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Cross country runners from North Branch and Chisago Lakes competed in the North Suburban Conference Meet Tuesday, October 17 at Bassett Creek Park in Crystal. The North Branch boys brought home the team title and a total of 10 runners from the two schools earned all-conference positions.

Team Results

Boys

1 North Branch 38

2 Benilde St Margaret’s 53

3 Robbinsdale Cooper 122

4 SpringLkPk/StAnthony 124

5 Fridley 141

6 Irondale 145

7 St. Louis Park 146

8 Chisago Lakes 178

9 St. Francis 207

10 Totino Grace 267

Girls

1 St. Francis 33

2 North Branch 66

3 Benilde-St Margaret’s 85

4 Totino Grace 122

5 SpringLkPk/StAnthony 122

6 Robbinsdale Cooper 127

7 Chisago Lakes 167

8 Irondale 183

9 St. Louis Park 230

10 Fridley 244

Individual Results

Boys — 5K

Chisago Lakes

Time Place

Zach Hunter 17:09 12*

Max Molina 18:08 31

Nathan Gieske 18:15 35

Tom McGurk 18:22 38

Brad Johnson 19:17 62

Matt Jorgenson 20:10 67

Jack Faith 20:58 71

North Branch

Nick Ramberg 16:52 3*

JJ Koerber 17:01 5*

Mike Heidelberger 17:01 6*

Ryan Norman 17:02 7*

Brandon Nagle 17:31 17^

Cody Good 17:41^20

Aaron Cedergren 18:23 39

Girls — 4K

Chisago Lakes

Time Place

Danielle Vitali 16:06 3*

Chelsea Johnson 17:21 26^

Emmy Wold 17:26 33

Becca Schmidt 18:03 45

Laura Eastman 18:52 60

Makayla Grote 19:01 62

Julie Arnold 20:26 67

North Branch

Miranda Charley 16:14 8*

Shayna Gray 16:30 10*

Kendra Norman 16:44 14*

Haley Hasleiet 16:45 15*

Briana Berthiaume 17:08 19^

Megan Zimmerman 17:24 30^

Ali Zimmerman 18:45 59

* = All-Conference

^ = Honorable Mention

Chisago Lakes head coach Joy Koeppel was pleased with the performance of her runners. Senior Zach Hunter was a repeater on the all-conference squad and hopes he can qualify for the state meet, again.

The improvement of the Wildcat girls’ team was dramatic. Last year, the team finished 10th at the NSC Meet. This year’s team, led by Danielle Vitali’s all-conference time, moved up four places. Vitali also seems poised to make a run at a state meet berth.

In 2005, the North Branch girls team earned the first NSC championship for the Vikings. This year, the boys cross country team brought home an addition to the Viking trophy case.

North Branch head coach Ward Gilkerson found it hard to keep the smile off his face when talking about his teams. His runners earned a total of eight spots on the 30 member all-conference squad. Miranda Charley, Shayna Gray, Kendra Norman and Haley Hasleiet all finished in the top 15 and boys Nick Ramberg, JJ Koerber, Mike Heidelberger and Ryan Norman finished in the top seven, earning all-NSC recognition.

Talking about his teams, Gilkerson said, “All the teams were superb.” Besides his varsity boys team finishing first, the NB girls were second, as were both the Viking JV teams.

The Vikings and Wildcats were scheduled to compete in the 7AA Meet at Cloquet today, October 26.

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