CHARLIE ADAMS
Blake • tennis
The match that was supposed to happen didn't. At least, not when expected.
Adams and two-time defending champion Myles Tang of Breck were expected to meet each other for the Class 1A singles championship Friday. They already had played two days earlier in the team finals, with Adams taking a 6-1, 6-3 victory to lift Blake to the team championship.
But Tang withdrew from the singles bracket because of severe flu-like symptoms. Undaunted but slightly disappointed he wouldn't get the chance to play Tang for the title, Adams beat teammate Kavir Kumar 6-0, 4-6, 7-5 to win the singles championship.
"It would have been nice to get the chance to play Myles, but Kavir is a great player, too." Adam said.
Adams had defeated Kumar handily in the section finals, losing only one game over two sets, faced a stronger test in the finals.
"I knew Kavir was a better player than he was in the section match," Adams said. "After the first set, he changed his game and made it tougher on me. Winning this means a lot. This is the highlight of my tennis career."
Obsa Ali
Richfield • track and field
On Friday, the junior provided the first outstanding result of the Class 2A meet. Ali led a pack of three runners who all finished the 3,200-meter run in under nine minutes, winning the race in a meet-record time of 8:57.07.
TAYLOR ANDERSON
Hopkins • track and field
Anderson came within three-hundredths of a second from becoming a three-event champion at the Class 2A meet. She won her second consecutive 100-meter dash crown in 11.97 seconds, anchored the winning 4x100 relay team and lost to Phillis Webb of Osseo by .03 in the 200-meter dash.
MAGGIE EWEN
St. Francis • track and field
Ewen closed the most successful high school throwing career in state history by sweeping the Class 2A discus and the shot put for the third consecutive year. Her shot put of 54 feet, 8½ inches broke the previous state record by more than three feet and was less than three inches shy of the national record.
JAYME LANGBEHN
Elk River • softball
The freshman outfielder used her glove to lift the Elks' to a 4-3, eight-inning victory over Prior Lake for the Class 3A title, twice reaching over the fence to steal home runs. In the tournament she hit .444 with a home run and scored the winning run in the final.
JOEl RICHARDS
Minnetonka • tennis
Richards traversed a difficult path to win the Class 2A singles title, playing seven matches in four days, four of them going three sets. He closed his victory by winning the last three games of the final to beat Toby Boyer of Forest Lake 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.
Nathan Roese
East Ridge • track and field
At the Class 2A meet, the University of Minnesota-bound runner was eighth in the 200-meter dash and added a third-place finish in the 4x400 relay, but it was his performance in the 400 that stood out. He ran a time of 47.56, breaking a 20-year-old meet and state record in the process.
Jim Paulsen