The surprise announcement Monday that Shakopee High School senior Ashley Wittman is the 2009 Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year is garnering lots of press around the country. Check out the story here.

Here's a sampling of what others are saying:

ESPN: Shakopee (Shakopee, Minn.) senior left outside hitter Ashley Wittman admits she felt her heart skip a beat Monday when the school security officer ducked into her economics classroom to let her know her car had been hit in the parking lot. But when two-time Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Misty May-Treanor burst into the room to expose the story as a hoax, Wittman's day got a lot better.

Pioneer Press: Ashley Wittman of Shakopee High School was announced Monday as the 2009-10 Gatorade national volleyball player of the year, making her a candidate for Gatorade's national female athlete of the year.

Star Tribune: Ashley Wittman didn't have any big plans on Monday. After her classes ended at Shakopee High School, she was hoping to spend time working out and studying. But things changed in a hurry.

WCCO: A local volleyball player got a huge national award Monday and also got "punked" by an Olympic volleyball star. Shakopee senior Ashley Wittman won the Gatorade National Player of the Year award.

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Straight From the Horses Mouth notes the death of two Canterbury Park stalwarts: jockey agent Gerry DiLaura and Wearne "Red" Clayton, Canterbury Park's first pressbox statistician.

DiLaura was agent for jockey Luis Quinonez in the mid to late 1990s. Clayton spent 15 years in the press box at Canterbury. Both died in December.