Lakeville South's Jon Christensen Talks About College Choice

Jon Christensen, a 6-foot-6 senior forward from Lakeville South, will remember his final high school year for many reasons. He helped lead the Cougars to a Section 3 title, a state tournament appearance and was named second team All South Suburban Conference. Christensen capped off his senior campaign as he became the first Lakeville South player to sign with a Division II school when he comitted to St. Cloud State. Since, that they would also play at the Division II level. 

Christensen averaged 13.8 points per game, second best on the team as the Cougars finished 21-9. He scored in double figures in 24 of 30 games, including a season-high 25 points against three-time Class AAAA state champion Hopkins and in their 79-75 first round state tournament loss to Eden Prairie.

Lakeville Patch recently caught up with Christensen to learn the latest on his college decision and memories of his high school career.

You were looking at the University of Minnesota-Duluth as a potential walk-on a few weeks ago, so things changed pretty fast as you ended up signing with St. Cloud State?

“They came in to the picture around the section final game against Apple Valley. They gave me a phone call after that and told me that they were interested and wanted me to come up for a visit. Things took off from there. UMD wanted more of a point guard, so they gave a point guard an offer. St. Cloud needed more of a forward, so they gave me the offer and that is how that turned out.”

What schools were you looking at during the end of your recruitment?

“At the end, it was coming down to UMD, St. Cloud, River Falls and Augsburg. Those were my final four.”

I know that the Wisconsin Rivers Falls head coach had said that you were their number one guy. Was it hard to tell some of those schools no?

“Definitely. River Falls is a great school. The coach is a really good guy. It was really hard to say that I am going to St. Cloud. I talked to him and if things don’t work out for some odd reason, and I transferred down to a Division III school, that it would probably be Rivers Falls.”

What kind of things are you going to be working on until the season starts to get ready to play at that level?

“I’ll be in the weight room every day, lifting all the time and trying to gain as much weight and muscle. Working out and getting into the gym as much as I can. I know that I have to get stuff done for school at St. Cloud, like register for class and go up there and stay with their guys and get to know their guys before the school year starts.”

Are you going up there for summer school and camps?

“I am going to work a camp up there in the summer sometime in June or July. I will probably try to go up there one or two more to try to get a feel for it.”

When you look back at your career at Lakeville South, what is going to stand out as some of the highlights?

“I would definitely say making it to state. Obviously, our goal was to get further in state, but we still got there, which was a good thing. Just playing with the guys. Every person on this team is one of my best friends that I have been playing with forever. To be not playing with them next year is going to be tough and a tough adjustment to get used to.”

You had to knock off South Suburban Conference champion Eastview in the section semifinals, a team that had beaten you twice, including at buzzer-beater on the road and beat a very good Apple Valley team to even get to state. 

“We knew that we were going to have to play Eastview, Apple Valley, Eagan. Those type of teams are the end of the year. Eastview was our biggest rivalry. They really got us at home and the buzzer-beater was a tough one. We came and said this is win or go home and leave it all on the floor. That is what we did with them and took care of business there. ”

You had a tough first round matchup with Eden Prairie. You got down early, but you and Alex Richter made some big shots to rally and almost comeback and win that game. 

“Eden Prairie is a very tough team. They outrebounded us, which was a huge key factor, I thought. We didn’t do a good job on the boards. Towards the end, we had a run. I knew that we were going to make a run at the end. I just wish it was four points that other way that we could have gotten.”

Even though you came up a bit short, that had been a long-time goal for you and your teammates to get to state?

“From the beginning, we wanted to get to state. That was our number one goal and if we got to state, to do some damage in it, but our number one goal was to get to state and we accomplished that.”

When you signed with St. Cloud State, you became the first Lakeville South player to ever sign with a Division I or II school. There have been some good teams and good players from here, but you are the first. You have to be pretty proud of being able to say that you were the first? 

“That is kind of a cool thing to take with you and later on tell everyone that that was me, the first one to do that. I don’t really think of it too much. Just the fact that I get to play Division II is actually really cool for me to do and a real fun opportunity coming up.”

You initially were getting mostly Division III college looks, but played so well in the second half of the season that bigger schools started looking at you. You have to be proud about that?

“I really said that I need to step up my game, which I did. Division II, I always thought that was going to be something tough for me to get to, but I got to it, which was a great accomplishment for me.”

St. Cloud has had some great success, making to the Division II Final Four in 2010 and are year-in year-out one of the top teams in a very tough Northern Sun Conference.

“It is going to be really fun playing with them and at the higher end of the Northern Sun, which is one of the best conferences in the nation. It is always going to be game-in and game-out, a great game and tough players every time. It is going to be fun.”

How about playing against teammate Spencer Pankonin, who is headed to Northern State and maybe Alex Richter, who is looking at Winona State and Augustana. Will that be fun as you are used to play with them and now they will be the enemy?

“That will be interesting to see how that turns out. If Richter goes Division II, I’ll probably end up having to guard him, which will be pretty interesting to see how that turns out. Spencer is going to Northern State. He is going to play more of the big guy down there, so I wouldn’t have to guard him, but playing against him will be a little bit different.”