Prior Lake's quest for a return trip to the state softball tournament ended with a 1-0, eight-inning loss to top-seeded Mankato West in the Section 2AAA title game May 30.

The second-seeded Lakers, who were seeking the third state berth in program history, finished with an overall mark of 20-5. 

Lakers’ tennis season over

The 2008 boys tennis season officially came to an end for the Lakers on May 23 at the Section 2AA North Subsection individual tournament in Lakeville.

Laker junior Florian Kunz was the eighth seed in the subsection singles tournament and beat ninth-seeded Karl Green of Shakopee (6-1, 6-2) in the first round. Kunz then lost (6-2, 6-0) to top-seeded Dennis Martin of Orono in the second round.

With a pair of individual state qualifiers, the Laker girls stormed to a share of the Day 1 lead at the Section 3AA track and field championships May 27 at the University of St. Thomas.

The second and final day of the section meet was postponed until Saturday, May 31, beginning at 10 a.m., also at St. Thomas.

Senior Heather Hagelberger turned in the highlight of the day for the Lakers, capturing the section title in the pole vault with a school-record-setting effort of 10 feet, 6 inches.

Prior Lake finished Day 1 of the section track meet in eighth place.

Rosemount scored 31 points to grab the Day 1 lead, followed by Park of Cottage Grove (21), Burnsville (21), Apple Valley (18), Eastview (17), Richfield (14), Eagan (11), Prior Lake (6), Bloomington Kennedy (5), Holy Angels (5), Simley (4) and Bloomington Jefferson (3).

Neither the Laker boys’ team nor the girls’ team advanced to Day 2 in the new two-day format of the Section 2AAA golf tournament, but a handful of individuals made it through.

Day 1 of the tournament was held on May 22 at Oakdale Golf Club, with the top six teams and next 12 individuals advancing to Day 2, which was held May 27 at Oakdale.

The Prior Lake girls shot 392 to tie for eighth, while the boys shot 318 to finish ninth in the 12-team field.

A 9-8 subsection playoff loss to New Prague – a team they had beaten twice during the regular season – ended the Lakers’ year far earlier than they expected May 24.

Prior Lake went 0-2 in the tournament and finished 12-9 overall, losing eight of its final 12 games this year.

The Lakers stayed alive this past week in their quest for the third state softball berth in program history, advancing to the Section 2AAA finals.

Second–seeded Prior Lake, already with one loss in the double-elimination tournament, was scheduled to take on top-seeded Mankato West on May 30 and needed to win two in a row to capture the section title.

The Laker girls repeated as Missota Conference champions, while the Laker boys enjoyed their best showing in several years, placing fourth in the eight-team field.

With 218 team points, the Prior Lake girls easily outpaced runner-up New Prague, which finished with 181 points. It marked the Lakers’ sixth straight conference title.

Shakopee (139.5), Farmington (106), Red Wing (85), Northfield (75), Holy Angels (55.5) and Hutchinson (52) rounded out the girls’ field.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer

James Nicholas Dahlager, 26, of Prior Lake, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery in Meeker County on Thursday afternoon.

The following obituaries are from the May 31, 2008 print edition of the Prior Lake American newspaper: