Five sports stories to remember from the year just ended

As the school year concludes, here are five notable stories in Washington County high school sports during the 2013-14 school year:

• East Ridge center J.C. Hassenauer, a combination of brute strength, quick feet and a fiery disposition, became the first Minnesota high school football player in more than 80 years to commit to play football at Alabama. Quarterback Seth Green, Hassenauer's sophomore teammate, received an offer from the Gophers.

• Park of Cottage Grove basketball star Sydney Lamberty passed former teammate Larissa Lurken to become the leading girls' basketball scorer in school history. Lamberty, who earned a spot on the Star Tribune's All-Metro team, will play for Creighton University next year.

• Forest Lake, led by the groovily monikered Leo Hipp, had four skiers finish among the top 30 to win the boys' Nordic skiing state championship. Hipp finished third overall.

• East Ridge junior James Tidd came within .75 of a second of being a four-event state champion at the Class 2A state swimming meet. Tidd swam on the winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays, won the 50 freestyle and finished third in the 100 freestyle.

• The South Washington County Thunderbolts, paced by a core of juniors in Lucas Fiedler, Tristan Rankin, Lucas Coy, Dylan Kubitschek and Thomas Jarosiewicz, won the adapted softball state championship in the Cogntively Impaired Division.

Jim Paulsen