surprised to see the senior forward picked.

“She is a kid that is on the go. She is doing all the time, she always has something go on and that takes a ton of effort, energy and time of her life. She was a clear-cut and a really good choice for an award like that,” said Lance Dalbey.

While selected as AAA Award winners recently, last year also saw Abby and Clay Anderson both selected for another honor to highlight what the two have been able to accomplish with the ExCEL Award.

“We both actually won the ExCEl Award last year, it’s a similar award, so was kind of funny to see that same thing and that we stuck with it,” said Clay Anderson.

The duo from Milaca now awaits eagerly to hear whether they will advance in the selection process.