South notebook: Lakeville South coach gets familiar feeling

It was deja vu for Lakeville South girls' swimming coach Rick Ringeisen Saturday night.

The Cougars mentor watched his 200-yard medley relay team finish in a dead heat for first place with Stillwater in the Class 2A state swimming and diving championships at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Both teams finished with a state record time of 1 minute, 34.80 seconds.

"I had a really good seat, but a race like that is too close to see with the naked eye," Ringeisen said. "I snapped my head quickly and looked up at the scoreboard. I saw the No. 1 for us, and looked further down and saw the other No. 1 ."

Just as he did in 1996. The Lakeville boys' team -- coached by Ringeisen -- tied Rosemount for first place in the same event at the state meet with a time of 1:28.75.

"It was pretty exciting when it happened that time, too," Ringeisen said. He has been coaching swimming in Lakeville for 29 years.

The Cougars' also had two third-place finishes in the meet -- the 200 medley relay team and junior Hailey Campbell in the 100 backstroke.

"We had a tremendous year," Ringeisen said. 'It was an exciting finish to the season."

That's what Eastview's girls' team played to on Saturday against Hastings. The two teams combined for only 39 shots on goal in the overtime matchup.

Eastview junior netminder Lindsay Kauchick made 17 saves. Hastings senior Liz Callahan stopped 22 shots.

Etc. • Junior Danielle James of Lakeville North was the runner-up in the 100-yard breaststroke for the second consecutive year in the Class 2A state swimming and diving championships Saturday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. She finished with a time of 1:04.58, more than a second better than her 1:05.91 winning time of a year ago.