By Troy Young
tyoung@postbulletin.com
It's been a productive summer for Rochester John Marshall soon-to-be senior Longar Longar.
Longar, who spent the summer playing with Team Minnesota AAU, is rapidly climbing the ladder as one of the top Minnesota high school recruits in the 2003 senior class.
Already, Longar says he's been offered scholarships by Arizona, Connecticut, DePaul and the University of Minnesota.
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Earlier this week, Longar ranked Arizona in the recruiting lead with DePaul second, UConn third and the Gophers fourth.
"Good academics, good coaches, playing time and teammates," said Longar, when asked what his priorities are when searching for the right college fit.
"I think I'll commit in the fall," Longar said. "But I might commit after the (high) school season."
His AAU highlight this summer? "Just taking over the game at the Nike Camp (in Indianapolis)," said Longar.
"It's been great. Playing against good competition."
Longar's teammates this summer have included highly-touted recruit Kris Humphries, who committed to Duke, and Patrick Henry High's Steve Neel, who will be a high school junior this fall.
Longar said he'll continue to play basketball this fall at open gym on weekends at Patrick Henry in Minneapolis.
Rochester's Pat Maus won the Western Showmanship class for novice amateurs in the 45th Canadian National Appaloosa Show last weekend in Brandon, Manitoba. Her daughter, Emily Maus, won nine championships and three reserve championships. Their trainer is Jeff Ray, owner of Bear Creek Farm in Rochester.
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• New; head coaches this fall at John Marshall include Ann Pittinger (cheer). JM is still searching for a dance team coach. This winter, Heather Ritenour will be the cheer team's head coach and Brooke Stoppel will be the head gymnastics coach.
John Danilenko-Dixon is the head dance coach at Rochester Mayo this fall. Mayo is still searching for a cheer team coach and a gymnastics coach.
New head coaches this all at Rochester Century include Jon Vik (football), Dale Magnuson (girls swimming), Joe Boyer (girls tennis) and Jennifer Brehm (dance). New winter coaches at Century include Steve Larson (wrestling) and Victoria Hale (cheer).
Rochester Golf &; Country Club's Dave Richardson said groundbreaking for major reconstruction of the clubhouse will begin after Labor Day. The golf shop will operate in the old tennis shop. The 10th hole will become the first hole and the front and back nines will be flip-flopped. Architect Dick Heise is designing the new clubhouse. He's designed clubhouses at Twin Cities courses such as Spring Hill, Hillcrest and North Oaks.
Don't be surprised if Tom Lehman and John Fought make another stop in Byron within the next 10 days to tour the progress of the Somerby project. Lehman's best finish at the PGA Championship, by the way, was in 1997 at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y., when he tied Scott McCarron and Joey Sindelar for 10th-place with a 283-- 14 strokes behind PGA champ Davis Love III.
The AMA/Chevy Truck U.S. Motocross Championship is hyping 16-year-old phenom James Stewart and calls him the "Tiger Woods of the Extreme Sports World." He'll, of course, be racing next weekend at Spring Creek MX Park near Millville. Stewart is the 125cc class points leader. "I've heard all the talk about Spring Creek MX Park, the enthusiastic fans in the Minnesota area, the incredible and challenging layout, and I'm sure this will be the ultimate test for me and my Kawasaki KX 125 so far this year," Stewart told the tour's PR dept.…; Despite Stewart's gain in popularity, Ricky Carmichael, the king of the 250cc division, will still be the fan favorite.
Fall high school sports teams are permitted to begin practice Monday.
Troy Young's local sports notes run every Thursday and Saturday in the Post-Bulletin. He can be reached at tyoung@postbulletin.com.
