by Todd Abeln
Thisweek Newspapers

Lakeville High School was the best school in the Minnesota State High School League.

That is as far activities goes, according to the MSHSL.

The Panthers won the first ever Wells Fargo Challenge Cup.

The Wells Fargo Challenge Cup is an award that recognizes Minnesota high schools for excellence in athletics and fine arts activities.

The MSHSL will present two awards, one for Class A and one for Class AA. Lakeville has received notice that it will win the Class AA award for the school year 2003-04.

ìWe had an outstanding year,î said Byron Olson, activities director. ìWeíre excited. Our student body has been wonderful all year long.î

The Wells Fargo Challenge Cup is determined by a point system that teams earn by their finish in both their section and state tournaments.

Schools earn points in both individual and team sports and in fine arts activities such as speech and debate.

Right from the beginning of the school year, Lakeville has had one of the best activities departments in the state.

In all, Lakeville won two state titles, had four second place finishes, two third place finishes and two fourth place finishes, not including the adapted team sports that Dakota United won. Those points are split between all participating high schools.

For winning a state title, a school is awarded 50 points, 40 points for second, 30 for third, 20 for fourth and 15 for consolation winners.

In addition to those points, 10 points are awarded to teams for winning their section.

Lakeville had 12 teams win their section and qualify for state this year.

In all, Lakeville finished with 855.65 points to dominate the Challenge Cup. Edina was second with 659 points.

ìThis is something our whole community can look at and be proud of it,î Olson said.

Lakevilleís two state titles came in the fall with the girls cross country team and football team.

In the winter, the Panthers qualified their girls and boys teams from both basketball and hockey.

In all, Lakeville had about 458 males and 350 females participate in athletic activities this year out of a student population of 2,250. And thatís just sports. Olson estimated another 200 to 300 students participated in fine arts activities last year.

ìWe probably have about 40 percent of our student body in MSHSL activities,î Olson said.

Cheerleading and lacrosse are not MSHSL sponsored activities so those participates are not counted in the numbers.

The fine arts department did their part in contributing to the Challenge Cup win as well, earning 101 points for the Panthers.

In fact, the speech teamed earned 86 points on their own to tie for the most points scored by any team.

The boys swimming team and the girls track and field team both earned 86 points as well.

For winning the Challenge Cup, the MSHSL will present Lakeville High School with a crystal cup they will hold for one year. After that they will receive a replica of the cup.

According to Olson, the MSHSL will present the cup next fall. It will then be presented to the student body, likely during homecoming week.

Olson said the school will invite the entire 2003-04 graduating class back to present them with the award.

With Lakeville becoming a two high school community in 2005, the domination of the Lakeville activities department may drop off, however. The school will go from a population of 2,250 to 1,500 at its peak.

ìIf you look at as how many titles we win then it will be a negative but with all the opportunities we are going to be giving kids it is only going to be a positive,î Olson said.

Lakeville won the cup playing in Lake Conference, the toughest conference in the state. Five of the top 10 finishers in the Challenge Cup came from the Lake Conference. After Lakeville and Edina, Eden Prairie was third, Apple Valley fourth, Burnsville fifth and Eagan eighth.

Where Lakeville has an advantage over those teams is that they are in Section 1 and not Section 6.

In Section 1, Lakeville plays against teams from Rochester, Albert Lea, Austin, Red Wing and the bigger schools from southeastern Minnesota.

The closest team from Section 1 to Lakeville is Rochester Mayo at 19th place with 277 points.

ìFortunately for us we are Section 1 and that benefits us,î Olson said. ìWe donít have play the Section 6 teams like Eden Prairie, Apple Valley, Eastview and Burnsville.î

With that said the teams still had to go out and win the games and win the titles.

For more information on the Wells Fargo Challenge Cup go to the Web site www.mshsl.org.

Todd Abeln is at sports.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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