Forest Lake coach is upbeat after surgery

Fresh off its first winning season in coach Jen Wagner's three-year campaign, the Forest Lake girls' basketball team looked forward to a summer of hard work and great results.

Players got hard news instead.

Wagner, 30, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in May. She had surgery in June to remove her thyroid and 38 lymph nodes -- five of which were cancerous. The ordeal left an incision scar plus weakness in her neck and shoulder. But she is upbeat.

"It's the best kind of cancer to have because there is a 99 percent survival rate with removal," she said. "There is no chemotherapy or radiation. And I have an aunt going through that to treat her breast cancer, so I feel fortunate."

Doctors performed Wagner's surgery just two days before a team basketball camp in June, so her husband, Brad, and father, Jim, coached in her absence. Players send flowers and e-mails to support their coach.

"It was a neat way to see the support of the team, my family and the community," she said.

Paul Mork, who came out of retirement to coach New Life Academy's fledgling football program this fall, now steps in to coach the Eagles' strong girls' basketball program.

New Life Academy, located in Woodbury, made its first trip to state last March and returns two starters and several key reserves. Led by all-tournament team selections Cara Lutes and Jenny Ramey, the Eagles took third in Class 1A.

Former coach Matt Callahan, who led the Eagles to a 54-8 record in two seasons, left to take the women's basketball coaching job at Crown College in St. Bonifacius.

Mork watched his new team perform in the offseason, but said he will not know the full extent of its potential until the start of official practice this week.

"In a dream world, we'd have 10 interchangeable players who would pick the other team up as they get out of the bus and press and run them until they got back on the bus," he said.

Mork, 72, is on the short list of Minnesota high school coaches who have directed a boys' and girls' basketball team to state.

David La Vaque • 612-673-7574