Panthers clip Royals at State

Lakeville North has a state championship trophy to add to its trophy case after the Panthers earned the school's first girls golf championship in its second appearance on the state stage by the narrowest of margins.
A single stroke was all it took for North to dethrone 2008 Class AAA titleholder Woodbury as the Panthers clipped the Royals, 692-693, after 36 holes of competition at Bunker Hills Golf Course in Coon Rapids concluded on June 3.
Woodbury, who earned their inaugural golf championship last season and were the No. 1-ranked team in Class AAA all season, were looking to make it two in a row in their 12th consecutive appearance. However, the same team members from last spring shot 14 strokes worse than 2008 on the same Bunker Hills locale, allowing Lakeville to sneak past and add blue ribbons on top of their red shirts.
Both squads relied on total team efforts, as neither the Panthers nor Royals fielded an individual medal-winning participant. Edina rode fifth-palce individual finisher Aubrie Nelson to a third-place result of 696, while first-round leader Eden Prairie struggled mightily on day two and plunged to a fourth-place result after totalling a 699.
Grand Rapids placed fifth with a 707, followed by Stillwater at 715, Alexandria at 749 and first-year team participant Spring Lake Park rounding out the state tourney roll call in eighth at 752.
Forest Lake's Betsy Kelly, a ninth-place State individual finisher in 2008, rose to the top of the medal stand this season after the junior earned a four-stroke victory with a five-over par score of 151 after 36 holes. New Prague senior Steffi Neisen took second with a 155, as Burnsville senior Gretchen Huhnerkoch and Eastview freshman Sara Detlefsen tied for third at 157.
Nelson, a Hornets junior, earned fifth all by herself with a 158, one stroke ahead of Maple Grove senior Kelly O'Brien's sixth-place tally of 160. Spring Lake Park senior Emily Kvidera was seventh with a 160, with Austin's Catherine Wagner and Burnsville's Natalie Samb sharing eighth after both seniors carded a 161.