Ankeny Centennial basketball standout Luke Winkel has made his college plans.
The senior point guard announced on social media Monday that he will continue his career at St. Cloud State, an NCAA Division II program and a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
“Throughout the recruiting process, I met a lot of great people and had nice visits at all the schools that showed interest in me. I want to thank all of them for their time and their interest,” Winkel tweeted. “I am excited to announce I will be attending St. Cloud State to further my education and be a part of their men’s baskeball program.
“I would especially like to thank my mom Cindy and dad Chris for their love and support and coach Fontana for his guidance in helping me throughout this process along with the three years he has coached me. I would like to thank the coaches at Kingdom Hoops, Vance Mosley and Byron Harp.
“I would also like to thank Lefty Moore for the years he spent coaching me in AAU, and the assistant coaches at Centennial.
“And last, I would like to thank coach Henderson and coach O’Brien at St. Cloud State for giving me this opportunity.”
However, Winkel said it wasn’t an easy decision.
“I had plenty of great options,” he said. “I chose St. Cloud mainly because of my trust in the coaching staff.”
Winkel led Centennial to a 16-8 record as a junior, capped off by the Jaguars’ second trip to the Class 4A state tournament. He averaged a team-high 16.8 points, 4.9 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Winkel scored in double figures in 21 of the 24 games. He shot 47.3 percent from the field, 32.2 percent from 3-point range and 78.9 percent at the free-throw line.
Winkel was named to the Class 4A all-state first team by the Iowa Print Sports Writers Association. He was also selected to the CIML Conference first team and to the all-substate team in Class 4A Substate 2.
