Top 10 stories of 2011-12 for CL and NB

After unveiling the half of the top 10 sports stories of the year last week, it’s time to finish out the list and award someone the top spot on the list for 2011-12. 5. Chisago Lakes wrestling season After sending five wrestlers to the state tournament in 2011 – the most in over 20 years – the Wildcats did even better in 2012, with seven wrestlers making the trip to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Junior Quade Zupko (138), making his third appearance at the state tournament, also did something not seen in these parts for over years – he placed, finishing sixth. Zupko beat sophomore Carter Holthaus of Albany 9-2 is his first round match. In the second round, he triumphed over senior Matt Lloyd of Montgomery Lonsdale.

In the semifinals, Zupko lost to the eventual state champion, junior Coltan Laganiere of Kasson-Mantorville. After two wrestleback matches, Zupko ended up with a trip to the podium for finishing sixth. Four Wildcats won the Section 4A championship in their respective weight classes: eighth-grader Kyle Schoenecker (106), Zupko (138), junior Jonah Westbury (220) and senior Chase Kammerer (285). The other three finished in second place to earn the right to go to St. Paul: freshman Dylan Connell (113), senior Bobby Sontag (145) and freshman Joe Virga (152). It was Schoenecker’s second time at state. The other five wrestlers each made their first appearance. Schoenecker and Kammerer each won their first round matches and lost in the second round. Kammerer’s pin in the first round gave him 29 pins for the season to break the school record of 28 set by Troy Montague in 2008. The other four Wildcat grapplers – Westbury, Connell, Sontag and Virga – each lost their first round matches. “It’s great to see that many kids make it,” Wildcat head coach Shawn Frederixon said at the time. “It’s especially nice to see Bobby and Chase make it, since they are seniors and this was their last chance to get there. For them to earn the trip makes it pretty fun. We need to get more guys on the podium. We showed our potential by getting seven guys to the state tourney.

I think our guys will be inspired to work hard in the offseason so they can go even further next year.” 4. Chisago Lakes girls basketball team makes first trip to state It was a perfect storm. After years of bountiful regular seasons came up short in a the stacked Section 4AAA, the Wildcats were moved to the northern Section 7AAA because of their location. The move also came in a year when Brittney Land, Whitney Tinjum, Annie Stenson and Zoe Hansen were seniors, arguably the most talented senior class ever in Chisago Lakes girls basketball history. The journey wasn’t easy for the Wildcats. After compiling a 21-5 record in the regular season, they earned the top seed in the section. Although they were playing 7-20 Princeton, the Tigers put up a bigger fight than anyone would’ve thought and CL escaped with a 66-63 victory. In the second round, Stenson hit a school-record seven three pointers in the first half, propelling Chisago Lakes to an easy 66-42 victory over the Hibbing. That set up a dramatic showdown with the second seeded Grand Rapids Thunderhawks. After going down by 14 points at halftime with their season on the line, Tinjum, Land, Bryanna Fernstrom and Hannah Trandahl led the Wildcats back into the game minute-by-minute and they eventually took over at the three and a half minute mark. The game devolved into a free throw shooting contest, and Chisago Lakes held on for the 68-63 win and their first ever berth in the state tournament. Once they made it to Williams Arena, the lights and added attention got to the Wildcats a bit. Tinjum picked up three early fouls and after going shot-for-shot with Fergus Falls for the first four minutes of the game, the Otters went on a 26-0 run that essentially ended Chisago Lakes’ season. The Wildcats would end up falling 68-37 to the Otters, who ended up in third place in the tournament 3.

Chisago Lakes boys ski team finishes A few tough stumbles led to a lower finish than the Chisago Lakes boys alpine ski team had hoped for at the state tournament, but they still managed to grab seventh place at the state tournament at Giants Ridge. Senior leader Joe Cartier, who paired with Jake Sandgren to be the top two skiers all year for Chisago Lakes, had a hiccup in his first run of the day, finishing the course in 49.56 seconds, well off of his season pace. Sandgren didn’t quite hit his stride all the way down the hill either, and he finished the first run in 40.41 seconds. Hogan Haas was actually the fastest Wildcat down the hill after the first run with a time of 38.21 seconds. Young Anders Brown wasn’t far behind, finishing his first run in 39.42 seconds. After the first run, the Wildcats knew they were going to have work to do. They had some decent times to work with from Haas, Brown and Sandgren, but without a top time from Cartier, it was going to be tough to dig out of the early hole. Cartier ended up finishing the second run in the fastest time of all the Wildcats, getting down the hill in 36.2 seconds, which was the 13th fastest time in the state. With that result, he salvaged a 1:25.76 combined time that ended up placing him in 56th place. Sandgren, who was CL’s highest finisher on the day in 37th place, skied a masterful race on the second slope also, getting to the bottom of the hill in 36.87 seconds for a combined time of 1:17.28. As a team, Chisago Lakes finished in seventh place with 80.5 points. Although a lot of the guys struggled to find their footing on the courses just a week after dominating sections at the same hill, the season was still wildly successful. They were undefeated in the regular season and won the Northwest Suburban Conference. 2. Chisago Lakes girls hockey team wins consolation championship at state tourney The 12 seniors on the Wildcat girls’ hockey team capped off their successful careers by leading the team to its second trip to the state tournament in the past three years. The Wildcats’ experience at state this past was similar to their appearance in the 2009-2010 seasons. In both years, the team lost its first round game to the number one team in the state and came back to win the consolation championship.

But there was a significant difference in the two appearances. In 2009-2010, the Wildcats were crushed in the opening game by top-ranked Warroad 12-1. This year, the Wildcats gave top-ranked Breck a run for their money in the first round. The Wildcats led 3-2 midway through the second period, but Breck scored twice in the second period and three more times in the third period to win 7-3. The Wildcats beat Hutchinson 5-2 in the consolation semifinals and shut out New Ulm 4-0 to earn the consolation championship trophy. The Wildcats had shut out Silver Bay 3-0 in the section championship game to earn their trip to state. Ten of the seniors were on the state tournament roster: Katie Sorenson, Miranda Beimert, Anna Petersen, Marisa Peterson, Kelsey Sorenson, Katie Johnson, Laura Monson, Megan Lushanko, Ashlee Ricci and Jamie Dobosenski. Kayla Gibson and Amanda Budde played mostly on the JV this year but contributed a lot of moral support during the championship run. And while the team was senior-dominated, several letter-winning underclassmen – led by All Conference sophomore Allison Borgstrom -- were key to the Wildcats’ successful season: freshmen Amy Budde and Amanda Franklin; sophomores Jade Wilson, Rikki Waldoch, Rheanna Duncan and Amanda Shoquist; juniors Maddie Howard, Allison Ives, Miranda Krumm and Delaney Doriott. Lushanko and Dobosenski were named to the All Tournament Team at state. Lushanko was also a finalist for the Ms. Hockey award. Lushanko and Johnson were named All State Honorable Mention. Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen was understandably proud of his team’s accomplishments and looks forward to challenging for the state tournament again next season.

1. Whitney Tinjum scores her 2,000th career point. Whitney Tinjum and her teams have been a mainstay on this list for the last three years. It’s the community’s loss that Tinjum finally graduated and is moving on to Washington State University to play Division I basketball. Her basketball skills have been a rare treat in an otherwise basketball starved area. Early in the year, she hit a milestone that not many girls or boys are able to accomplish in high school. With a free throw against Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Tinjum became the first 2,000 point scorer in Chisago Lakes history and cemented her legacy as the best basketball player to pass through the halls of Chisago Lakes. On her way, she also broke the girls record for career rebounds and she absolutely demolished the state free throws made and free throws attempted records. She shot 1,121 free throws, making 823 of them. The previous marks were both held by Lakeville’s Liz Podominick who sank 616 free throws on 835 attempts. With six years of domination on her resume already, Tinjum will be taking her game west to Washington State, where she hopes she can bring a high level of basketball to the Pac 12 Conference. That wraps up this year’s top sports stories, keep following us for the 2012-13 season, which will be North Branch and Chisago Lakes’ last in the North Suburban Conference. Enjoy the rest of your summer and good luck to all the area athletes that have graduated and all of the ones getting ready for their upcoming high school season!