KATIE LARSON
Apple Valley • lacrosse
In three victories last week, the No. 3-ranked Eagles scored 50 goals, topping their season average of 15.8 goals per game. Leading the onslaught, as usual, was senior attacker Katie Larson. She scored 20 of those goals, moving into second place in the state with 57. She added 14 ground ball controls and won eight draws.
All of this is from a player who never had picked up a lacrosse stick until joining the team in her freshman year.
"I had no experience whatsoever," Larson said. "But I worked really hard and got better quickly."
Larson quickly discovered she had an innate ability to score. She led the Eagles with 70 goals in 2013 and likely will top that total this year.
"I think I take charge of the scoring [responsibilities]," she said. "My coach expects it of me. She tells me she needs this many goals from me, and she won't take anything less."
Larson has developed so quickly that she earned a scholarship to Saint Leo University in Florida.
"I think," she admitted, "that I'm kind of a natural."
JULIA CHANG
St. Paul Central badminton
The senior No. 1 singles player elevated her game in the postseason, leading the Minutemen to their first state championship, beating four-time champ St. Paul Johnson 4-3 in the final. Two days later Chang pulled off another upset, beating top-seeded Panyia Vue of Johnson 21-18, 21-14 in the singles final.
