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It almost feels like the Wildcat boys had been waiting for the Chisago Lakes Invite all season. Just waiting for the moment to show their home crowd just how powerful they really are. Just waiting to show rival North Branch the same thing, even though the Vikings already knew it. They might not have had a lot to prove last Thursday, but that didn’t stop the ‘Cats from running wild, en route to a CL Invite title.

Individually, John Leaf secured his position as the best runner in the conference. Leaf finished first overall, a full 29 seconds ahead of the Vikings Nick Ramberg. In addition, helping Leaf out was Zach Hunter, Dan Brelje, and Ben Dery who followed right behind. Hunter, Brelje, and Dery finished fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively.

Right on the heels of the Chisago boys was North Branch who finished three points behind the Wildcats. The Vikings performance was impressive because of their balance. North Branch took second, third, ninth. 11, 12, 13, and 14 overall.

“We were happy to be as close as we were to Chisago,” said Ward Gilkerson, North Branch head cross country coach. “We were very happy with our balance. Our number 4-7 runners really stepped up.”

In the girls race, the Vikings were second to none. Led by seventh-grader Haley Hasleiet, North Branch breezed to an easy win. Pine City was second, 20 points off the pace.

As for Hasleiet, running in her first career varsity race, she finished first overall, 10 seconds ahead of teammate Rachel Souther. The rest of the Viking line-up also placed in the top 10. After Hasleiet and Souther, Amanda Peterson ran fifth, Maddie Rindahl finished seventh, Shayna Bauer eighth, Tiffany Peterson ninth, and Aileen Shanley 10.

“Haley had actually ran varsity distance before when we were in Hudson so we expected her to do well,” commented Gilkerson. “Overall, the girls did great. We really enjoyed being able to win that meet. Everyone did well.”

Meanwhile, Chisago Lakes managed a third place finish overall in the girls race. Emmy Wold topped the Wildcats with a sixth place finish. The next closest finisher was Julie Arnold who ran 16.

Chisago Lakes Invite:

Varsity Boys Results- Top 5:

1. Chisago Lakes 34

2. North Branch 37

3. Pine City 71

4. ML/WR/Barnum 102

5. East Central INC

Chisago Lakes-

1. John Leaf 17:11

5. Zach Hunter 17:57

6. Dan Brelje 17:58

7. Ben Dery 18:00

15. Andrew Turner 19:07

17. Nathan Gieske 19:11

22. Ezra Wittner 19:51

North Branch-

2. Nick Ramberg 17:40

3. J.J Koerber 17:52

9. Nick Sausen 18:26

11. Brandon Nagle 18:44

12. Cody Good 18:51

13. Mitchell Pohlkamp 18:55

14. Aaron Cedergren 18:59

Chisago Lakes Invite

Girls team results:

1. North Branch 23

2. Pine City 43

3. Chisago Lakes 77

4. East Central INC

Chisago Lakes-

6. Emmy Wold 17:41

16. Julie Arnold 19:09

17. Makayla Grote 19:38

18. Chelsey Johnson 19:40

20. Kelsey Campbell 20:04

21. Ashley Wilke 20:23

22. Kirsten Ruser 21:37

North Branch-

1. Haley Hasleiet 16:07

2. Rachel Souther 16:17

5. Amanda Peterson 17:38

7. Maddie Rindahl 17:52

8. Shayna Bauer 18:04

9. Tiffany Peterson 18:15

10. Aileen Shanley 18:15

‘Cats, Vikings strut their stuff at Swain Invitational

Just two days after the CL Invite, the Wildcats and Vikings met again last Saturday, this time at the famous Swain Invitational in Duluth.

Fresh off a first place finish last Thursday, Leaf once again padded his stats by finishing eighth overall out of 180 runners. Also turning heads was Ben Dery who followed with a 46 place finish. Dan Brelje was the only other Wildcat to place in the top 100. Brelje ran 88. As a team, the Chisago Lakes boys squad finished 13 out of 27 complete team scores.

The Vikings, as planned, finished with an incomplete score, but like in the Milaca Megameet a week before, the Vikings goal going into the race wasn’t their score. Instead, head coach Ward Gilkerson allowed all of his runners to run in their respective age group. That left only three varsity runners- hence the incomplete score.

Nick Ramberg and J.J Koerber ran with the sophomores. Overall, Ramberg finished third while Koerber came in fourth. Throw in fellow sophomores Aaron Cedergren, Cody Good, Brandon Nagle, Ben Prager, and Ben Meemken, and the seven combined for a first place finish as a team in the sophomore division.

Not to be outdone, the North Branch seventh and eighth grade boys also finished first as a team, led by Boyd Suparat who finished seventh overall.

Following suit, the sophomore girls made it a sophomore sweep for North Branch. With seven runners racing, all seven finished in the top 100. Rachel Souther made the most noise by placing fifth overall. Amanda Peterson added a 13 place finish and Tiffany Peterson ran 16.

In addition, in the seventh-grade girls race, Hasleiet finished first overall out of 92 runners.

“It was probably the best performance North Branch has ever had even since we started going to that thing which I think dates back to 1973,” said Gilkerson. “It was great to see that. It sure says a lot about the future of this program.”

Last but not least, Chisago Lakes finished 22 as a team on the girls side. Chelsey Johnson led the Wildcats by finishing 125.

Swain Invite:

Varsity Boys Results- Top 5:

1. Moorhead 93

2. Mounds View 106

3. Wayzata 123

4. Fridley 162

5. Mlps. Southwest 224

13. Chisago Lakes 377

North Branch INC

Chisago Lakes-

8. John Leaf 17:26

46. Ben Dery 18:37

88. Dan Brelje 19:24

107. Andrew Turner 19:41

132. Nathan Gieske 20:09

134. David Olson 20:10

165. Ezra Wittner 21:51

North Branch-

79. Nick Sausen 19:14

131. Mitchell Pohlkamp 20:06

148. Chad Schrandt 20:42

Swain Invite

Girls team results- Top 5:

1. Mounds View 79

2. Duluth East 127

3. Tartan 134

4. Moorhead 148

5. New Prague 163

22. Chisago Lakes 643

North Branch INC

Chisago Lakes-

125. Chelsey Johnson 20:11

130. Makayla Grote 20:30

140. Julie Arnold 20:42

154. Ashley Wilke 22:07

155. Kelsey Campbell 22:15

156. Kirsten Ruser 23:06

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