The Minnesota Star Tribune’s expansion of its high school sports coverage has led to a new brand — Strib Varsity — that will be powered by a new team of journalists. Star Tribune readers will recognize some of those names, and at least one will be new.

After four years as the sports director at WDIO-TV in Duluth, Alicia Tipcke is joining the Star Tribune as its first Strib Varsity Video Reporter. Tipcke has a passion for covering high school sports and building connections with teams, athletes, coaches and communities across our state. She will use her eye for video storytelling to report the news, report from games, deliver exclusive and memorable stories and much more.

Joe Christensen and Marcus Fuller are also joining the Strib Varsity team. Fuller is taking on a new role as Strib Varsity Insider after 20 years of covering the Gophers and college sports. Christensen, who has covered the Twins and Gophers and led Gophers coverage as an editor for the Star Tribune, will deliver exclusive, illuminating, important and fun stories on high school sports in his role as Strib Varsity Enterprise Reporter.

Fuller will focus on volleyball, football and basketball, as well as recruiting coverage. He’ll write analysis pieces on several topics, and he’ll continue to deliver his popular Basketball Across Minnesota feature this winter. Send him suggestions at marcus.fuller@startribune.com.

Christensen’s coverage will sweep the landscape: all sports, any issue, any city. He’ll routinely take on in-depth coverage of how families in Minnesota navigate the complex world of high school sports: family expenses, demographic shifts in our state and what that means for athletes at schools, injuries to young athletes and more issues. Send him story tips at joe.christensen@startribune.com.

Additionally, a talented group of editors will join High School Sports Editor Nick Williams to keep Strib Varsity humming along:

• Brad Unangst, after many years of driving the MN Hubs websites, is the Strib Varsity Hubs and Stats Editor.
• Jazzmine Jackson will be the editor overseeing the expansion of Strib Varsity across social media in her new role as Strib Varsity Audience Editor.
• Longtime sports editing ace Kevin Bertels will shift his focus to Strib Varsity this fall.