2026 Star News Fall Sports Preview Part 2 | Page 2

32 | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2026 ELK RIVER STAR NEWS

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Elks girls tennis hopes to return to state

ERIK NELSON Sports Reporter
Fall Sports Preview 2026
The Elks didn’ t qualify for state in 2025 after losing to Alexandria in the Section 8-2A championship last October
After a tough 4-3 loss to Alexandria in the Section 8-2A championship last October, the Elks girls tennis team looks to return to state featuring a team with a mixture of experienced players and promising young talent.
Head coach: Randy Ronning
Key returning players: Senior Tillie Johnson has over 1,000 career wins and also has qualified for the state tournament in girls golf when she attended Zimmerman High School. Johnson now attends Elk River High School. Senior Katherine Horner is one of Elk River’ s captains. Leighton Wisniewski is only an eighth grader, but she put a lot of time in the offseason and will be Elk River’ s No. 2 singles player.
Key departures: Mya Nelson, a member of Elk River’ s 1,000 wins club, graduated in June.
Important matches:
Wednesday, Sept. 9 vs. Armstrong; Saturday, Sept. 12 vs. Eagan, Maple Grove and Roseville; Saturday, Sept. 19 vs. Alexandria, Buffalo and Minneapolis Washburn; Tuesday, Sept. 22 @ Rogers; Monday, Sept. 28 vs. Blaine Coach Ronning’ s expectations for 2026:“ Five of our top six players are seniors. We’ re depending on them a lot. After those, a lot of them are brand new kids. A lot of them are eighth or ninth graders. Alexandria will be the team to beat in our section [ 8-2A ], Blaine in our conference [ NWSC ]. If we beat the teams that we should and keep getting better, we have a shot at the conference title and a shot to get to state.”
FILE PHOTO
The Elks celebrate with Tillie Johnson( center, holding sign) after the junior won her 100th career match against Rogers on Aug. 26, 2025, at Rogers High School. Since Elk River girls tennis began in 1974, Johnson is only the 10th girl to win 100 matches. According to Elks head coach Randy Ronning, about 3 percent of the thousands of girls that have played tennis for the Elks over the last 53 years have won at least 100 matches.

Elks Tennis /

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student-athletes on the court. He wants them to do well academically and to invest in their character and how they treat others.
Elks girls tennis senior captain Katherine Horner said the team has learned a lot from Ronning.
“[ He’ s taught us about ] being consistent, keeping a good mental game through all matches, staying positive and keeping balls in play,” Horner said.“ He pushes us to be the best that we can be. Working hard in school and going the extra mile is something that he’ s helped us do.”
Ronning and his wife, Linda, have been married almost 50 years. The couple has one daughter, Lindsey, and a granddaughter named Betty.
Ronning hopes the Elks can play deep into October and learn life lessons along the way.
“ The No. 1 goal always is to win, and any athlete that has a competitive spirit, that’ s what they want,” he said.“ But we want them to realize that there’ s more to this sport than winning. Learning to respect your opponent and treat other people with respect.
For once, Randy Ronning was the subject of a program. Normally, he prepares it to highlight players’ achievements.
Don’ t be an arrogant person. Just because you’ re a better player doesn’ t mean you’ re a better person. Those are some of the messages that we want to get across. I think that it works. Tennis attracts high-quality people. They’ re good students. They don’ t get in [ a lot ] of trouble. It’ s a high-quality individual, so you’ re already dealing with sharp people. That makes it
fun.” Horner said it was an honor to be a part of Ronning’ s 1,000th career win Aug. 29.
“ It’ s crazy that he has 1,000, and it was cool to be a part of it,” she said.“ It’ s a huge legacy. We’ ll always remember his name.”

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PHOTOS BY JIM BOYLE
Assistant coach Tasha Gowdy, left, hands out programs highlighting head coach Randy Ronning as eighth-graders Leighton Wisniewski and Harper Bistodeau read about Ronning and look at photos from his 51-year coaching career.
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