Orono Built its First State Title on the Cement of Longtime Bonds

It’s hard to say what went through Jordan Smith’s mind as he unleashed an ear-to-ear smile in the final moments of last Saturday’s Class AAA state title basketball game.

Was the Orono senior thinking of his freshman year, when he and his teammate playfully asked school administration to move spring break so all the fans could watch them in the state tournament?

Did the nine or 10 years he played with these same teammates flash through is mind? 

Perhaps he thought of his friends and family, whom he rushed to hug in the stands immediately after the final buzzer sounded in Orono’s 85-76 win over Columbia Heights at the Target Center.

Whatever it was, that moment between his game-sealing free throws will forever link the 2011 Spartans with the first boys basketball championship in school history.

“These last few years, we’ve fully expected to make it to the state tournament,” Smith said. “Last year, we were just excited to be here. This year, it was a different expectation. We had the expectation to come in here and actually make some noise.”

The Spartans did just that, and they changed the culture of the program in the process.

Orono never made a state tournament prior to last season, but the Spartans broke through the Section 5AAA tournament before losing to Winona in the state quarterfinals.

Senior Kyle Mileusnic said that trip as juniors helped this team, led by seven seniors who have played together since grade school, gain enough experience to make a legitimate run at the title this season. This team won its eighth-grade state championship, Mileusnic recalled, so he and his teammates knew a high school title was possible some day.

“Yeah, we thought about it,” Mileusnic said. “But nobody ever said it. It just worked out. It was beautiful.”

Thinking was only half the battle. Coach Barry Wohler said this group of players embraced the extra work needed to catapult itself into Class AAA’s elite.

Wohler, in his fourth season as coach, said he watched the Spartans develop a championship attitude with year-round preparation.

“They were accountable—to a player, these kids put the time in in the offseason,” Wohler said. “They lifted weights in the fall. They shoot, they come early, they stay late. And it’s a group that really likes each other.”

With a gritty performance Saturday against Columbia Heights, Orono completed it’s dream season with a record of 28-4.

“Just waiting for this all our lives. Dreaming about it. I can’t even explain it," senior Erik Peterson said. "It’s something I’ll cherish for a really long time, and something I’ll never forget.”