By Mark Nesvig, Sports Editor

With their 11th straight conference win May 14, the Lakers secured at least a share of the Missota softball crown for the first time under head coach Mona Glass.

Prior Lake then followed that up with a 1-0 victory over Shakopee in the May 15 regular-season finale to clinch sole possession of the title, finishing 17-3 overall and 13-1 in the Missota - a game ahead of Farmington.

After splitting four Missota tilts during the frantic final days of the year, the Lakers went into the May 15 conference finale with an outside shot at the title but lost 3-2 to Shakopee.

Holy Angels won the conference crown with a mark of 10-4, while Prior Lake finished 8-6 in the Missota.

The Stars swept the season series with Prior Lake, getting a 7-4 victory on May 12, but the Lakers bounced back with a 10-8 win over Red Wing May 13 and an 11-6 decision over New Prague May 14 to run their overall record to 11-6.

With a score of 402, the Laker girls placed seventh in the 13-team Lakeville North Invitational at Heritage Links May 14.

Lakeville North shot 343 to claim top honors, while Faribault (353), Bloomington Jefferson (377) and New Prague (377) rounded out the top four.

Lane Dulon, who carded a 93, was the Lakers’ top performer.

The Lakers had gone into the match on the heels of a third-place showing at a four-team Missota Conference meet May 12 in Hutchinson.

A team score of 320 netted the Laker boys’ golfers a fifth-place showing in a full Missota Conference meet at Hutchinson May 14.

Holy Angels shot 312 to claim the team title, followed by New Prague at 317, Hutchinson at 318 and Red Wing at 319. Shakopee (328), Farmington (344) and Northfield (345) rounded out the field.

Sophomore Alex Zeyen and freshman John Hafdal led the way for Prior Lake, firing matching 77s.

Third-seeded Minnetonka topped sixth-seeded Prior Lake 6-1 in the Section 2AA tennis quarterfinals May 13, bringing to an end one of the Lakers’ most successful seasons in program history.

Prior Lake finished 8-5 overall this year, recording its highest win total since 1993, and posted a program-best mark of 6-1 in the Missota Conference, which was good for second place – its best-ever showing.

Facing the only team they had beaten all year, the seventh-seeded Laker girls were eliminated from the Section 3 lacrosse tournament May 9, falling 6-5 to 10th-seeded Visitation Academy in a play-in game.

It was the first victory of the year for Visitation, while Prior Lake finished what was a rebuilding season with an overall record of 1-11.

The Lakers had beaten Visitation 5-4 during the regular season but found themselves down 4-1 early at sections and couldn’t recover. Prior Lake got within a goal three times but wasn’t ever able to get the equalizer.

Deal with the real issues

Our forefathers never expected the city of Prior Lake to use eminent domain to take property (that wasn’t used for roads, etc.) from a private citizen who owns a building in Prior Lake. Yet this is exactly what they plan to do.

From readers

HELP APPRECIATED

By Jonathan Cohen