Lakeland (MO)
| Lakeland | |
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|---|---|
| Location: Deepwater, MO | |
| Coaches | Josh Malecki |
| State Championships | 2018 MSHSAA Class 1 |
| Program Status | Active |
| School Size | 93 (MSHSAA enrollment: grades 9-11 in March 2022) |
| NAQT Page | link |
Lakeland is a small public school south of Deepwater, Missouri.
The team was coached by Ted Hall from 2014-2021. Josh Malecki has been the coach since fall 2022 after moving from Fort Osage.
Lakeland first hosted the Lakeland Winter Invitational in 2017 as part of MOQBA's Winter Invitational series.
MSHSAA State Championship
Led by sophomore William Koch, Lakeland advanced to its first MSHSAA State Championship in 2016, going 1-2 and not advancing to the afternoon. The next year, Lakeland went undefeated through the semifinals, including a 10 point win over Wellsville-Middletown in the semifinals, before perennial state champion Thomas Jefferson won the championship game 430-240.
2018
In 2018, due to the schedule being pre-determined by sectional numbers as always, Lakeland was scheduled to play Tuscumbia, Thomas Jefferson, and Mound City in the preliminary rounds. This schedule was notably challenging as those three schools had combined for 17 of the 22 previous state championships in Class 1 and had reached the final four in 32 of 33 previous appearances at State. Lakeland lost to Tuscumbia 380-260, defeated Thomas Jefferson 350-230, and lost to Mound City 330-310, ending the preliminary rounds with a 1-2 record.
With their three opponents earning the top three seeds with better records, Lakeland earned the fourth seed in the single-elimination playoffs by 90 points over three other 1-2 teams. In the semifinals, Lakeland avenged their earlier loss to Tuscumbia with a convincing 400-230 win over the #1 seed, resulting in a rematch with Thomas Jefferson. Lakeland ultimately prevailed in a tight championship match that went down to the last tossup/bonus cycle with a 340-320 victory over the ten-time state champion to earn the school's first ever MSHSAA state title.
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