Athletes of the week: Eastview goalkeeper gets a small taste of lacrosse celebrity

The senior goalkeeper found out just how big a state championship can be over the weekend that followed Eastview's 10-4 victory over Eden Prairie in the final.

Koenen stopped 16 of 20 shots in the championship game, helping Eastview to the first boys' team championship in the school's 15-year history.

Like most seniors, Koenen made the rounds of graduation parties. He was pleasantly surprised, he said, by how many people came up to him to offer their congratulations.

"I didn't realize how many kids and parents noticed," he said. "I thought it would be nice for the lacrosse people, but our whole Eastview community seemed happy and wanted to tell me congratulations. It was a really nice feeling."

Koenen said his favorite memory came when the final buzzer sounded at the end of the championship game.

"One of our coaches always talked about building a body of work, and when the game was over, I thought about all of the hard work and time we'd put in," he said. "Then we won and it was like, 'Our body of work is now complete.' It was pretty satisfying."

Alowonle completed a dominant high school season with four first-place finishes in the Class 2A track meet. He won the 110- and 300-meter hurdles, setting state records in each, and added victories in the triple jump and 4x100-meter relay.

With Heacox in the circle, Stillwater got hot at the right time and helped the Ponies win the Class 3A championship. In three complete-game victories, she pitched 25 innings, gave up 16 hits, three earned runs and struck out 31 batters.

Lorencz, a junior, ran a time of 14.36 seconds to narrowly defeat two-time state champion Jessica January of Richfield and win the 100-meter hurdles at the Class 2A meet. She also won the long jump with a leap of 17-11¾, 3 inches farther than the runner-up.

The sophomore midfielder's all-around performance was crucial to the Bears' third consecutive state championship. In their 11-10 victory over Eden Prairie in the final, Sutton scored two goals, assisted on three (including the game-winner), picked up seven ground balls and forced five turnovers.

Tang, a junior, survived a brutal stretch of seven matches in four days against top-flight competition to win his second consecutive Class 1A singles championship and lead Breck to its third team championship in four years and seventh in team history.