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Athlete Awards

Athletes of the Year

Nate Thienes

  • Award
    Athletes of the Year
  • Week Of
    5/21/2013
  • Sport
    Football
  • Bio
    View Full Bio
#88 Nate Thienes, Football, Track & Field
(TE & Throws, 6-5, 275, Sr., Lake Elmo, Minn. / Mahtomedi HS)
The rare exceptional two-sport athlete, Thienes was an All-American football player and was the only male athlete to score in all four throws events at the 2013 NSIC Outdoor Track & Field Championships this spring.

On the football field, Thienes earned All-America honors from BSN (third team) Don Hansen (honorable mention) while gaining All-Region honors from Daktronics (second team), Don Hansen (third team) and was an All-NSIC First Team selection representing the South Division.

He's a two-time Daktronics All-Region Second Team selection and led all tight ends on the Daktronics ballot with 43 receptions and was second with 450 yards and five touchdowns.

Thienes opened the football season with a dynamic and dominant performance that paved the way for an outstanding season. In the 2012 opener, Thienes had eight catches for 116 yards and a career-long 51 yard reception. On the year, Thienes finished with 43 catches for 450 yards and five touchdowns while battling through injury and catching at least one pass in every game in the process. He had three or more receptions nine times and had a two-TD performance against Augustana. In a three-game stretch, Thienes found the end zone four times and had four of his five scores at home this season.

The three year starter and four year key contributor at tight end finished with 85 catches and 872 yards with eight touchdowns over a 42 game career. He had career-highs in receptions, yards and touchdowns as a senior and as a junior had a three-touchdown game for his first three career touchdown catches.

When the football season came to a close, he didn't slow down as he transitioned into the track & field season. During indoor, Thienes set the shot put and weight throw records and claimed a pair of school records in the outdoor season as well in the discus and hammer throw at the conference championships. He also holds the outdoor shot put record set in 2011/2012 and owns five track & field school records in throwing events.

During the NSIC Indoor Championships, Thienes took fourth in the shot put to score five of his team's 17.5 points and added a solid 14th place finish in the weight throw.

At the outdoor championships, he took sixth in the shot put for three points, fourth in the discus for five points, seventh in the hammer throw for two points and fifth in the javelin throw for four points. In all, Thienes accumulated 14 of his team's 34 total points while claiming school records in the discus and hammer throw in the process.

He majored in criminal justice with a political science minor, has earned NSIC All-Academic honors as a student-athlete and is the son of Cheryl Thienes, and Jim and Cindy Thienes.


Athlete Awards
Date Athlete Sport
6/9/2015 Mike Cullen Men's Track and Field
6/9/2015 Riley Hanson Volleyball
5/29/2014 Zach Moore Football
5/29/2014 Kayla Koenecke Volleyball
5/21/2013 Nate Thienes Football
5/21/2013 Ellie Duffy Volleyball
5/17/2012 Megan Carlson Volleyball
5/17/2012 Bryan Lippincott Baseball
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