Wildcats take down titles at home invite

The Chisago Lakes cross country team hosted their first meet of the year last week, and they came out on top in both the boys and girls races. There were familiar faces atop the leaderboard for both the boys and the girls. Abbi Forsman won the girls portion of the meet by a wide margin. She finished the race in 15:57. A girl from St. Croix Prep was second with a time of 16:36. On the boys side, Andy Magnuson also ran away with the meet. The junior finished the race at Ki-Chi-Saga Park in a time of 17:20. The second place finisher came in at 17:40. Both runners were backed up with impressive performances that led to team wins. On the girls side, sophomore Katie Christy finished in fifth place with a time of 16:44. Rebecka Olinger, only a seventh grader, finished in ninth place in a time of 17:44. The Wildcats were rounded out with scored by Natalie Sandstrom in 22nd place and Madi Vukich in 25th place. “Katie Christy continues to run strong and seventh grader Rebecka Olinger ran well,” Head Coach Ken Orwoll said. “Natalie Sandstorm and Madi Vukich both ran well on the tough county park course to finish out the scoring. I was very pleased with the win and how everyone stepped up since we were missing two varsity runners.” The Wildcats bested second place St. Francis by four points. CL had 54 points while the Saints had 58. St. Croix Prep finished third with 78 points. In the boys half, after Magnuson, Carl Osterberg finished in sixth place with a time of 17:59. Zach West completed the course in 18:06 for an eighth place finish and Quinton Lee eked into the top 10 with a 18:13, good enough for 10th. Carson Velaski and Noah Rockenback weren’t far behind. Velaski, the junior finished in 12th place with a time of 18:19 and Rockenback, the senior, finished in 13th place in 18:41. The boys won by the same margin as the girls, four points. Chisago Lakes scored 37 points while St. Francis scored 41 points. “It was nice to have St. Francis there for the extra competition,” Orwoll said. The meet has traditionally been dominated by the Wildcats with no teams close to them in the standings. “I’ve been very impressed with Carl Osterberg and Zach West as they continue to improve on a very difficult course,” Orwoll said. “Our top six finishers all were in the top 13 and ahead of the fourth runner form any other team to seal the victory.”