After two rounds of golf in the Missota Conference, Shakopee's boys team is sitting in a good spot.

The Sabers sit one point behind first-place Prior Lake after Shakopee won the second round on Tuesday at Stonebrooke Golf Course in Shakopee.

"The boys played really well," head coach Scott Proshek said. "We are in great position in the conference. The kids are starting to get better."

Shakopee shot a 304 to top Prior Lake by four strokes. New Prague was third at 320 followed by Holy Angels at 325.

Senior Alex Hoffmeyer fired a career-low round of 1-under par 70 to lead the Sabers. He was followed by another career round by Ben Scott, who fired a 75 despite having a quadruple bogey on one of his holes.

They were followed by Davis Madren's 78, Ben Jasper with an 81, Augie Lawson's 81 and Matt Schmid's 84.

Prior to the conference match, Shakopee participated in the Prior Lake Invite Thursday and the Red Wing Invite on Wednesday last week.

At the Wilds in Prior Lake, Shakopee finished eighth in the 12-team tournament with a score of 337.

Scott was the low Saber with an 81. He was followed by Lawson (82), Schmid (83), Madren (91), Travis Anderson (99) and Eric Schoenfielder (100).

At Red Wing, Shakopee finished third with a score of 355.

Alex Jensen was the low Saber at 84 followed by Andrew Long's 89, Jasper's 90, Jarod Westlund's 92 and Tanner Hennen's 99.

After a "one, two, three, score first " cheer, Eden Prairie's Kelly Nute smacked a solo home run over the left field fence, allowing the Eagles to take a 1-0 lead in Wednesday's softball game against the Chanhassen Strom.

Chanhassen would tie the game in the top of the fourth inning, before Eden Prairie snuffed out a Storm rally with a 1-3-2 doulbe play.

Eden Prairie added three more runs to win 4-3.

The win was Eden Praiire's second of the season. Overall, the Eagles have a 2-2 record.

 

  

For the fourth time in as many games, the Eden Prairie High School baseball team beat a team by 10 runs or more.

Wednesday, the Eagles defeated Chaska 13-3 in five innings, running their overall record to 4-0.

Grant Soderberg, getting his first varsity start, allowed three hits over five innings. Soderberg struck out six and walked one.

David Belusky (2-3), Brian Athey (2-2), Tony Skjefte (2-3), Blake Scmit (2-4) and Ryan Bredemeir had two hits apiece. In all, the Eagles recorded 14 hits.

Eden Prairie scored runs in every inning, three in the first, two in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth and five in the fifth.

Thursday (today), Eden Prairie takes to the road for the first time this season with an away game at Burnsville (4:15 p.m.).

 

Although it's only the second Lake Conference meet of the season, the race for a Lake Conference boys golf title appears to be a two-horse race.

Monday, the Eden Prairie High School boys golf team won the Lake opener, edging Chaska by two strokes (303 to 305).

Wednesday, at Bluff Creek, Chaska won  the second Lake meet of the seasonr, edging Eden Prairie by four strokes (302 to 306).

Six meets are used to determine a Lake Conference champion.

A third meet is scheduled for Monday at Hazeltine National (2 p.m.).

 

The Burnsville baseball team keeps bashing the baseball.

The Blaze scored double-digit runs for the fifth time this season in an easy 11-0, five-inning home win over Bloomington Kennedy April 21 in a Lake Conference game.

It's the fifth game the Blaze has won by 10-run rule in its 6-1 start (4-0 in the conference).

Senior Jake Threlkeld lit up Kennedy's pitching going two for three with a double, triple and five RBIs. Senior Billy Vermeer went two for three with a triple and two runs scored, while sophomore Matt Stemper went two for two with an RBI.

The Blaze scored its 11 runs in just four innings, cranking out 10 hits. The Blaze scored six runs in the second inning to take quick control of the game.

Senior Hayden Baker was the beneficiary of the run support. He pitched five shutout innings to get the win, allowing four hits and striking out four.

Senior Brandon Peterson also had an RBI single for the Blaze, while junior Justin Threlkeld had a RBI double.

Burnsville will get a stiffer test Thursday, April 22 when it plays host to Eden Prairie in a conference game at 4:15 p.m.

 

Kelsey Anderson is proving to be unhittable.

The Burnsville junior tossed her second straight no-hitter April 21 in the Blaze's 2-0 Lake Conference win at Lakeville South. The right-hander fanned 13 batters as the No. 4-ranked Blaze improved to 3-1 in league play (4-1 overall)

Anderson had a perfect game through five innings, but Lakeville South got its one and only base runner to lead off the sixth, reaching on an error.

Anderson tossed a no-hitter April 19 in a 5-0 victory over Eden Prairie, fanning 16 batters. She lost her bid for a perfection in that conference game in the sixth inning when she hit the first batter she faced.

Anderson has 67 strikeouts in 38 innings this spring, along with a 0.37 earned-run average. She's allowed just 13 hits.

Meanwhile, Anderson helped her own cause in the win over Lakeville South. She had two of the Blaze's four hits, including an RBI single in the sixth inning.

Burnsville scored an unearned run in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Abby Harazin singled and later came around to score on an error. Senior Brooke Selisker walked to lead off the sixth inning, stole second and advanced to third on senior Maggie Dunsmore's single, before Anderson drove her home.

Selisker has a .476 on-base percentage and is hitting .400 in the Blaze's lead-off spot. She's also tied for the team lead in RBIs with four with Dunsmore and junior Megan Lehnen.

The Blaze will return to action Saturday, April 23 in the North St. Paul Invitational starting at 9 a.m.

 

 

The Burnsville girls lacrosse team proved it can win without the services of its top scorer.

The Blaze earned a 7-6 home win over Prior Lake April 21, playing pretty much the entire game without Amanda Colin.

The senior earned a red card two minutes into the game for dangerous propelling and had to sit out the rest of the game. Colin has eight goals in the team's first two games and had 34 last season.

Burnsville (2-1 overall) found itself down 5-3 midway through the second half, but then turned it on scoring the game's next four goals.

Junior Megan Killmer picked up the scoring slack in Colin's absence. She finished with four goals. Seniors Emily Youngman, Kelsey Steinbach and Emily Lowry each had one goal. Junior Erin Suel made seven saves in goal for the Blaze.

The Blaze went into the Prior Lake game on the heels of a 10-9 home loss in overtime to Bloomington Jefferson April 17. Colin had four goals in the losing effort, while Steinbach had two.

Youngman and junior Nicolette Deason and Katie Vinje each had one goal. Suel made 15 saves.

The Blaze is back on the field Thursday, April 22 at Easttview at 7 p.m. Burnsville is back the following day to Park of Cottage Grove.

The Prior Lake boys golf team is playing like a team capable of reaching one of its goals this season - the Missota Conference title.

After two tournaments, the Lakers are in first place. Prior Lake won the first conference tourney at River Oaks April 12 and finished runner-up in the second one at Stonebrooke Golf Club April 20.

Prior Lake had a team score of 308, four shots behind champion Shakopee. New Prague was a distant third (320), followed by Holy Angels (325) and Red Wing (327).

Prior Lake also had a runner-up finish at the 15-team Mound Westonka Invitational April 19 at Burl Oaks Country Club. Orono won the crown with 307, while Prior Lake had 311. Holy Family was at 319, while Minnetonka shot 321.

The Lakers have played in four tournaments in April, winning one and taking second three times. That's a pretty solid start with even bigger competitions ahead.

Sophomore Mitch Holm led the Lakers at Stonebrooke, firing a 4-over par 75 to finish second overall. Five of the Lakers' six players were in the 70s.

Senior Ben Reynolds had 77, while senior Alex Zeyen, junior John Hafdal and sophomore Matt Spier each had 78. Junior Bobby Breecroft finished with 80.

At Burl Oaks, Holm again led Prior Lake taking fourth overall with a 4-over par 76. Breecroft and Spier had 78s, while Zeyen was the Lakers' fourth score at 79.

Prior Lake will return to the links Monday, April 26 in a conference tournament at Fountain Valley Golf Course at 2 p.m.

The Lakers will play in the Legends Cup Tuesday, April 27 at the Legends Golf Club at 3 p.m. Burnsville, Northfield and Lakeville North are in the field.

The Prior Lake girls track didn't put its top lineup together at the Irish Invitational in Rosemount April 20.

But the Lakers' talent and depth still showed in a second-place finish in the eight-team field. Prior Lake scored 157.5 points and was narrowly edged by Eastview (160) for the crown.

Rosemount was third (150), followed by Eagan (139), Northfield (34), Henry Sibley (28), Simley (17.5) and Park of Cottage Grove (12).

Lakers coach Scot Jaenicke shuffled the lineup some. The Lakers have a very busy week, competing in the Farmington Invitational Thursday, April 22 at 3:30 p.m. and then in the Elite Meet at Hamline University Friday, April 23.

Prior Lake was also coming off a runner-up finish at the 20-team Lakeville North Mega Meet April 16. Four competitions in seven days are tough. Therefore, Jaenicke was forced to mix up his lineup a little to keep things fresh.

The Lakers had four wins at the Irish invite. Senior Sami Kemper won the 400 meters with a time of 1 minute, .65 seconds. Prior Lake had four in the top five in the 400 with sophomore Madison Lesmeister taking second (1:00.90), sophomore Haley Kemper in fourth (1:01.36) and senior Paige Foster in fifth (1:01.36).

Sophomore Lauren Bruha shined in the 300 hurdles, winning with a time of 49.62. Sophomore Taylor Scholl won the 3,200 (11:39.15). Meanwhile, the 4 x 800 relay team of Foster, junior Kaiti Porter, sophomore Alex Fasking and eighth-grader Mackenzie Schell was victorious (9:58.20).

Prior Lake had two others relays finish second. Lesmeister, the Kemper sisters and junior Alex Citrowske made up the 4 x 100 (51.01), while Bruha, Fasking and sophomores Kirsten Anderson and Samantha Anderson teamed up in the 4 x 400 (4:16.00).

The 4 x 200 team of juniors Erica Birkeland, Kara Stein and Katie Nielsen and sophomore Taylor Ward was third (1:52.13).

Stein was also fourth in both the long jump (15 feet, 8.5 inches) and the 100 hurdles (16.99), while Samantha Kemper was second in the triple jump (34-8 1/2) and eighth in the 100 (13.42).

Haley Kemper was fifth in the both triple jump (32-0) and the 100 (13.23), while Citrowske was fifth in the 200 (27.13) and seventh in the 100 (13.34).

Senior Niki Porter was third in the 300 hurdles (50.17) and sixth in the 100 hurdles (17.12). Ward was fifth in the 100 hurdles (17.11).

Fasking ended up fifth in the 800 (2:32.84), while Kirsten Anderson was fifth in the 1,600 (5:37.41). Senior Kaley Swanson was fourth in the pole vault (8-6), while senior Abby Choudek was eighth (8-0). Choudek was also sixth in both the triple jump (31-8) and high jump (4-10).

Eighth-grader Kasie Vollmer was fifth in the shot put (34-1 1/2), while Schell was sixth in the 3,200 (12:22.37) and Kaiti Porter was seventh (12:39.92).

Next week, Prior Lake will compete in the Minnetonka Invitational Thursday, April 29 at 3:30 p.m.

For the second game in row, the defending state champion Eden Prairie High School girls lacrosse team scored 18 goals.

Saturday, they pinned 18 on Apple Valley.

Tuesday, they knotched 18 against Centennial, a team that was said to be improving.

Blake Kist led the goal parade with five goals. Christin Easton and Emma Claire Fontenot added three goals apiece. Ciera Stifel scored two goals. Morgan kist, Mary Bridgid-Brady, Taylor Uhl, Allie LaCombe and michelle Jamar scored lone goals.

Thursday, Eden Prairie returns to action with home game against Lakeville (6 p.m.).

 

A week ago, the Eden Prairie High School boys tennis team opened its season with a 5-2 loss to Apple Valley.

 

Since then, they beat Rosemount 7-0 and then beat Lakeville North 7-0.

 

Question: Is Eden Prairie a better team since it lost to Apple Valley?

 

Head coach Dean Rudrud isn't sure.

 

"Playing David (David Zhou) at No. 2 singles solidified our singles lineup," explains Rudrud. "On the other hand, the level of competition isn't the same."

 

To prove his point, Scott Elsass, Eden Prairie's No. 1 singles player, won a set against his Lakeville North opponent on Monday without losing a point.

 

"A golden set," said Rudrud.

 

Needless to say, Elsass won 6-0, 6-0.

 

"Two games in a match was the most we lost," adds Rudrud.

 

Doubles anyone?

 

Eden Prairie's recent success aside, Rudrud insists that his lineup can get stronger.

 

"We've got 14 guys on our varsity roster," said Rudrud, "and 12 of them want to play singles."

 

Problem is, only four of them can.

 

"I have to put my salesman hat on," said the coach. "A -- I've got to convince the guys of the importance of having a strong doubles lineup. B -- I've got to find the best combinations."

 

What's he looking for?

 

He's looking for players who can not only spot their serves, but have strong net games.

 

"I'm not looking for someone who likes to grind it out on the baseline," he adds.

 

To be fair, his best players, the players who play in tournaments throughout the year, are, for the most part, singles players.

 

"If you're going to play in a tournament," adds Rudrud, "you're going to probably play singles."

 

Does that make doubles a lost art?

 

"Yes and no," answers Rudrud. "The NCAA is devaluing doubles, but at the same time, the best high school teams are the teams that have a good No. 4 singles and good No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams."

 

So?

 

The search for doubles players continues.

 

Wednesday, Eden Prairie is scheduled to return to action with an away match at Lakeville South.

 

Saturday, Eden Prairie hosts the Rich Strohkirch Invitational; participating teams include Blake, Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Minneapolis South and Rochester Mayo. Saturday's tournament begins at 8:30 a.m.

The saying "You better make hay while the sun shines" was apropos Monday for the start of the Lake Conference boys golf season.

 

Hint: Call the Eden Prairie High School boys golf team a bunch of haymakers.

 

Monday, the Eagles won their first tournament of the season, posting a four-score 303 at the par 73 Minnesota Valley Country Club.

 

Tommy Kohler and Dylan Baker posted a pair of 75s. Eric Omdahl carded a 76 and Kevin Brooke and Justin Blader each shot 77.

 

"Last year," adds Eden Prairie Head Coach Ty Armstrong, "we played our worst tournament of the season at Minnesota Valley, so this was a nice turn around."

 

In his next breath, Armstrong said his team's score could've been lower.

 

"We had too many three and four putts," he said. "So guess what? Today, we're going to work on our short game."

 

Chaska finished two strokes back with a 305. Bloomington Jefferson posted a 306. Lakeville North and Eastview posted a pair of 307s. Rosemount carded a 311.

 

Wednesday, Eden Prairie was scheduled to play the second of six Lake Conference tournaments at Bluff Creek.

 

Friday and Saturday, Eden Prairie participates in the Tri-State Tournament (Hastings Country Club).

 

"That's going to be a good barometer," adds Armstrong.    

The Prior Lake boys track program still has plenty of room to grow, but coach Russ Reetz is excited about his team's progress in the season's first few weeks.

"This team is just starting to scratch the surface of what it's capable of accomplishing," said Reetz.

The Lakers had some strong performances at the seven-team Roseville Area Invitational April 20, including a winning effort from the 4 x 800-meter team and a winning discus throw from sophomore Nick Brandt.

The foursome of junior Curtis Weatherford and sophomores Mason Gracia, Jackson Homstad and Stephen Bruha recorded a time of 8 minutes, 25.29 seconds. Brandt had personal-best toss of 137 feet, 5 inches.

Prior Lake finished fourth in the team standings with 102 points. Roseville Area won the title (141), followed by Forest Lake (136) and Coon Rapids (121.5).

Junior Landon Case also had a strong invite, finishing second in both his individual events, the 400 (52.88) and the 800 (2:03.86). Both his times were personal bests.

Prior Lake's 1,600 sprint medley relay team of sophomores Taylor Case, Ben Olson and Tanner Feine and ninth-grader Jimmy White was runner-up (3:52.95), as was the 4 x 200 relay team of Feine, sophomore Kieth Riddering, junior Emmanuel Patrick and senior Jimmy Williams (1:35.00).

The Lakers' 4 x 100 relay team of junior Tyler Maxwell, Feine, Patrick and Williams was third (45.47). Maxwell was also second in the triple jump with a personal-best leap of 40 feet, 7.5 inches, while sophomore Mason Lytle was fourth, also recording a career-best mark (39-11).

Junior Mike Von Arx led the Lakers in the pole vault, taking third with a height of 11-6. Junior Isaac Passek was fourth in the 110 hurdles (16.82) and fifth in the 300 hurdles (42.92).

Other top-eight individual finishes for the Lakers came from junior Leo Foote in the 400 (5th, 54.45), Fiene in the 100 (6th, 11.82), senior Carl Christensen in the 3,200 (7th, 10:36.64), Taylor Case in the 110 hurdles (7th, 17:06) and ninth-grader Tyler Duff in the 110 hurdles (8th, 17:10).

Prior Lake isn't back on the track until April 29 when it competes in the Minnetonka Invitational at 3:30 p.m.

 

The Prior Lake softball team had to rally in extra innings to stay unbeaten April 20.

The Lakers scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning for a dramatic 3-2 home win over Shakopee in a Missota Conference game. The Lakers improved to 6-0 (5-0 in the conference).

With the bases loaded and one out, junior Trena Larson ripped a single down the first base line that scored senior Andrea Seurer with the tying run and senior Miranda Larson with the game-winner.

Shakopee struggled with the relay from right field, which allowed Larson to score. Seurer led off the inning with a single and Larson singled with one out. Both were moved into scoring position when junior Mariah Lehrer reached on error. Lehrer finished with two hits.

Trena Larson also finished with two hits, while junior Taylor Workman and senior Brittany Lauterbach each had three hits. Workman drove in the Lakers' first run with an RBI single in the third inning that scored her sister, sophomore Tori Workman, who was pinch running for Lauterbach.

Lauterbach was denied her fifth shutout of the season when Shakopee tied the game in the top of the seventh inning on Ashley Walker's solo homer.

Shakopee scored its second run with two outs in the ninth, setting up the Lakers' rally in the bottom of the frame.

Lauterbach notched her sixth complete game victory. She allowed just three hits, walked two and fanned 11 to improve to 6-0. Lauterbach has 76 strikeouts in 44 innings pitched, allowing just two earned runs, which gives her a 0.32 earned-run average.

Prior Lake is back on the field Thursday, April 22 at Northfield in a conference game at 4:30 p.m.

Eden Prairie ... we've got a problem.

Mike Halloran, head coach of the Eden Prairie High School baseball team, wants his players to play competitive seven-inning baseball games and his players don't want to.

 Huh?

Although Halloran's Eagles are 3-0, they've yet to play a complete game. A week ago Monday, they opened their season with an 11-1, five-inning win over Bloomington Jefferson. Two days later, they beat Chanhassen 15-5 in six innings. Monday, they only played five innings in a 12-2 win over Bloomington Kennedy.

What gives?

"We're playing well," admits Halloran, "but the biggest thing is that the other teams are stinking it up defensively."

To be sure, each of the teams Eden Prairie has played has committed a minimum of three errors per game.

"Like the Jefferson coach said," adds Halloran, "Eden Prairie is going to make it hurt if you make a mistake and they are going to make it hurt really bad."

In the Chanhassen win, extra outs played a role on two big innings, a five-run first inning and a five-run fifth inning. Monday, errors factored into a five-run second inning and a seven-run third.

To be fair, Eden Prairie has been pounding the ball (18 hits against Chanhassen).

"We've done a good job putting the ball in play," admits Halloran.

In Thursday's win over the Storm, Grant Soderberg went 3-4 with 5 RBI; Blake Schmit was 3-3 with two runs, and Tyler Peterson was 2-4 with 3 RBI.

In Monday's win over Kennedy, Tony Skjefte and Brian Athey each finished with multiple hits. Ryan Bull added a two-run home run.

As for Eden Prairie's pitchers, they've been efficient. 'To be successful," said Halloran, "you need to throw an off-speed pitch for a strike and you need to be able to spot your fastball. For the most part, we've done that."

Monday, Adam Bray, making his varsity debut as a starter, was credited with Eden Prairie's best outing; allowing three hits and no walks over four innings.

"Only one of their first nine batters reached base,' adds Halloran, "and Adam picked him off."

Wednesday, Eden Prairie is scheduled to host Chaska. Thursday, the Eagles take to the road for the first time this season with an away game at Burnsville.

"They should be tough," said the coach. "They've been state champs for years, but I think we've finally caught up."

Time will tell.

The Eden Prairie High School boys and girls track teams went into last week�s Lakeville Mega Meet with rust and cobwebs (coach's words).

"Almost everyone else had a couple meets under their belts," said Bruce Kivimaki, head coach of the Eden Prairie High School boys track team, "and we hadn't competed outdoors yet."

As a result, Eden Prairie wasn't nearly as consistent as it needs to be.

"We were up and down," adds Kivimaki.

Still, the Eden Prairie boys team almost won, finishing only four points behind Wayzata (96-92). Rosemount finished third with 79 points, Armstrong finished fourth with 62 point and Minnetonka finished fifth with 59 points. The field included 37 teams.

The Eden Prairie girls team finished 11th out of the 20 teams that scored points.

"Pretty much where we were last year," said James Strait, head coach of the Eden Prairie High School girls team.

Fargo South won the girls meet with 133 points. Prior Lake finished second with 75 points. Lakeville North (65), Minnetonka (51) and Grand Rapids finished three, four and five.

Eden Prairie finished in 11th place with 27 points.

Highlights

In spite of a late change caused by an injury, the Eden Prairie boys team's sprint relays were impressive, winning the 4 X 100 (44.3) and placing second in the 4 X 200 (1:35.65).

An injury would also limit Rumeal Harris. Still, Harris would win the long jump competition with a single jump (21-8).

Tyler Kubler won the discus event with a toss of 161-10.

Rashawn Fountain would also have a solid meet, running legs on both the 4 X 100 and 4 X 400 relay teams, placing fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (42.09) and seventh in the long jump (19-8).

Mike Sandle also impressed, running the lead leg of the 4 X 100 relay, finishing in a two-way tie for first place in the high jump (6-2) and finishing fourth in the triple jump (42-6).

As expected, Eden Prairie would also score points in the distance events -- David Platner finished third in the 800-meter run (2:00.20), Erick Meszaros-Jones finished third in the 1,600-meter run (4:33.78) and Chris Mueller finished fourth in the 3,200-meter run (9:43.80).

On the girls� side, Megan Platner, Allie Rudin and Laura Lawton finished one (11:39.44), three (11:45.54) and four (11:50.00) in the 3,200-meter run.

Hannah Fisher ran a personal best in the 100-meter dash (13.13, ninth place).

Brittany Platt finished seventh in the 800-meter run (2:27.20).

Kelli Lindsey finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (49.29).

Dani Schultz finished seventh in the long jump (15-7 1/2).

Bryanna Sudman, recovering from a back injury, shut it down after clearing 9-0 in the pole vault.

"The meet included 98 pole vaulters," complained Strait. "Overall, there were way too many teams. The first event started at 3 p.m. and the last one ended at 11."

That said, Strait was able to accomplish what he had hoped to accomplish.

"We got to see a lot of kids compete," he adds, "and that's going to help us set our True Team lineup."

Thursday, Eden Prairie competes in the Shakopee Relays (3:30 p.m.). A week from Saturday (May 1), Eden Prairie gets to compete in its own meet (Booster Invitational, 9:30 a.m.).

Chaska's baseball team has taken some lumps in the early-going so far this season.

But the Hawks pulled out their first victory of the season 4-3 over Bloomington Jefferson on Monday at Dred Scott Fields.

Hawk senior Steve Sorensen had three hits and scored twice, and catcher Justin Thompson had two hits and two RBI.

Chaska starter Zach Franz allowed four hits and three walks over eight innings, while striking out six. Nate Swenson came on in the seventh inning and pitched a 1-2-3 frame to notch the save.

The Hawks took the lead in the third inning with a two-out rally. Hawk shortstop Cameron Goff drew a leadoff walk, but the next two batters struck out.

Justin Kurth was then hit by a pitch and a Sorensen single brought scored Goff. Thompson doubled to score Kurth for the 2-0 lead.

The Jaguars tied the game in the bottom of the third, but the Hawks got back on top in the fifth. Sorensen dinged a one-out double, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Thompson base hit.

Jefferson again knotted the game in the fifth.

Sorensen led off the seventh inning with a single and took second as Thompson was hit by a pitch. Brody Bornmann walked to load the bases, but Jefferson reliever Luke Larson struck out the next two hitters.

But Goff worked a full count and took ball four to force in the winning run.

Swenson got a groundout and a pair of flyouts to nail down the victory.

Chaska (1-3) next plays at Eden Prairie, 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 21.

The Burnsville badminton team is 0-4 against teams that have St. Paul as part of their school name.

Meanwhile, the Blaze is 3-0 against everyone else and have won those matches by a 7-0 margin, including a sweep of Minneapolis South April 15.

The Blaze followed with a 7-0 loss at St. Paul Como the next day and a 5-2 setback at St. Paul Highland Park April 19.

So in total, the Blaze is 23-5 in 28 total matches against St. Paul teams, 21-0 against the rest.

That's not totally surprising. The St. Paul programs have been traditionally strong over the years. St. Paul Harding is the two-time defending state champion.

The Blaze will face Harding at home Thursday, April 22 in a triangular match that also includes Eden Prairie, starting at 3:15 p.m.

In the win over South, the Blaze won 14 of 16 games. Senior Theresa Muench won at No. 1 singles (21-15, 21-12), while senior Casey McClarnon won at No. 2 in three games (21-12, 14-21, 21-10). Junior Nicole Gray cruised at the No. 3 spot (21-6, 21-7), while junior Laura Haider won at No. 4 (21-7, 21-9).

In doubles, the Blaze's No. 1 team of seniors Sierra Stewart and Caitlin Carr won in three games (19-21, 21-14, 21-16), while seniors Julia Borstelmann and Kate Lacher won at No. 2 (21-17, 21-7). Juniors Amanda Lueck and Kelly Nickell won at No. 3 (21-17, 21-14).

In the loss to Highland Park, the Blaze's two wins came in doubles. Borstelmann and Lacher won at No. 2 (21-16, 21-7), while juniors Jessica To and Katy Nelligan won at No. 3 in three games (15-21, 23-21, 21-9).

 

The early season struggles continued for the Prior Lake girls lacrosse team April 19.

The Lakers dropped to 0-3 on the spring following a 14-4 home loss to Eagan-Rosemount. Prior Lake has been outscored 32-12 in its three games.

"Unless we decide to compete as a team and give our best effort all 50 minutes of the game, this will be a long, difficult season," said Lakers coach Guy Jones. "We can't expect to win when we allow 34 shots on goal - all from inside the eight-meter arc (about four feet away).

"All of the girls have the talent and knowledge of the game to compete with any other team in this league," added Jones. "It just needs to be brought to the field."

Junior Nicole Christopher had two goals in the loss, while senior Jessi Barton and junior Emily Hedberg each scored one goal.

Ninth-grader Hannah Gilbert made 21 saves in goal for Prior Lake.

The Lakers are back on the field Wednesday, April 21 at Burnsville at 6 p.m. Prior Lake returns home the next day to take on Bloomington Jefferson at 7 p.m.

The Burnsville boys golf team was stuck in the 80s in its first Lake Conference tournament of the season April 19.

The Blaze didn't have a player in the 70s, nor one in the 90s at Minnesota Valley Country Club in Bloomington. Burnsville's six scores were between 81 and 85.

As a result, the Blaze ended up12th out of 12 teams with a team score of 330. Eden Prairie won the title with a 303, followed by Chaska (305), Bloomington Jefferson (306), Lakeville North and Eastview (307), Rosemount (311), Eagan (312), Lakeville South (314), Chanhassen (315), Apple Valley (324) and Bloomington Kennedy (326).

Sophomore Adam Lambrecht had the Blaze's best score, shooting an 8-over par 81. Junior Trevor Neilsen was a shot back of his teammate with 82, while junior David Duschane had 83.

Senior Adam Smyth and eighth-grader Alex Uloth both had 84, while sophomore Evan Munyon rounded out the Blaze's lineup, shooting 85.

The Blaze will be back in conference action Wednesday, April 21 at Bluff Creek Golf Course at 2 p.m.