April 21, 2008

Kristin Zimmer to Play at Northland College

The Northland College Women’s Basketball Program has announced that Kristin Zimmer, a 5’10” forward from Laona, WI, will attend Northland College and play basketball for the Jills next year. Zimmer was a three-year starter and a four-year varsity player for the Laona Kellys, and during her senior year Zimmer led her team to its best finish in several years and a home playoff game in the regionals. Zimmer averaged 13.5 points her senior year and added 9.4 rebounds, 5.8 steals, and 1.1 assists while serving as a captain for the Kellys. For her career she had 695 points, 494 rebounds, 244 steals, and 51 assists. Zimmer was named Honorable Mention All-Conference both her sophomore and junior years, and this past year was named First-Team All-Conference and to the Green Bay Press Gazette All-Area Honorable Mention team.

Zimmer also played softball and volleyball for four years, and will  play softball at Northland College. In volleyball Zimmer was named Honorable Mention and Second Team All-Conference and served as the team captain, while in softball she earned a unanimous First-Team All-Conference award and her team won back-to-back conference championships while Zimmer again was the team captain.

Northland’s Head Coach, Dan Roiger, had this to say about Zimmer, “We are excited about adding Kristin to our roster for next season. She is a great person who really fits into our team concept and specifically wants that in her college experience. She is a hard worker who loves to play basketball and I am confident that she will quickly learn our system and adapt to the college game. She is a good athlete who sees the floor well and has good instincts on the floor. She will need to adapt to the college quickness and physical play at our level, but when I watched her play I believe she has the ability to do that, and that is where her work ethic, intelligence, and desire to improve will help her immensely, and she will quickly catch on to our team. She has excellent potential, and I am excited about having her on our team where she will be surrounded by good players who will challenge her to reach that potential.”

The Northland College Women’s team finished 16-11 this past season, and 10-4 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. They took second place in the regular season, just one game out of first place, and advanced to the championship game of their conference tournament. They return their entire starting lineup for next season and 87% of their scoring.

Kristin is the daughter of Gary and Olivia Zimmer of Laona, WI. She has an older sister, Maria (19), and a younger sister, Heather, 15. She is an outstanding student, carrying a 4.0 gpa, and was recently honored in a banquet at Northland College for receiving one of the top scholarships offered. She is planning on majoring in Education at Northland College. She was on the Top Honors Honor Roll at Laona High School all four years, and received the YMCA Character award and the Kohl Excellence Scholarship award. Coach Roiger added, “Kristin is an outstanding student who is very responsible and mature. My job is easy when recruiting students like Kristin; I know she will take care of business in the classroom and represent our program with class.” Northland College Women’s Basketball players had a 3.37 team gpa and eight of their players were recognized by their conference with Academic All-Conference Awards this past season.