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If there was any way to bring in a new season, it's with a good old fashioned rivalry.

Although the Hermantown Hawks made it a three-way tango, the North Branch and Chisago Lakes' track teams kicked off the schedule at the North Branch Triangular this week.

The results, though, didn't change a heck of a lot from last year. North Branch still found themselves on top of the standings in most of the events, much like last year when the two inter-county rivals squared off.

Boys

The Wildcats did earn the first first place of the day, however, with a win in the 4x800 meter relay. Their time of 9:14 crushed Hermantown's second place squad, which finished in 9:21.

In the 110-meter hurdles, Justin Murray and Vincent Kleidon of North Branch swept the top two spots in 17.47 and 17.55 seconds, respectively.

In the mile run, two Wildcats and two Vikings went at it tooth-and-nail. North Branch's Tyler Ertl pulled away with the win after a late surge from the pack. The sophomore finished in 5:09.15. Chisago Lakes Josh Olinger willed himself to the finish line in 5:24.79. It started a four-second flurry where the two schools had been battling it out.

Right behind Olinger was North Branch's Erik Fitcha, who crossed the line in 5:26.94, and right behind him was Wildcat freshman Joe Cartier, who finished in 5:28.96.

In the 400-meter dash, Ken Broden of North Branch bested the field with a 54.89. CL's Craig Close came in third place with a time of 57.76.

Murray earned his second win of the day with a 45.60 in the 300-meter hurdles. Noticeably absent from the meet was last year's state qualifier hurdler Brian Grand.

In the tough 3200-meter run, North Branch used sophomore Colin Charpentier to secure another win. Charpentier is a standout in cross country for North Branch, so the two-mile run was a relative ease for the sophomore.

The Vikings won another event with a first place in the 4x400 relay. Their top team finished in 3:44.30, more than four seconds in front of the second place Hawks.

There wasn't much change in the field events, either. Juniors Bryce Hutchings and John Morrison teamed up to win the shot put and discus events. Hutchings threw the shot 44'5" for first place, and Morrison flung the discus 117'5" to win that event. Wildcat Eric Helps came in second in the discus with a distance of 110'3".

North Branch then proceeded to sweep the jumping events also. Seniors Zach Good and Sam Kalkbrenner won the high jump and long jump, respectively, and junior Joe Klun finished topped the field in the triple jump. Sophomore Zack Smith finished off the sweep with a first place in the pole vault event.

Overall, the North Branch guys had no sweat winning the meet with a total of 95.5. Hermantown finished second with 65 points, and Chisago Lakes came in third, scoring 25.5 points.

Girls

In the first three events, the Vikings' girls just couldn't be stopped. The quartet of Vikes topped the field in the 4x800 relay by more than five seconds. Catie Bettendorf and Onalee Yousey finished one-two in the 100-meter hurdles, and Bradi Herdina and Sophia Kneen also took the top two spots in the Cadillac of track events, the 100-meter dash.

It wasn't until four Wildcats teamed up to break their run that they slowed down. In the 4x200 relay, Chisago Lakes earned their first win of the meet.

Shayna Gray got the Vikings back on top of things with a first place in the 1,600-meter run. Her time of 5:52.16 narrowly edged out a Hermantown competitor, who finished in 5:53.72.

The 4x100 relay brought about another CL win, as the four just beat out the North Branch team.

Maria Gozzi earned another North Branch win with a 1:04 in the 400-meter dash. Bettendorf got her second win of the day with an impressive showing in the 300-meter hurdles.

Chisago Lakes then won back-to-back events to gather some of their own momentum. Chelsea Johnson won the 800-meter run in 2:29.42, and then sophomore Lauren Althaus won the 200 in 27.86.

They also went one-two in the shot put event. Junior Kristina Miller won the event with a 31'5", and freshman Brittney Land tossed the shot 28'3".

North Branch's Katherine Helbig won the discus with an 87'2", and Miller came in just behind her with a throw of 84'1".

In the high jump, Lindsey Fowler-Wacholz won the event with a 4'4". She wasn't done, either, as she won the triple jump, her specialty that she qualified for state in last year, with a leap of 33'5".

North Branch closed out the meet with a one-two-three finish in the pole vault. Teagan Anderson, Ashley Kroschel and Sydney Swanson were the only girls to vault over eight feet. Anderson finished first in 8'5", Kroschel in second in 8'3" and Swanson in 8'2".

The Vikes earned the overall win with a score of 89.5. Chisago Lakes scratched their way into second place with a 50.5, and Hermantown brought up the rear with a 46.

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