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In track terms, it was the race, before the race.

With sections in sight, North Branch and Chisago Lakes tuned up their engine last Thursday at the North Branch Invite. It was both squads final tune-up before the section meet, therefore, times were more important than scores, results were more important that wins and losses.

The Vikings, who have been working overtime lately, seemed to be happy with the results, especially in the field events where North Branch picked up three first place finishes. Phil Olson, Joe Lofboom, Billy Oehlers, and Al Moore all dominated their events. Lofboom took the role of injured teammate Bowie McClaskie by winning the pole vault, while Olson placed first in the discus, Oehlers grabbed first in the shot put, and Moore jumped higher than anyone in the high jump, clearing five feet 10 inches.

North Branch was also successful on the track, grabbing three more firsts. Nick Ramberg won the 1600 meter run, Moore placed first in the 110 hurdles, and the Vikings also won the 4 X 800 meter relay.

As for Chisago, the Wildcats ran with different line-ups at times, hoping to find some answers to those few remaining questions before this weeks section meet.

“I wanted to give some kids a chance to run some different races, and for others, I wanted to give them some speed work,” said Ken Orwoll, Chisago Lakes head boys track coach. “Now we have to figure out who has the best shot at sections without knowing a whole lot about teams like Anoka, Elk River, Forest Lake, etc. It was just one of those meets where I wanted to change things up and get some questions answered.”

Helping to answer some of those questions was Ben Dery, who had arguably his strongest meet of the year. Dery placed second in the 400 meter dash and eighth in the 200 meter. In addition, Greg Stignani took first in the 3200 meter run, Sam Solberg won the 800 meter run, Andy Olness finished second in the triple jump, and Mike Seabloom ran second in the shot put.

“Ben had a great day. Seabloom had an awesome day in the shot. All three of his throws were personal bests which was pretty impressive, and our relays ran well again,” remarked Orwoll. “I think our relay teams should be fine at sections. Our triple jumpers will do fine, our long jumpers will do fine. The shot and discus are always tough with 13 teams, there is always going to be a couple good throwers, so I think our field events might hurt us a little bit. But overall, I think it’s going to be a pretty good meet.”

North Branch Invite

Boys team results-

1. North Branch 102

2. Chisago Lakes 95.5

3. Spring Lake Park 75

4. Cambridge-Isanti 64

5. Princeton 37.5

Individual Results

(CL & NB only):

4 X 800 relay-

1. North Branch 8:35.50

2. Chisago Lakes 8:51.20

110 hurdles-

1. Al Moore (NB) 15.90

3. Chris Hitchcock (CL) 16.30

4. Josh Beach (NB) 16.70

9. Bryan Loesch (CL) 19.20

100 dash-

5. Chris Golv (CL) 11.90

7. Jordan Belle Isle (CL) 12.10

9. Brian Moore (NB) 12.20

9. Shawn Armstrong (CL) 12.20

4 x 200 relay-

2. Chisago Lakes 1:36.90

3. North Branch 1:37.90

1600 meter run-

1. Nick Ramberg (NB) 4:42.90

3. Zach Hunter (CL) 4:58.30

4. Dan Brelje (CL) 4:59.80

9. Aaron Sedergren (NB) 5:20.10

4 x 100 relay-

3. North Branch 46.50

4. Chisago Lakes 46.70

400 meter dash-

2. Ben Dery (CL) 52.70

3. Joe Lofboom (NB) 52.70

4. Blane Maher (CL) 53.30

300 hurdles-

2. Josh Beach (NB) 43.30

4. Chris Hitchcock (CL) 45.20

6. Bryan Loesch (CL) 46.60

7. Ryan Decorsey (NB) 47.00

800 meter run-

1. Sam Solberg (CL) 2:05.70

3. Nick Sausen (NB) 2:10.30

4. John Leaf (CL) 2:10.90

5. Mike Ferguson (NB) 2:11.50

8. Erik Lee (CL) 2:16.10

8. Adam Gades (NB) 2:16.10

10. Guy Bahnemann (NB) 2:18.10

200 meter dash-

4. Christian Swanberg (CL) 23.80

7. Matt Carlson (NB) 24.30

8. Ben Dery (CL) 24.50

10. Mike Carlson (NB) 24.70

3200 run-

1. Greg Stignani (CL) 10:39.7

5. Zach Hunter (CL) 11:29.6

6. Mitchell Pohlkamp (NB)11:54.3

High Jump-

1. Al Moore (NB) 5’10”

2. Josh Beach (NB) 5’8”

3. Devin Swanberg (CL) 5’8”

5. Chris Golv (CL) 5’6”

Pole Vault-

1. Joe Lofboom (NB) 12’0”

3. Rob Sandgren (CL) 11’6”

Long Jump-

4. Andy Olness (CL) 19’2.5”

5. Chris Golv (CL) 18’10”

6. M. Vanden Heuvel (NB)18’8”

Triple Jump-

2. Andy Olness (CL) 41’3.5”

3. Devin Swanberg (CL) 40’1.5”

5. Al Moore (NB) 38’3”

9. Andrew Fairbanks (NB) 36’3.5”

Shot Put-

1. Billy Oehlers (NB) 48’1”

2. Mike Seabloom (CL) 42’2.25”

8. Jordan Gades (NB) 40’2.25”

9. Zack Backus (NB) 39’6.75”

9. Rob Monson (CL) 39’6.75”

Discus-

1. Phil Olson (NB) 133’7”

2. Zack Backus (NB) 129’9”

3. Charlie Frame (CL) 120’10”

4. Billy Oehlers (NB) 119’6’

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