Hopkins Lacrosse Changes Sections

Hopkins lacrosse will have a whole new cast of section opponents following a reclassification process that otherwise left Hopkins athletics largely unchanged.

Hopkins lacrosse will move from Section 6 to Section 5. , the Hopkins activities director, noted that the Royals will no longer be in the same section as perennial state championship contenders Eden Prairie. But he added that the team’s new section still has strong teams that will put up a stiff challenge.

The new section also has more of an east-west orientation than Section 6’s north-south geography. In the west, the teams include Edina, Benilde-St. Margaret’s and, for girls lacrosse, St. Louis Park. In the east, the new section stretches past girls opponent Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul to Roseville and the Woodbury area.

“Not a lot of the same teams,” Johnson concluded.

The Minnesota State High School League reclassifies and reassigns schools to sections every two years. These section assignments will last through the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years.

Organizers aim to move as few schools as possible, create sections of similar sizes and minimize travel time, if possible. The league does not take into account the strength of a program or rivalries.

Other Hopkins sports will also see some modest changes that will mostly be limited to changes of one or two teams within their sections.