Blake, Eden Prairie win third Challenge Cup awards

For the third time in six years, both The Blake School of Minneapolis and Eden Prairie High School have won the Minnesota State High School League Challenge Cup competition. They are the only schools to have achieved this milestone. Lakeville, at the time the sole high school in the community, and St. Cloud Cathedral have each won the Challenge Cup twice in previous years.
Created in 2003, the Challenge Cup is a statewide, year-long competition
among League member schools. Schools earn points for their success in post-season tournaments, and two schools-one in Class A and one in Class AA-with the most points are awarded the traveling Challenge Cup. The award is sponsored by Wells Fargo, the League's premier corporate sponsor.
Leading all schools with 971 points for the 2008-09 school year, Eden Prairie first captured the Class AA Cup in 2006 and again in 2008. In 2007 the Eagles finished second. During this past year's Challenge Cup competition the Eagles won team championships in girls' cross country running, boys' hockey and girls' lacrosse. The Eagles also had individual champions in boys' Nordic ski racing, girls' track and field (1600-meter run and pole vault), and girls' swimming and diving (100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly).
Other top finishers in the Class AA competition were Wayzata (815 points), Edina (763 points), Eastview of Apple Valley (613 points), Hopkins (531 points), and Minnetonka (513 points).
In the contest for the Class A Challenge Cup, The Blake School earned 547 points for their success in 10 different 2008-09 activities. The Bears finished first in boys' cross country running, boys' soccer, girls' hockey, and boys' swimming and diving (in a co-op with Breck School of Golden Valley). The Bears also had individual champions in boys' tennis (doubles), boys' track and field (3200-meter run), boys' Alpine skiing , and swimming and diving where they won six of the 12 events (200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, plus all three of the relays-200-yard medley, 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle) offered in that sport. The Blake School also won the Challenge Cup in 2005 and 2007 and was runner-up in 2008.
The remaining Top Five Class A schools were Perham (415 points), Breck School (86 points), Rochester Lourdes (355 points), and St. Cloud Cathedral (336 points).
Besides The Blake School and Eden Prairie, previous Challenge Cup winners were St. Cloud Cathedral in Class A in 2004 and 2006, Lakeville in Class AA in 2004 and 2005, Wayzata in Class AA in 2007, and Perham in Class A in 2008.
"Hundreds of schools, big and small, scored points during this year's Challenge Cup competition," said James Prunty, Great Lakes Region president for Wells Fargo. "We congratulate Eden Prairie and The Blake School for winning the Challenge Cup for a third time."
Representatives from the League and Wells Fargo will present the traveling Challenge Cup to each school this fall. For a complete list of all the schools that earned Challenge Cup points during the 2008-09 school year, click on the Recognition tab on the home page of the League web site at www.MSHSL.org.