'Tonka boys take over

It was fitting that Minnetonka junior Ben Sigel was the one holding the Class 3A boys' state golf team trophy, Wednesday. With his medalist honors, he donned two gold medals around his neck, too.

"It's nice," Sigel said. "Awesome to be a state champion."

Sigel gave himself a commanding lead with a 67 in the first round and a par 72 for a 139 total at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids. Sigel was 3-under through 14 holes of that first round Tuesday before play was suspended because of weather.

He said it was hard to sleep on the lead.

"It definitely made things easier knowing that I had six shots to work with," Sigel said. "But really I was looking at lengthening the lead and just having the same mindset as I did yesterday."

He didn't score as well in the final round, though it didn't matter on the leaderboard as he finished six shots ahead of Harrison Cooper of Simley.

He missed a few greens but got up and down for the most part.

Minnetonka won the team title, becoming the fourth Lake Conference school to win it in the past four years. The Skippers shot 297 each day, for a combined 594, a 13-stroke victory over Lakeville South.

In the girls' 3A tournament, New Prague senior Taylor Ledwein was tied for the lead after Day 1 . She said that it was tough waiting for the second day of the tournament, and then she didn't think she was hitting well at the practice range before the final round.

"Then I just got out there," Ledwein said. "Either the best is going to happen, or you're not going to win. So just go out there and give it your all."

The best happened, as Ledwein successfully defended her individual state title.

She followed up her opening round 71 with an even-par 72 for a 143 total, six strokes ahead of Hannah Hankinson of Edina.

Kenzie Neisen of New Prague won outright in 2014 and tied for the title with Sarah Burnham of Wayzata in 2013.

It was pretty smooth sailing for the first 15 holes. But then Ledwein five-putted 16. She rebounded with a birdie at 17.

"So after that, I just figured I'd par out and hopefully that was going to be enough," she said.

Edina defended the girls' team title with a 600 total score, 30 strokes better than last year.