Delano big has standout summer

When it comes to Minnesota's best senior bigs, Mike Yahnke is certainly a player that enters the conversation. The power forward from Delano had a standout summer giving 100 percent effort with every Pump N Run minute he played in the paint. Yanke averaged 18.2 points per game as a junior.

The Minnesota Pump N Run had a final record of 50-8 this year finishing with an undefeated super pool record in the Adidas Super 64 plus they were semi-finalists in the Best of Summer event played late last week in Los Angeles. As the year moved on Yahnke increased his playing time with physical low post production and he's pleased with how the season went.

"We finished great!," Yahnke stated. "We went to the final four in L.A. and the sweet sixteen in Las Vegas. And Jeremy Miller is a great coach and he won't stop talking to colleges about me until I'm signed. Some of the highlights were going to the sweet sixteen and the final four on our last trip, gettting my first couple offers, just hanging out with the guys, and the chance to play on such a great team with such great players around me."

Colleges definitely noticed Yahnke's performances in July as interest seems to be pouring in.

"I really like all the Northern Sun schools like St. Cloud St., Northern State, Minnesota State-Moorhead, University of Mary, and Augustana," said Yahnke. "Also, I like Columbia, Bucknell, Cal Poly, Hartford, Northern Colorado, and Texas Pan-American. Texas Pan-American and Mary have given me scholarships at this point now."

Yahnke definitely has a good feel for the NSIC as he's about to take his 5th unofficial visit to see an NSIC campus this week.

"I have already visited Augustana, Northern State, Minnesota State-Mankato, and University of Mary," Mike said. "I plan on visiting St. Cloud this week and after that I'm not sure."

With Yahnke in the line-up Delano has won 20 plus games the past couple years finishing as section runner-up in 2010. The Tigers lose seven seniors from their top ten in the rotation but Yahnke returns as does sophomore-to-be Zach Checkal and senior Trevor Checkal. Yahnke enters his senior year with 655 career varsity points so expect him to move past the 1,000th career point mark in early February.