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Cambridge-Isanti Invite

Girls

The North Branch girls track and field team earned high marks for their performances at the Cambridge-Isanti Invitational last week.

They started out the day with a bang in the 4x800 meter relay. Juniors Miranda Charley and Haley Hasleiet, along with sophomores Sadie Kolke and Shayna Gray, earned the first place medal with a 10:14.70 in the event.

That wasn't the only relay team that impressed Head Coach Brian Hasleiet. The quartet of Laura Backus, Becky Ramberg, Teagan Anderson and Sophia Kneen earned a third place finish in the 4x200 meter relay.

Two other teams, however, finished in first place and earned a good chunk of points for North Branch. Kneen, Kristin Slaughter, Anderson and Bradi Herdina finished atop the 4x100 meter relay with a time of 54.41.

In the last relay of the day, Carly Hinschberger, Herdina, Gray and Catie Bettendorf finished the 4x400 meter relay in 4:21.19. The time put the foursome at the top of the standings for another first place finish.

Bettendorf and Onalee Yousey earned a one-two finish in the 100 meter hurdles. Bettendorf, a senior, polished off the race in 16.38 seconds to finish atop the podium, and Yousey was right behind in second place with a time of 17.07.

Bettendorf also earned a first place in the 300 meter hurdling event. Her time of 48.38 was clear above the rest of the field as she tries to repeat her state tournament qualifying time from last year.

In the sprints, Herdina finished third in the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.51. Becky Ramberg, a freshman, finished in fourth place in the 400 meter dash.

The Vikings also had a few strong showings in the distance running events. Gray, as a sophomore, beat out the rest of the field to win the 800 meter run in 2:31.45.

Two young runners, Ali Zimmerman, a sophomore, and Alyssa Kroschel, a freshman, finished two-three in the 3,200 meter run. Zimmerman finished in 12:34.97, and Kroschel finished in 12:39.91. Junior Haley Hasleiet earned a fourth place finish with a 12:45.27.

The field events is where the Vikings struggled to put together a solid string of events. They were only able to place in the top three in two events. Katherine Helbig won the discus throw with a toss of 105'2". The throw was over eight feet longer than her previous best.

In the pole vault, Anderson earned a second place finish by vaulting 9'0". Sydney Swanson was just behind her in third place with a jump of 8'6".

"Despite unfavorable weather conditions we competed very well," Hasleiet said. "I'd say we competed VERY well."

The girls finished in second place at the invite. Host Cambridge-Isanti won with 197.5 points. North Branch wasn't far behind, finishing with 187 points. Those two, however, were the class of the invite, as the third place finished was Duluth Denfeld, all the way back at 85 points.

Boys

Much like their female counterparts, the guys got things going quick with a strong start in the relay events. The team of Zach Good, Colin Charpentier, Ken Broden and Ryan Norman won the 4x800 meter relay in a time of 8:41 to earn 12 big points.

Following that win, Chad Anderson, Anthony Ceroll, Ryan Klatt and Wes Olson finished in third place in the 4x100 meter sprint relay. The senior-laden quartet -- Ceroll is the only one who isn't -- is trying to make a push in their last season together.

The 4x400 meter relay was chalked up as another win for the Vikings when Ceroll, Boyd Suparat, Norman and Broden teamed up for a winning time of 3:39.98.

Justin Murray earned a second place in the 100 meter hurdles, earning the Vikings some valuable points in the hurdling competitions.

Anderson and Broden each secured top three finishes in some of the sprinting events. Although only Ceroll finished in the top five in the premier track event, the 100 meter dash.

Broden's third place finish cam in the 400 meter dash, where he finished in 48.28 Anderson bumped it up a notch, finishing second in the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.56.

One of North Branch's specialties is the distance running, and they didn't disappoint in that category. Norman ran a 2:13.10 in the 800 meter run to finish second in that event.

After he got off the track, Mike Heidelberger and Charpentier finished back-to-back in the 1,600 meter run. Heidelberger knocked the run out in 10:45.10, and Charpentier finished in 10:52.47.

The similarities between the boys and girls team spilled over into the field events, also, as the Vikings had trouble with finishing near the top in most of the events. Zach Good earned a second place in the high jump with a leap of 5'8", and Ceroll jumped 17'9" to finish in third place in the long jump.

Highway 95 rivals North Branch and Cambridge-Isanti were again the class of the meet. The Bluejackets ran away with the championship, scoring 247.5 points.

North Branch was well behind them, but score a nice 156 to finish in second place. Duluth Denfeld was the only other team to crack 100, and they barely made it, finishing with 103 points.

Duluth Central and Duluth East rounded out the top five spots with 48 and 45 points, respectively.

"We had 31 season personal records on Friday," Hasleiet noted. "Also both teams finished in second place. All of our coaches were very pleased how all of our athletes gave it their best and what a good showing we had in pretty bad weather."

North Branch starts a brutal stretch that includes three meets in five days, including the true team meet in the middle on Tuesday, May 5. True team is always a good indicator of where a team stands as the season starts to wind down. Hasleiet and his crew are hoping to break even more of those personal records.

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