Lourdes grad Clara Billings takes next step, helps Gustavus win national championship
Mar. 28—ROCHESTER — After coming up just short a season ago, Lourdes graduate Clara Billings is part of an NCAA national championship team.
Billings is a senior forward for the Gustavus Adolphus College women's hockey team that won the NCAA Division III national title a week ago.
The Gusties had a thrilling postseason run which included a 3-2 double overtime win over Plattsburgh State in the national semifinals. Gustavus needed even more time to pull out a thrilling victory in the championship game as it defeated Amherst College 2-1 in triple overtime.
Billings earned an assist on the game-winning goal in the championship game. In the third overtime, Billings came up with a loose puck near the net and sent it to the right post where Kaitlyn Holland jammed it over the goal line for the winning goal, which ended the longest Division III women's championship hockey game ever.
The win gave Gustavus its first national championship in program history and the first team national championship for the college. The Gusties finished the season with a 27-3 record.
Last season the Gustavus women suffered an overtime loss to Middlebury College in the championship game. Billings scored a goal late in regulation to send the game to OT.
Billings finished her senior season with 19 points on 11 goals and eight assists. She had seven goals and 12 assists as a junior. Billings has 27 career goals and still has one year of eligibility remaining due to a five-game COVID-shortened season her sophomore campaign.
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Plainview-Elgin-Millville senior Kaiden Peters has selected basketball over football as his choice as a college sport.
Peters, a three-sport standout for the Bulldogs, has announced his commitment to play college basketball at Division III Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.
The 6-foot-3 Peters, a left-handed shooting guard, averaged approximately 18 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game during the 2022-23 season while shooting 62% from the field and 80% at the line.
He helped P-E-M earn a Class AA state tournament berth and hit a memorable game-winning 3-point shot at the buzzer in the Section 1AA title game as the Bulldogs edged Lake City 58-55.
Peters, who also competes in track and field at P-E-M, had received offers to play college football, including one from Division II Winona State University. In football he played wide receiver and defensive back and really excelled as a kick returner. As a senior, he averaged 26 yards per punt return and with six touchdowns. On kickoffs, he averaged 32 yards per return with one touchdown.
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Century senior Paige Decker and Kiley Nihart, a sophomore at Rochester Community and Technical College, have signed letters of intent to play college volleyball at Division II University of Minnesota Duluth.
Decker is an outside hitter who was named All-State as both a junior and senior at Century. As a senior, she had 368 kills, 46 blocks, 116 digs and 42 ace serves. Her kill total broke her own single-season record at Century.
Nihart, a Medford High School grad, earned Second Team All-America honors for the 2022 season at RCTC. As a libero, she averaged 5.69 digs per set, which ranked sixth in the nation among NJCAA Division III players. She helped RCTC reach the Region XIII championship game before suffering a season-ending loss.
Guy N. Limbeck is a sports writer for the Post Bulletin. His Local Notebook appears each Tuesday. He can be reached at
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