While first in conference and third in state are commendable for any Park sport, the boys’ lacrosse team plans to play all the way to state in hopes of improving and becoming an official sport.

The club, founded in 2007, lost in the finals of the state championship last year against Hudson, which is currently ranked 4th according to laxpower.

Head coach Kevin Reed said he thinks the boys have the opportunity to play successfully this year and possibly even win the championship.

“A lot of players returned from last year, which gives us the opportunity to clean up our skills and build others such as developing more players to score,” Reed said. “Many of the seniors who are going on to play lacrosse at college next year bring a lot to the team.”

Senior Joey Kramer, who plans to play lacrosse at University of Missouri, said he agrees with Reed and thinks the team can win it all this year.

“(In addition to the seniors) we have good underclassmen who can work hard to become better,” Kramer said. “Even though we saw less kids on the team this year, people have been working just as hard to stay in shape.”

Sophomore Brody Ilstrup, a varsity starter and crucial team member according to Reed, said the upperclassmen on the team have established themselves as role models for younger players.

“We plan to win state this year. The example set by the older boys has helped each of us feel like we can do it,” Ilstrup said.

Kramer also said their performance this year can prove them worthy of becoming an officially-sanctioned school sport to represent Park.

“State is almost due diligence to see if we can go varsity in the future,” Kramer said.

Reed said he thinks the team would make an excellent representation of Park and cites the girls’ team and record as proof.

“St. Louis Park has a great lacrosse system in place and we want the ability to represent the community,” Reed said. “We are ready to go into a new conference and are not afraid to face tougher competition.”