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State Tournament

The Chisago Lakes alpine ski team sent four individuals to the state tournament last week at Giants Ridge.

On the boys side, juniors Joe Cartier and Jake Sandgren were the school's representatives, and on the girls side, senior Sheila Stephani and junior Katie Rayer held down the fort.

Cartier and Stephani both finished 30th in their respective races. Cartier had a first run of 37.31 seconds and a second run of 35.18 seconds. His combined timed of 1:13.12 put him right in the middle of the 88-person race.

Stephani had two good runs for CL also, finishing her opening run in 38.89 seconds and her second run in 41.52 seconds. The combined time of 1:20.41 was her best finish at the state meet in her last high school competitive race.

Rayer wasn't far behind Stephani. The junior finished her first run in 39.84 seconds and capped her season off with a 42.09 second run. She combined for 1:21.93.

As for Sandgren, he made a tiny mistake in his first run, but in skiing, a tiny mistake can be beyond costly. Sandgren recovered and was able to get back and around the flag, but the damage had been done to his opening 53.29 second run.

In his second run, Sandgren finished with a great time of 38.84 seconds. His combined time of 1:32.13 put him in 70th place in the 88 person meet.

"Our kids did well," Assistant Coach Su Leslie said. "They were seeded midway in the pack of 88 skiers. The weather was 50 degrees and surprisingly, the snow held up well without salt."

Although Stephani will graduate and be sorely missed, both the girls and boys alpine ski teams will be returning a ton of experience and talent as they look to dethrone Centennial as the Northwest Suburban Conference champions and look to emerge in the state standings.

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