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Boys State Tournament

After blazing through the Northwest Suburban Conference this year, both the Chisago Lakes boys and girls alpine ski teams felt prepared for the challenge that is the state ski tournament at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.

But, after skiing all year in below zero temperatures and freezing courses, the Biwabik course had a drastically different feel to it. Because of last week's warmth and rain, the course got messy fast. "It was some rough conditions for us to ski in," Head Coach Dan Raedeke said. "But, like I always tell the kids, everyone is skiing the same course."

The first runs weren't pretty for the guys. Only Philip Bottjen and Joe Cartier's runs went without a hitch. Steven Wagner had a slight mishap, and Corbin Peterson, Mark Sandgren and Jacob Sandgren all tumbled on their way down Giants.

After the initial runs, the Wildcats looked up at every other team participating, as they were buried in last place.

Bottjen led off the second round with an impressive run of 39.27, which secured him a high finish in the individual tournament, and set the tone for a much more smooth second round of runs. Bottjen's combined times for the race was 1:14.66, which earned him seventh place honors.

Cartier followed that up with another impressive run, finishing in 42.24, which gave him a combined time of 1:18.96. The freshman finished in 16th place, and was the third highest ninth-grader in the whole meet.

Despite a slower, sloppier course, Wagner was one of the few skiers in the second round to shave time off of his first run. After a slowdown caused him to finish his first run in 46.71, he came in at 41.87 seconds in the second run. His combined time of 1:28.58 put him in 33rd place in state.

After going over a minute in his first run because of a fall, Peterson knocked his second run down to 43.36 seconds and finished in 53rd place.

Mark and Jake Sandgren both rebounded from one minute-plus times in the first round to post much better second round runs. Mark finished his second run in 49.18, which put him in 60th place overall, and Jake's second go-around was finished in 47.20 seconds, which earned him 61st place overall.

"It was really fun to see all the guys work like that," Raedeke said. "Alpine skiing can really be a mental thing, and they came on at the end and skied as a team."

With the top four skiers scored out of the six that competed, the Wildcats earned 132 points to finish in fifth place in the state as a team.

In front of them were four metro powerhouses, as St. Thomas Academy finished first with 159 points, Hopkins came in second with 155, The Academy of Holy Angels finished third with 148 points and Bloomington Jefferson was just behind in fourth place with 146 points.

Girls State Tournament

The girls weren't on quite the hot streak that the boys were coming in. They had just lost out on the NWSC title to Centennial a few weeks prior, and finished just behind Duluth East in sections the week before. But, the top two teams qualify for a reason, and the Wildcats made the best of their opportunity.

Led by senior captain Simone Raedeke, the girls charged up the leaderboard all day. Raedeke opened up with a 41.20 second run. Katy Garbe was just behind her after one run with a time of 41.71 seconds.

Amanda Angel also had a solid run, coming down the hill in 43.81 seconds.

Teresa Sandberg, Katie Rayer and Araya Gamble all posted sub-51 second times to keep the momentum going for Chisago Lakes.

Raedeke didn't improve on her first run, but not many skiers did as the course was starting to show it's wear and tear from a full day of skiing. Her second run of 41.73 seconds gave her a combined time of 1:22.93, which earned her an 11th place finish overall.

Garbe also kept a brisk pace down the mountain in her second run, finishing in 43.32. It gave her a time of 1:25.03, and she squeaked into the top 20 in 19th place overall.

Angel trimmed a sliver off her first run in her second round. She went from 43.81 seconds down to 43.53. The time of 1:27.34 earned her a 27th place finish in the meet.

Sandberg kept a similar pace as the first run and finished with a combined time of 1:35.88, good for 53rd place overall.

Rayer and Gamble both trimmed time off their first run and finished in 60th and 62nd place, respectively.

"These girls really worked hard over the year and have really improved," Coach Raedeke said. "The competition at the state level has really stepped up, and our girls did too."

The girls scored 122, which put them in a tie for fifth place with Duluth East, which was the team that topped them in sections last week. Lakeville South and Edina won the tournament with 146 points each. Minnehaha Academy came in third with 139 points, and Stillwater earned 134 points for fourth place.

Raedeke, Bottjen and Garbe finished out their high school careers with top 20 finishes in state. Raedeke topped off her career with her fifth appearance at the state meet in six years of eligibility.

Dan Raedeke also announced after the meet that he will be stepping down as head coach after eight years at the school. Raedeke began at Grand Rapids, coached there for three years, and then moved on to CL for eight, coaching both teams all eight years. Out of 16 possible conference titles, Raedeke's crew of skiers captured 14 of them. His teams finished as high as second place in the state tournament. "Both of my kids are going to be done, and I think it's just a good time to move to a new coach," he said.

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