Blomberg and Alm earn 2024 Athena awards

Multiple Brooklyn Park-area schools have announced their Athena Award winners recently. The Athena Award is given annually to one female athlete from each school and is meant to honor student-athletes for achievements in sports, academics, community work and leadership. An event on May 3 at the Heritage Center of Brooklyn Center will recognize winners.

Park Center’s Aly Blomberg earned the Athena Award for the Pirates. Blomberg is a multi-sport athlete and a leader with both the girls volleyball and girls golf teams. Blomberg has committed to play golf next year at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

She has made state appearances with Park Center girls golf leading the way for multiple years. She finished 62nd overall in the 2021 AAA state tournament. She went to state again in her junior year and finished third in her conference that same season.

Blomberg also featured for Park Center in volleyball last fall. The Pirates earned a 4-18 overall record this season, earning wins over Cooper, Columbia Heights, Fridley and St. Paul Academy.

Maranatha Christian Academy’s Sophia Alm also won the Athena Award. Alm is a multi-sport athlete for the Mustangs, playing basketball, volleyball and softball.

Alm played with the basketball team in the 2021/22 season, before focusing on volleyball and softball. She was a key player in the 2023 softball season, with 19 games played, 97 putouts, 20 runs, 31 total bases, and a .971 fielding percentage.

In the 2023 fall volleyball season, Alm continued to represent the Mustangs, earning 11 kills and four blocks from 21 sets played.