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Conference champs or not, when it come to this week’s section meet, Cambridge-Isanti will be one of the favorites, North Branch won’t.

The Bluejackets earned that title with a convincing win at the North Branch Invite last Thursday. Spring Lake finished second. North Branch and Chisago Lakes followed.

The Vikings experimented at times, switching up events and athletes, hoping to keep everyone fresh. Even with the unfamiliar line-up, the Vikings depth continued to show through. Out of the 18 events, North Branch finished with someone placing third or better in 13 of them, including two firsts and five seconds.

The two first place finishes came from who else? Jenny Anderson burned up the track in the 100 meter hurdles, winning the race by a nose over Rae Ann Carpentier of Cambridge. The Vikings 4 X 100 relay team also grabbed a first.

The Wildcats also had two athletes stick out. Kari Schmidt once again swept the shot put and discus, winning both events, and Kara Orwoll placed first in the 800 meter run.

“Kara is an athlete,” said Beth Carlson, Chisago Lakes head girls track coach. “She runs her heart out every meet. She is always ready to run and always fights all the way to the finish line. Even after getting first, she isn’t happy with her time and wants to get down for sections.”

The same can be said for the entire team. The countdown to sections has already begun. The ‘Cats hope their performance at the North Branch Invite will be just another step in getting them ready.

“At the North Branch meet, we were trying to get some consistency,” mentioned Carlson. “Many of the girls that competed in that meet will be the girls asked to do the same thing at sections. All season we have been working hard on who is the best girl for the job. Now we head to sections to see if we can bring home some medals.”

North Branch Invite

Girls team results-

1. Cambridge-Isanti 110

2. Spring Lake Park 93.5

3. North Branch 77

4. Chisago Lakes 47

5. Princeton 46.5

Individual Results

(CL & NB only):

4 X 800 relay-

4. Chisago Lakes 11:03.10

5. North Branch 11:06.70

100 hurdles-

1. Jenny Anderson (NB) 16.30

7. Ashley Steele (NB) 18.20

100 dash-

2. Heather Schwab (NB) 13.30

3. Shana Meath (CL) 13.6

7. Allie Fairbanks (NB) 14.10

4 x 200 relay-

2. North Branch 1:51.40

3. Chisago Lakes 1:56.10

1600 meter run-

3. Tiffany Peterson (NB) 6:10.80

4 x 100 relay-

1. North Branch 52.80

3. Chisago Lakes 54.40

400 meter dash-

2. Prouty-Kunshier (NB) 1:04.50

5. Cori Fairbanks (NB) 1:08.00

6. Ellie Fairbanks (NB) 1:08.10

8. Kristin Kaminski (NB) 1:10.30

300 hurdles-

2. Jenny Anderson (NB) 48.50

4. Ashley Steele (NB) 51.90

7. Kelsey O’Hern (NB) 54.60

800 meter run-

1. Kara Orwoll (CL) 2:37.30

3. Rachel Souther (NB) 2:38.80

5. Amanda Peterson (NB) 2:44.20

8. Angie Dery (CL) 2:48.60

200 meter dash-

2. J. Vanden Heuvel (NB) 27.40

5. Allyssa Houle (NB) 28.40

7. Heather Schwab (NB) 28.70

4 x 400 relay-

1. North Branch 4:18.40

3. Chisago Lakes 4:26.30

Pole Vault-

3. Trissica Bye (NB) 8’6”

High Jump-

5. Jenny Anderson (NB) 4’8”

8. Cori Fairbanks (NB) 4’4”

Long Jump-

3. Amber Maher (CL) 15’6.5”

5. Heather Schwab (NB) 14’4.5”

7. J. Vanden Heuvel (NB) 13’11”

Triple Jump-

6. Kelsey O’Hern (NB) 31’02”

7. Rachel Brown (NB) 30’9.5”

Shot Put-

1. Kari Schmidt (CL) 43’4”

3. Kelli Carlson (NB) 33’2”

5. Sabra Beam (CL) 32’3.25”

Discus-

1. Kari Schmidt (CL) 123’4”

6. Sally Oehlers (NB) 96’6”

7. Kelli Carlson (NB) 94’10”

8. Claire Williams (NB) 94’4”

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