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Girls place third at state

You can now add another milestone to the list, a third place finish at the state ski meet, that’s after the Chisago Lakes/St. Croix Falls accomplished that feat last Thursday. It’s the highest the Wildcats girls ski team has ever finished in the history of the Chisago Lakes program.

After taking second at the section meet, the Wildcats edged out section champ Duluth East for third place, finishing with 139 points, 16 behind Edina who won the state championship. Katie Kinzer led the way for Chisago in the team competition finishing fourth. Brittany Nelson ran sixth.

“After the first run, we were sitting good,” remembered Dan Raedeke, Chisago Lakes/St. Croix Falls assistant ski coach. “We were happy with the way things were going. Sarah Bottjen had an awesome first run, but then had some troubles in her second run. Jessica Lundgren finished 13 so she skied really well. It’s always nice to win, so there was a little disappointment, but these kids should really be proud of what they’ve accomplished. We lost to Edina and Lakeville. Those are two big schools. I think once the girls realized what they did, they were happy.”

Individually, Brittany Nelson finished her career in green and gold with a combined score of 1:15.63, good enough for fifth overall. Both of Nelson’s runs came in under 39 seconds. Jessica Lundgren finished tied for 20th and Sarah Bottjen placed 29th overall.

“For Brittany, I think that was a very good placing,” mentioned Raedeke. “Jessica got 20th as a sophomore. That’s awesome, you can expect great things to come from her, and Sarah (Bottjen) finished 27th as a freshman. The season just went so well. You tend to want to start thinking about next year already but not me, I want to relish everything that happened this season for awhile. To finish third at state, go undefeated in the regular season, win the conference, win the Wild Mountain Invite, and win the Welch Invite, that’s more than anyone can ask for. Most teams would be happy with just one of those things.”

Girls State Ski Meet

Team Results-

1. Edina 155

2. Lakeville 154

3. Chisago Lakes 139

4. Duluth East 139

5. Bloomington Jeff. 106

6. St. Paul Academy 101

7. Stillwater 100

8. Mahtomedi 58

Individual Results (CL only)-

5. Nelson

20. Lundgren

27. Bottjen

Boys place fourth at state

It’s not so much that they took fourth that led to so much disappointment, it’s that they thought they finished third.

Due to a scoring error, the Chisago Lakes/St. Croix Falls boys ski team was awarded the third place trophy last Thursday at the state ski meet, only to have the third place trophy taken away from them an hour later. Instead, Eden Prairie was awarded third, Chisago dropped to fourth. Still nothing to sneeze at.

“That was a tough pill to take, that’s still be worked out,” mentioned Raedeke. “The guys were hoping to do considerably better but it wasn’t in the cards for them. They still beat Virginia, the team they beat at sections, so that was nice. Fourth place is nothing to hang your head about, that’s the best finish in the history of the program.”

Senior Isaiah Kinzer saved some of his best for last, performing in his final high school ski meet. Kinzer finished fourth overall in the team competition while Ross Stensrud came in 16th. As a team, the Wildcats finished with 129 points. Benilde St-Margaret’s won the state title, scoring 168 points.

In the individual meet, despite falling on his first run, Kinzer recovered to finish 13th overall. Seth Kinzer followed with a 16th place finish, and Dan Olson, who was plagued by falls all afternoon, took 35th.

“Isaiah wanted to get in the top five and I thought he could do that with two clean runs,” said Raedeke. “Still, even though he fell, he had a great second run. To fall and still take 13th is pretty amazing.”

For the boys, like with the girls, plans are already underway for next year. The Wildcats will lose Isaiah Kinzer and Stensrud to graduation, but the rest of the varsity line-up will return in tact. Sixth last year, fourth this year, how about next year?

We are 358 days from finding out.

Boys State Ski Meet

Team Results-

1. Benilde-St. Margaret’s 168

2. Woodbury 145

3. Eden Prairie 140

4. Chisago Lakes 129

5. Virginia 123

6. Blake 103

7. St. Paul Central 100

8. Eagan 93

Individual Results (CL only)-

13. I. Kinzer

16. S. Kinzer

35. Olson

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