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Last week's Section 7AA True Team meet provided some eerie symmetry that either shows the amazing balance between boys' and girls' team in the section or is just a strange coincidence. And we're not even talking about the fact that the Wildcat boys and girls teams each finished fifth out of ten teams, in each case barely beating out sixth-place Hibbing. No, it's the fact that, out of ten teams, the first through seventh place finishers for both the boys and girls were exactly the same. Noodle on that one for awhile.

Girls

Meanwhile, some Wildcat athletes had impressive showings at the True Team event. Sophomore Zoe Hanson won the triple jump with a leap of 33'7½", beating the second place-finisher by nearly a foot and setting a personal record in the process. Freshman Kaylee Ryan finished second in the two mile run with a time of 11:37, a new Chisago Lakes High School record. Don't be surprised if Ryan beats her own record more than once in the three-plus years remaining in her high school career.

Sophomore Mary Cross came in second in the mile run in 5:30.11. Sophomore Araya Gamble and senior Alexis Thomsen tied for third in the pole vault, each vaulting 7'6". And freshman Jenna Zais continued to showcase her speed, finishing third in the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.33 seconds.

Boys

The boys didn't have any first place finishes, but bolstered their team score with solid performances in a lot of events. The 4x 100 relay team of junior Cory Lushanko, freshman Eric Brown, sophomore Trevor Thurnbeck and junior Josh Wilson finished second with a time of 45.45 seconds, beating third-place North Branch by .04 seconds. Lushanko nearly won the 100 meter dash, losing in a photo finish to Rara Jones of Cloquet with a time of 11.58 seconds.

Junior Alex Vitalis once again excelled in the pole vault, finishing second with a vault of 12'6". Senior Riley Myers picked up 32 team points with fifth place finishes in two events, the high jump (5'6") and the 110 meter hurdles (16.67 seconds). And Thurnbeck finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 19'3.75".

The Wildcats will participate in the finals of the conference tournament today starting at 4 p.m. at Robbinsdale Cooper High School in New Hope.

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