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Lakeville North girls lacrosse team will make history on Saturday night when they play for the state title at 5 p.m. in Chanhassen.

The Panthers will be the first team other than Blake or Eden Prairie to play for a state championship. They are the only two teams to have ever played in a state championship game since the sport was sanctioned by the Minnesota State High School League in 2007.

The Lakeville North girls lacrosse team pulled off the upset of the season with a 13-12 overtime victory against Eden Prairie in the state girls lacrosse semifinal on Thursday night in Chaska.

Eden Prairie came in as the No. 1 seed with a 15-0 record against teams from Minnesota.

Eden Prairie also defeated Lakeville North earlier this season 16-7.

It took two overtimes to decide a winner and nearly every second was used.

In the first overtime, the Panthers were down 12-11, but with 25 seconds left Emmie Madsen sent the game into double overtime.

With the game tied at 12-12, Makayla Kubisiak scored the game-winner with 33 seconds remaining.

Madsen led the Panthers in scoring with four goals. Hannah Koloski added three; Kubisiak and Kacie Waagbo had two each; and Logan Dobratz and Emily Engelhart had one each.

The Panthers will play Blake at 5 p.m. Saturday at Chanhassen High School.

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The Panthers managed just four hits in a 3-2 loss to Rocori in the state quarterfinals.

“The winning team sometimes scores more runs in one inning than the loser scores all game,” head coach Tony Market said. “You have to be playing your best baseball, but we didn’t swing it well as we could have today. I tip my hat to their pitcher and their defense made some great plays.”

The game was still close as Lakeville North held a 2-0 lead after four innings, but a tough fifth inning was enough to spoil North’s trip.

“I think it was a case of kids 16-17 years old getting to a big game, wanting to do more than they should,” Market said. “They were trying a bit too hard. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the emotion of the game. They tried to shoulder a little too much.”

An RBI double by Mac Mueller, RBI single by Marshall Wirtzfild, and RBI hit by Adam Athmann gave Rocori a 3-2 lead in the fifth.

Early on, the Panthers proved you don’t always need hits to move around the bases.

A Ben Jensen RBI single in the second inning sent home Connor Christianson, who got on base via walk.

In the fourth, Zach Creighton walked and advanced to third on a stolen base and a sacrifice by Dalton Lehnen. Eric Rutt sent him home when his hit sailed over the Rocori shortstop.

Rutt stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball, where he was left stranded.

Jordan Jacobson was charged with the loss allowing three earned runs off seven hits and one walk. He struck out five.

Lakeville North will play Rochester Mayo at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Dick Siebert Field at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in the consolation semifinal. With a win, the Panthers would play for the consolation title between Wayzata or Forest Lake at 5 p.m..

“One game does not define what these kids accomplished just to get here,” Market said. “I know that’s not what they wanted to hear, but when they look back, it’s not all about one game.”

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Lakeville South’s Shaina Burns clears a hurdle in the 300-meter hurdles at the Class AA state meet at Hamline University in St. Paul on June 7. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)

The Lakeville South girls track and field team fell short of defending its Class AA state title last weekend at Hamline University in St. Paul.

The girls finished in second place with 79 points in the Class AA state meet, 15.5 points behind the winners from Minnetonka, but the girls weren’t exactly disappointed. In many ways, the girl did better than last year.

Going into the meet, the Cougars knew it would have been tough to win it all again.

“We knew Minnetonka was seeded to win it and we were 30 points behind them,” head coach Andrew Hilliard said. “We knew we’d have to have a pretty unbelievable meet to win it, but we scored more points than we were seeded for and closed the gap, so I can’t complain about that.”

Minnetonka’s 94.5 points was the highest point total in at least a decade for either boys or girls track.

Even though the Cougars didn’t win it all again, Hilliard felt his team had plenty of reason to celebrate.

“They were worried about matching last year’s success, but the thing is, I think they were better,” Hilliard said. “They scored more points at True Team state and they scored more points (at the Minnesota State High School League state meet).”

Lakeville South scored 22.5 more points this year at state compared to last year when the Cougars won it all.

“A lot of years 79 points is more than enough to get it done,” Hilliard said.

In the first day of action, the Lakeville South girls track and field team witnessed an accomplishment they haven’t in years.

Caraline Slattery won the state title in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 8 inches, giving the girls their first individual state champion since 2006, when Felisha Willaert was the top discus thrower in the state.

“It was awesome,” Slattery said. “I actually hurt my foot but it was cool to still be able to clear that height. It took a lot of faith. It hasn’t really hit me yet.”

She cleared that height at the section meet, but it wasn’t a given she could do it again.

“I just wanted to have fun,” Slattery said. “I thought ‘we’re here, why not try?’ ”

Slattery also finished fourth in the 300 hurdles and sixth in the triple jump.

Morgan Pieri wasn’t far behind Slattery in the high jump, coming in third with a leap of 5-6.

Shaina Burns was busy as well, placing eighth in the long jump, fifth in the 300 hurdles and third in the shot put.

Jordyn Thornton was sixth in the discus throw and seventh in the shot put. Kaytlyn Larson placed fifth in the 1.600 and fourth in the 800.

The top relay finish for the Cougars came in the 4×400 with Rose Cozad, Haley Lubow, Slattery and Rachel Mickelson placing third.

The 4×200 with Cozad, Lubow, Emily Wick and Mickelson ran in 1:43.37, good enough for fourth.

The 4×800 relay was 12th and the 4×100 was eighth.

For the boys team, Wali Ibrahim finished 18th in the 3,200 and Thomas Lokkesmoe placed 15th in the triple jump.

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Inductees include:

• Kevin Kaesviharn, who played football, basketball and track. He’s also a former NFL defensive back who played five seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals.

• Tony Brown, who played golf, basketball and football.

• Tasha Martin Symiczek, who played basketball.

• Rick Ringeisen, a Lakeville alumnus and a longtime swimming and diving, and track and field coach.

• The 1988 state championship football team that won the state title with a 14-0 record.

Tickets can be purchased for $25 in the Lakeville North or Lakeville South activities offices. Call Kathy at 952-232-3620 or Naomi at 952-232-3320 with questions.

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Ben Krynski tosses out the shot put at the Class AA state meet on Friday. He was the state champion with at throw of 57 feet. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)

Lakeville North’s Ben Krynski is focusing on the positive.

Last weekend he won the Class AA state title in the shot put with a toss of 57 feet at Hamline University in St. Paul.

He out-tossed second-place Payton Otterdahl from Rosemount by 10.25 inches.

Krynski wasn’t the favorite when the season began. Last year Krynski finished fifth at the state meet with a toss of 49-9, but he improved almost 20 percent over the offseason. He didn’t foresee throwing this far back in March when the season began.

“I thought maybe I’d be in the lower 50s, make state, maybe place,” Krynski said.

He gave credit to his coaches Tim Kasper and Lindsey Booth.

“I just kept getting in the reps and grooving my technique,” Krynski said. “I continued to lift weights and work out.”

There’s a lot more to throwing a shot put than being the biggest, strongest guy.

“Throwing is really with your legs and core,” Krynski said. “Really the reason I succeeded is because I was so fast through the circle. Bigger guys are usually stronger, but if they’re not moving the shot put fast enough through the circle, they’re not getting the distance.”

Krynski was favored in the event after throwing 57-11 at the Section 1AA meet about a week earlier, but nothing was a given.

“My coaches told me I was physically prepared,” Krynski said. “I just had to get mentally prepared. My dad telling me to enjoy the moment really took the pressure off.”

He found out how little was given the following day. Krynski was also the top seed in the discus event on Saturday. He fouled on his first two attempts and tossed a 139-8 on his final shot, well below his season best at 171-11, which put him 12th overall.

“It was a big disappointment,” Krynski said. “I felt like I let the coaches and parents down. But having them tell me they were so proud of me helped me out. I have to focus on winning the state championship and one bad performance doesn’t define who I am or what I accomplished.”

He’s the first Panther to bring home a gold medal since 2006 when the 4×800-meter relay won the state title. The last individual to win gold was long jumper James Ewer in 2005.

Krynski will be throwing at Iowa State next year.

Even though he was a starter on the state-qualifying football team and a captain on the wrestling team this season, Krynski’s passion is on the field throwing things around.

“I’ve always just loved track,” he said.
Other results

Lakeville North’s Kyrell Newell runs the 4×100-meter relay at the Class AA preliminaries on June 7 at Hamline University in St. Paul. The relay was less than a second shy from qualifying for the finals. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)

The 4×100 relay of Nick Valentini, Michael Beuing, Kyrell Newell, and Justin Greene just missed finals by 0.04 seconds, placing 10th overall. The top nine make it to finals.

The group was without its top sprinter Andrew Anyaugu, who was out with injury.

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Lakeville North’s Rachel Okins runs the 100-meter dash in the Class AA preliminaries at Hamline University in St. Paul on June 7. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)

Five Lakeville North girls track and field athletes walked off the track at Hamline University in St. Paul on Saturday with a smile and a silver medal around their neck.

The 4×100-meter relay finished in second place thanks to the efforts of Emily Okins, Kendall Naatjes, Claire Seivert and Alexa Trakalo, who completed the race in 48.87 seconds.

“We had so much adrenaline today,” Naatjes said. “Everything really clicked.”

The girls were one-hundredth of a second ahead of the group from Roseville and 0.65 seconds behind the winners from Hopkins, who set a new Minnesota all-time record.

“We only ran it a couple times this year, so we were a little surprised,” Trakalo said. “It was really exciting because this was my last race as a senior.”

Trakalo, who has a scholarship to play soccer at South Dakota State University, leaves as a three-time all-state track athlete. It was also the last race for Okins, who is moving. The girls couldn’t always practice or compete together with coaches strategically placing them in the other events where they could score the most points.

“We ran so many other events, so we were spread out,” Seivert said. “We ran really well (in the preliminaries), so we thought ‘let’s go for it.’ ”

But it was nice when it finally came together.

“It’s a team thing,” Okins said. “We were really close this year. It’s fun to encourage each other. It’s nice to have someone there if you’re nervous.”

Head coach Todd Endersbe wasn’t surprised by the outcome.

“It was huge but not totally unexpected,” Endersbe said. “They had a very good section meet and ran strong in the state prelims.”

Michaela Preachuk also earned a silver medal. She was the second girl to cross the finish line in the 100 hurdles in 14.61 seconds. It was a personal record for the sophomore and a school record.

She was one-hundredth of a second behind winner Rachel Schow from Rosemount. Preachuk finished second in the Class AAA state True Team meet a month earlier, but cut nearly a second off her time at state.

Lindsey Smits was seventh in the 100 hurdles and 17th in the triple jump.

“Both will continue to push each other next season,” Endersbe said. “If they continue to train hard in the offseason and stay healthy, they’ll have another memorable season.

Taylor Perkins finished 16th in the 3,200, running the course in 11:14.08, and Katie Dillie was sixth in the high jump with a leap of 5-4.

The combined efforts helped put the girls 10th in the state with 27 points.

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