Anoka High School

Anoka High School
Location
Anoka, Minnesota, United States of America
Information
Type	Public
Established	1880 (Extant building 1971)
Grades	9-12
Athletics conference	Northwest Suburban Conference
Mascot	Tornadoes
Colors	Maroon and White
Website	http://www.anoka.k12.mn.us/ahs

Anoka High School is a four year public high school located in Anoka, Minnesota on 3939 7th Avenue N.

School overview

Anoka High School is part of Anoka-Hennepin School District 11 and is one of five regular high schools in the district. The history of Anoka High School can be traced back to 1880 and the establishment of the city of Anoka, making it one of the oldest high schools in Minnesota. The school districts of Anoka and surrounding communities were consolidated into the Anoka-Hennepin School District in 1952. In 2008, Anoka High has a student population of 2637. White students made up 88.4% of the student population, African American students made up 4.4%, Hispanics and Asians made up 3.2% and 2.7% respectively, and American Indian students made up the remaining 1.4% of the population. Anoka High School participates in the University of Minnesota's College in the Schools program.

History

The current building that houses Anoka High School opened in 1971. The first Anoka High School was opened in 1904 and located in downtown Anoka. The second Anoka High School was opened in 1955, a few blocks southeast of downtown Anoka, with the old location becoming Sandburg Middle School (until its closure in 2010). After the current building opened in 1971, the old high school became Fred Moore Junior High School (later Fred Moore Middle School for the Arts and currently Anoka Middle School for the Arts). Despite the move, the Anoka Tornadoes Football Team continues to play its home games at Goodrich field, which is just north of Anoka Middle School. The current building is on 7th Street.

Anoka High School draws enrollment from Anoka as well as the neighboring towns of Andover, Burns Township, Oak Grove Township, Ramsey, and parts of Coon Rapids. From the forming of the Anoka-Hennepin School District 11 in 1952, until the opening of Coon Rapids High School in 1963, all district students attended High School in Anoka. Although the current Anoka High School continues to be one of the largest four-year secondary schools in the state, prior to the opening of Champlin Park High School in 1992, and the subtraction of Anoka's enrollment from Champlin, Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, and Dayton, Anoka was the largest high school in the state, despite only being 10th through 12th grades, and graduated as many as 844 seniors (in 1988).

Academic assessment

Anoka High School made Adequate Yearly Progress in 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Sports

Anoka competes in the Northwest Suburban Conference. Anoka High School's main rivals are inter-district schools Andover High School, Champlin Park High School, Blaine High School, and Coon Rapids High School. Although strong in most sport because of the size of its enrollment (especially up until the opening of Champlin Park High School which drew away much of Anoka's previous enrollment in Hennepin County south of the Mississippi River), Anoka High especially has a long history of state-wide dominance in wrestling with five olympic-calibre wrestlers including Brandon Paulson, who was the first high school wrestler to earn a spot on the U.S. National Senior team and an Olympic silver medalist in greco-roman wrestling at the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games, and most recently Jake Deitchler who competed in greco-roman wrestling at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Anoka Wrestling has won 7 State Team Championship Titles and 28 Conference Championship Titles, has had 48 State Individual Championship Titles and 41 State Individual Runner Up Championship Titles, 5 Olympians, 1 Olympic Coach, 22 Wrestlers with 100 wins or more, and 17 Collegiate All-Americans. In 2011, the girl's basketball team became section champions for the first time in the history of Anoka High School, winning four games in the section playoffs after winning only twice during the season.

State Championships

2007-08
Boys' Soccer
The Anoka boys' soccer team beat Wayzata 2-0 for the 2007 Class 2A State Championship Title on November 1, 2007 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. Capping off a 21-0-2 season with an NSCAA Regional ranking of #2 and an NSCAA National ranking of #6 while recording an amazing 16 shutouts.

2002-03
Boys' Hockey
Anoka was the 2003 State Hockey Champions.

1999-2000
Girls Track and Field
Anoka was the 2000 Girls State AA Track and Field Champions.

1994-95
Football
Anoka was the 1994 state AA football champion.
They were undefeated through the season.

1990-91
Football
Anoka was the 1990 state AA football champion.
Girls' Soccer
Anoka was the 1990 state AA Girl's Soccer champion.^{[citation needed]}
Wrestling
The Anoka Wrestling Team won a state championship in 1990 in class AA.^{[citation needed]}

1978-79
Dance Team
The Anoka Dance Team also won a state championship in 1979 in class AA.^{[citation needed]}

Notable alumni

• Michele Bachmann - Minnesota congresswoman and 2012 Republican candidate for President of the United States
• Gretchen Carlson - Fox News anchor and the 1989 Miss America.
• Garrison Keillor - author, host of the radio program "A Prairie Home Companion".
• Brandon Paulson - 1996 Summer Olympics silver medalist in wrestling.
• Mark Nenow - Distance runner. 10K World Record holder in 1984 and 10,000M American Record Holder from 1986-2003.
• Jake Deitchler - 2008 Summer Olympics. First high school wrestler to make the Olympics in 30 years. 3 time Minnesota State High School Wrestling Champion
• Briana Scurry - Olympic gold medalist and Women's World Cup champion as goalkeeper for U.S. Women's National Soccer Team
• Steve Nelson - Linebacker for the New England Patriots from 1974–1987
• Scarlet Salem - Notable Horror Actress, Graduated in 2000

External links

• Anoka High School Homepage