Two CL skiers finish in top 20

State Tournament
Three skiers from Chisago Lakes competed for the ultimate individual prize last week at Giants Ridge: a state championship.

Although none of them earned that, two of the skiers did finish in the top 20 in the state and showed they can hang with even the biggest schools in the state.

On the boys side, Jake Sandgren closed out his illustrious Wildcat career with a 16th place finish. He finished his first run in 39.49 seconds, keeping him within striking distance of the top skiers -- Michael Murray of Bloomington Jefferson had a 36.99 on the first run for the lead. In his second run, Sandgren shaved a little time off even, flying down the hill in 39.22 seconds, but all the other top skiers had phenomenal times also. His combined time of 1:18.71 was good enough for the 16th place, nearly a full second ahead of the 17th place finisher. Murray won the individual state title with a total time of 1:13.67.

Jack McNeil of Blake and Jack Post of Eden Prairie finished in second and third. Sandgren’s section rivals Nik Damberg and Taylor Lindy finished in fourth and sixth place, respectively. The other Wildcat who competed in the boys half of the race was Anders Brown. Brown had two tough runs that both resulted in falls. That left him with a run of 59.01 on the first run and a 1:18.1 on the second run. “Jake skied it like all his races this year - calmly taking his place in the top group of skiers,” Assistant Coach Su Leslie said. “Anders Brown had trouble on both runs unfortunately, but with a second state meet under his belt, he hopes to return to another in the future and finish where he knows he can.”

Girls
In the girls race, eighth grade Wildcat Ellie Frischmon made quite the impression in her first crack at the state tournament. She registered a 15th place finish by finishing with a combined time of 1:21.69. Her first run went awesome, with Frischmon finishing in 37.36 which was the 15th fastest time on the slopes that day. Her second run went a tad slower, as she finished in 44.33 seconds, but the second run gave all the skiers problems, as no one recorded a sub-40 time on that course. Frischmon’s time, though kept her right at 15th place, which is an excellent showing for a ninth grader.

She just edged out Anika Hager of Minneapolis Southwest and Madison Gartner of Minnetonka. East Ridge’s Elizabeth Koprucki won the event with a combined time of 1:15.52. Savannah Stone of Brainerd finished in second place with a 1:17.27 and Rosie Hust of Orono finished in third. Frischmon’s section rival Madison Danelski finished in fourth place with a time of 1:17.61.

“For Jake and Ellie to finish where they did is awesome,” Leslie said after the state meet. “Ellie handled her nerves and performed like she has been doing all season - a huge accomplishment for an eighth grader at her first state meet. Like all athletes -- they were all happy to be there -- participating and representing Chisago Lakes Area Schools.