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Last Monday, the Chisago Lakes/St. Croix Falls ski team added even more history to their already historic run by defeating Centennial in both the boys and girls races, wrapping up conference for yet another year. It’s the third straight conference title for both squads.

The boys left little doubt right away how their meet was going to end. Dan Olson picked up his seventh straight conference win, finishing a half of a second ahead of Seth Kinzer who took second. Jeff Wolfe and Andrew Wagner flew down the course as well, coming in third and fourth respectively. In all, Chisago Lakes placed eight skiers in the top 10 en route to a convincing 48-7 win over the Cougars.

“They (Centennial) had some kids fall, and as soon as that happened, it really opened the door for our kids,” said Rodger Petryk, Chisago Lakes/St. Croix Falls head ski coach. “The kids were just on a mission. I gave them a pep talk before the meet and boy did they come out and ski well.”

Again, Olson turned in the best performance of the night by cruising down the hill with the fastest first run of the meet. He coupled that with the second fastest time in run two, giving him a combined time of 50.14.

“He won all seven races in conference this year. I can’t remember the last time that has happened, that a kid was able to get 70 points in a season,” remarked Petryk. “Normally a kid makes at least one mistake throughout the year. That’s just unbelievable.”

Dominick Raedeke, Dan Sandgren, Gus Garbe, and Mitch Peterson also finished in the top 10 for Chisago Lakes.

Speaking of falling, while the Centennial boys had problems staying on their feet, in the girls race, Chisago Lakes was plagued by several miscues. Still, even with that, the Wildcats were still able to post a 32-23 win, giving them the conference championship.

The ‘Cats lost their third, fourth, and fifth skiers to falls. Simone Raedeke had trouble with her second run, dropping her to 11th place overall. Meanwhile, Katelyn Garbe and Brianna Stoeckman also fell, placing them at 17 and 19th place respectively. However, the Wildcats balance picked up the slack, still managing to place six skiers in the top 10. Kate Kinzer didn’t have any trouble, finishing first overall with runs of 24.93 and 24.47 seconds, the two fastest runs of the night. Right behind her was Sarah Bottjen who placed second, one second off the pace.

“We got a little depth and that makes you feel good to know that when things happen, we have kids who can step it up,” replied Petryk. “It was the bottom half of our group that won it for us. Katy Boyer, I don’t know where she came from. She just skied out of her mind. And Melinda Beyer is skiing really consistent for us. Also, Laura Biersach was able to grab us a point by finishing 10th. If it wasn’t for those kids, Centennial could have beaten us.”

But they didn’t. With the win, the Wildcats finish the season with an undefeated conference record. Centennial finishes with one loss.

Boys Team results:

Chisago Lakes 48

Centennial 7

Individual results (Top 10)-

1. Dan Olson 50.14

2. Seth Kinzer 50.45

3. Jeff Wolfe 51.37

4. Andrew Wagner 53.23

6. Dominick Raedeke 53.96

7. Dan Sandgren 54.61

8. Gus Garbe 55.14

9. Mitch Peterson 56.25

Girls Team results:

Chisago Lakes 32

Centennial 23

Individual results (Top 10)-

1. Kate Kinzer 49.4

2. Sarah Bottjen 50.41

5. Katy Boyer 55.62

7. Melinda Beyer 56.7

9. Andrea Nickelson 57.7

10. Mariah Stoeckman 59.03

Wildcats win combined team title at Welch Invite

Last Friday, the Wildcats battled through the snow, 49 other teams, and 280+ other skiers to win the combined team title at the Welch Invite for the second straight season.

The girls squad led the charge by taking first overall. Skiing on the short course, Brianna Stoeckman finished second overall with a combined time of 42.90. She was followed by Simone Raedeke who finished third overall on the short course. Approximately 150 skiers raced on the short course. One hundred and fifty more took part in the long course. The difference between the short and long course is roughly 15 seconds because of the location of each run.

And while we’re on the subject of the long course, Kate Kinzer finished first- as in she was the best skier on the mountain. Kinzer opened up her day with the fastest first run of the day. She then cruised down the course on her second run, finishing with the second fastest time. The end result was a combined time of 1:11.84- the fastest on the course.

“She really skied well. She’s technically solid and she’s so strong,” explained Petryk. “She’s really strong for a ninth-grader. She’s just skiing really well right now and she showed what she can do.”

In all, out of the six girls who competed for Chisago Lakes, all of them placed in the top 60 overall (out of 300 racers). The performance was more than enough to give them first as a team, 43 points ahead of Stillwater.

Meanwhile, although the boys team didn’t finish first, the Wildcats performance was good enough for third as a team. Jeff Wolfe led the ‘Cats on the short course while finishing with the second fastest time of the race. As for the long course, Seth Kinzer ran fourth overall. Dan Olson, who despite slipping on his first run down the hill, followed Kinzer with a 36th place finish.

“With the speed that he was coming down with, I think he probably would’ve won the whole thing,” said Petryk when referring to Olson’s slip. “He was really flying. It was survival-type course. Usually the kids who go out there to win it probably crash. It was really snowing and the ruts had really settled by the time he went. Even so, the rest of the guys really carried the load. It showed what type of depth we have.”

Welch Invite:

Overall Team Champion-

Chisago Lakes 1352

Wild Mountain Invite

Boys team results- Top 5-

1. LaCrosse Central 676

2. St. Thomas Academy 654

3. Chisago Lakes 609

4. Bloomington Jeff 608

5. Mankato East 602

Individual results (CL only):

Short Course-

2. Jeff Wolfe 38.79

34. Dan Sandgren 42.61

98. Andrew Wagner 52.60

Long Course-

4. Seth Kinzer 1:09.43

36. Dan Olson 1:18.23

39. Dominick Raedeke 1:18.81

Wild Mountain Invite

Girls team results- Top 5-

1. Chisago Lakes 743

2. Stillwater 700

3. Mankato West 616

4. Mounds View 601

5. Minnehaha Acad. 600

Individual results (CL only):

Short Course-

2. Brianna Stoeckman 42.90

3. Simone Raedeke 43.82

15. Kate Garbe 47.08

Long Course-

1. Kate Kinzer 1:11.84

6. Sarah Bottjen 1:17.35

52. Melinda Beyer 1:32.44

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