Teacher from Edina is a serious contender on 'The Bachelor'
Credit: ABC, The Bachelor
The race for the final rose on ABC's "The Bachelor" is nearing the end and a Minnesota woman is in contention for bachelor Matt James' heart.
Michelle Young, a teacher from Edina, received one of four roses during Monday night's episode. It means she's one of the four finalists who have reached the "hometowns" stage of the competition.
Sadly, the pandemic means James won't be meeting Young's family in Minnesota, instead meeting them where the show is being filmed in Pennsylvania. Regardless, the former Woodbury High School basketball star is the second Minnesota woman in the show's history to go this far.
Becca Kufrin, of Prior Lake, thought she had won the reality contest in 2018 after bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. proposed and she accepted, only to have Luyendyk change his mind and dump Kufrin for the runner-up Lauren Burnham while the show was still filming.
Young averaged 22.1 points per game as a senior at Woodbury High School, where she set the school's single-season scoring record and was named an Associated Press All-State selection in 2011. She was also named to the Star Tribune's All-Metro First Team, was a finalist for Minnesota's Miss Basketball award and was a McDonald's All-America nominee.
Here's what the Star Tribune wrote about Young in 2011:
"Perhaps the fastest player on the first team, her speed creates matchup problems. Scored in double figures in all 28 games, averaging 22.1 points per game with a high of 36 (twice, against Roseville and Forest Lake). Her improved play-making skills were a big reason why the Royals won 20 games."
At Bradley University she led the team in scoring her senior season and finished 13th in scoring (1,062 points) in school history while also receiving numerous academic awards while majoring in Elementary Education.
