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With a few top flight runners heading into sections, the Chisago Lakes boys cross country team knew they had a good shot at qualifying two runners for the state tournament for the first time in a long while, and Luke McKenzie and Andy Magnuson didn't disappoint.

Despite battling an early snowfall halfway through the race in Cloquet, both CL runners stayed with the lead pack. It was a group of 12 runners that didn't separate until after two miles in. After that two mile mark, Mitch Fisher of Andover and McKenzie started to break free of the pack. With about 600 meters left in the race, Fisher got his kick going and surged past McKenzie and the CL runner just couldn't stay with him.

Fisher ended up winning the section race with a time of 16:01 and McKenzie came in second with a 16:09. But, the senior still punched his ticket to the state meet, as the top 10 individuals qualify for the big race at St. Olaf College.

After six runners came across the finish line in a 15 second span, Magnuson crossed safely in ninth place with a time of 16:35 to earn a berth into the state tournament. There wasn't any other runners for another 13 seconds, though, so Magnuson had the spot wrapped up pretty handily.

"Andy just ran very tough the whole way to hang on to a ninth place finish," Head Coach Ken Orwoll said. "It was a solid race for both him and Luke from start to finish."

The other Wildcat runners knew they were going to need to run a heck of a race to try to earn a top two finish and go to state as a team, and they just weren't able to battle through the conditions. Junior Noah Rockenback finished in 34th with a tim eof 17:45, and freshmen Quinton Lee and Zach West finished in 18:07 and 18:27, respectively, for 53rd and 69th place.

"I'm really proud of how they went after it today," Orwoll explained. "They showed a lot of heart and nothing was left at the end of the race. They were spent."

Chisago Lakes ended up finishing in sixth place out of 16 teams with a score of 167. Andover and Forest Lake were the two teams that qualified as the Huskies scored 30 points and the Rangers scored 98. Duluth East, Grand Rapids and Elk River rounded out the top five.

Girls

The girls half of the race was highlighted by Abbi Forsman. The junior ran a personal best, and was just four seconds off of the school record for the girls race. Her 14:53 was the first time she broke 15 minutes in her short, but at times dominant, career.

Although junior Nicole Heitsman from Andover and sophomore Erin Baker from Grand Rapids ran away with the meet, finishing in 14:32 and 14:33, Forsman was in the second grouping of runners, and was able to stick with them and put a good amount of distance between herself and the rest of the pack. After Forsman, the eighth place finisher didn't come in for over 15 seconds. "She ran a very smart race from start to finish," Orwoll said.

The rest of the varsity runners were at their best for the race, but in the talent-laden Section 7AA, it didn't make much noise as far as threatening for the state tournament. Senior Mary Cross ran her final varsity race, and it was a season best for her, finishing in 16:39 in 48th place. "Mary's leadership is going to be greatly missed next year," said a sullen Orwoll.

But, she didn't go out without helping a teaammate one last time. Cross ran with freshman Katie Christy all race and helped her finish with a personal best, as she finished in 49th place with a time of 16:39, just five-tenths of a second behind Cross.

Madi Vuckich ran a person best for the 'Cats, finishing in 80th place in 17:45. Ali Fuller, Liz Coulter and Kayla Gibson all ran close to their personal bests for the Wildcats in their last meet of the year. "It was nice to see they really put it together for the last race of the season," Orwoll said.

As a squad, the Wildcats finished in ninth place with 274 points. Forest Lake and Andover battled it out for the top two spots, and the Rangers finished in first with 54 points and Andover finished in second with 56 points. Elk River, Duluth East and Grand Rapids rounded out the top five in the section.

Forsman, McKenzie and Magnuson will now all make the trip down to Northfield this weekend to compete at the state tournament at St. Olaf College.

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