Both Wildcat teams earn top five finishes

Nobody at the St. Francis Invitational quite had the stamina and talent to keep up with Chisago Lakes senior Abbi Forsman in the girls cross country race. Forsman pulled ahead early in the race, and her kick allowed her to put even more time in between herself and the second place finisher by the end of the meet. When she crossed the finish line, the timer read 15:25 for Forsman. Nobody else crossed the finish line until the near 16 minute mark when Rachel Ness of Elk River came in at 15:57. Sophomore Katie Christy also ran well for the Wildcats, finishing in 15th place with a time of 16:59. Seventh grader Rebekah Olinger was not far behind in her first career varsity race. Olinger finished the St. Francis course in 17:25, good enough for 21st place. Junior Liz Coulter produced a steady result, finishing the race in 17:42 in 25th place. Senior Madi Vukich finished up the varsity scoring for Chisago Lakes, coming in 46th place overall with a time of 18:18. Side by side with her was teammate Natalie Sandstrom. The sophomore finished the course in 18:19. As a team, the Wildcats finished in fourth place with 108 points. Elk River won the event with 29 points, placing all five of their runners in the top 10. St. Paul Highland Park finished second with 56 points and St. Anthony finished third with 93 points. “Rebekah Olinger ran an outstanding race in her first varsity race,” Head Coach Ken Orwoll said. “Liz Coulter ran another consistent race and senior Madi Vukich has been showing steady improvement this year.” Boys Andy Magnuson couldn’t quite finish at the top of the podium as state-ranked Jake Jankowski of Forest Lake won the meet in a time of 16:22. However, Magnuson still ran a brilliant race, finishing in second place with a time of 16:55. Him and Jankowski were the only two runners under 17 minutes on the day. Junior Carson Velaski kept his improvement up with a 14th place finish in 17:39. Sophomore Zach West and junior Carl Osterberg finished back-to-back for the Wildcats in 21st and 22nd place. West came in with a time of 18:02 while Osterberg finished in 18:04. Noah Rockenback, a senior, rounded out the varsity scoring for Chisago Lakes, finishing the race in 18:12 in 26th place. “It was another outstanding race from Andy Magnuson,” Orwoll said. “And Carson just keeps getting better with every race.” As a team, CL finished in third place with 85 points. The ended up just one behind Elk River, who had 84 points. Forest Lake won the meet with 71 points. Those three squads were the only ones under 140 on the day.