Former Hopkins Athletes Shining In College

is ranked No. 1 in the state for both boys and girls basketball. But several former Royals standouts are proving that success does not end in high school. Hopkins Patch will regularly check on some ex-Hopkins stars to see how they are faring. If you have a former player you want to know about, please e-mail cmonter@aol.com or james.warden@patch.com.

Cornerback Marcus Williams was named to the Associated Press FCS All-America team Thursday. Williams, a 5-foot-11, 186-pound sophomore leads the Missouri Valley and is fourth nationally with seven interceptions. He is one away from a school record of eight set by Frank Esposito in 1953. Williams was a first-team All-MVFC, a MVFC Defensive Player of Week and a MVFC Special Teams Player of the Week selection this season.

Williams has scored three times on interceptions (including a lateral at Minnesota) and once on a kickoff return this season. He leads the Valley and is tied for fifth nationally in passes defended. Williams has 23 of 27 games in career with at least one pass defended. He had career-high nine tackles vs. Illinois State and vs. Youngstown State. Williams snared two interceptions versus Missouri State and Western Illinois.

North Dakota State, which is ranked No. 4, faces Georgia Southern in the NCAA Divison I FCS semifnials at home Saturday. 

Hanna Muegge, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, has helped lead Bradley to a 7-3 start this season. She is averaging 4.4 points and 1.4 assists per game and has started five games this year. Muegge has been named to the Bradley Athletic Directors Honor Roll all six semesters in her career. She bounced back from suffering a torn ACL and MCL as a sophomore. Muegge, a standout track athlete at Hopkins, won the high jump as a junior. Bradley faces Iowa at home Saturday.  

Junior Trent Lockett leads Arizona State in scoring (14.2 points) and is second rebounding (7.8) this season. The Sun Devils are off to a 2-4 start. Lockdett has scored in double figures in seven of nine games and has had four double figure rebounding efforts. Arizona State faces in-state rival Northern Arizona Saturday.  

Junior Stephanie Sension is averaging 6.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game off the bench to lead the No. 16 Wisconsin Green Bay women's basketball team to a 8-0 start this season. The Phoenix are outscoring their opponents by 15.7 points per game and have defeated Big Ten school Illinois, ACC's Georgia Tech and Big East opponent Marquette already this season.