Minnetonka Alpine Teams Ski To State

Back-to-back section championships for the Minnetonka girls and boys alpine ski teams highlighted a Tuesday that Skippers girls hockey team finish its regular season and the basketball squads swept by Hopkins.

Boys Alpine Skiing: Minnetonka Wins Section 5 Championship

The Minnetonka boys alpine ski team claimed the Section 5 title while Peter Albertson earned the individual sectional crown at the championship meet at Afton Alps.

Albertson led the Skippers with a first-place time of 57.11 seconds as his team amassed 393 points; Griffin Struyk finished in 58.70, followed by Lars Midthun in 58.73, Ben Capper in 58.88, Jake Bell in 63.9 and Griffin Robillard in 64.9.

Minnetonka out-skied second-place Orono (361.5 points) and Hopkins (342).

The state meet is scheduled for next Wednesday at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.

Girls Alpine Skiing: Skippers Claim Sectional Crown

Erin Olejnik and Madison Gartner skied identical 64-second times to lead the Minnetonka girls alpine ski team to the Section 5 championship with 341 total points.

Megan Greiner finished in 64.2, Marlee Gartner in 65.8, Jessie Landa in 65.9 and Katie Thompson in 67.7 as the Skippers out-paced runner-up Benilde-St. Margaret's (332 points) and Blake (331).

Girls Hockey: Minnetonka 5, Breck 0

While many girls hockey teams have already begun their section playoff runs, Minnetonka closed out its regular season with a 5-0 shutout of Breck at Pagel Ice Arena.

Defender Rachel Ramsey and forward Paige Baldwin both scored twice with forward Laura Bowman adding a goal in the win as goaltender Julie Friend made 18 saves for her ninth shutout of the season.

Minnetonka enters the Section 6AA playoffs with a 23-1-1 overall record after winning the Lake Conference with a 7-0-1 mark

The Skippers are the top seed in the sectional and will play either Robbinsdale Armstrong or Cooper in its playoff opener at 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Girls Basketball: Hopkins 84, Minnetonka 52

The Minnetonka girls basketball team dropped into third place in the Lake Conference after an 84-52 loss at Hopkins.

Skippers guard Ali McArthur and forward Katy Winge scored 12 and 10 points apiece in the 32-point loss.

Minnetonka, now 16-4 overall and 2-2 in the Lake, hosts non-conference opponent Braham at 7:15 p.m. Friday night.

Boys Basketball: Hopkins 87, Minnetonka 62

An 87-62 home loss of Lake rival Hopkins dropped the Minnetonka boys basketball team to 4-16 overall and 0-3 in conference play.

Forward Nick Latzke led the Skippers with 16 points, with guard Andy Jones scoring 11 points and forward Andrew Turnblad 10 points.

Minnetonka travels to Anoka for a non-conference matchup at 7 p.m. Friday night.