North Branch and Chisago Lakes split cross country meet

The cross country meet at Ki-Chi-Saga Park last week might have been the first Chisago Lakes/North Branch tussle that celebrated Senior Night together. Because North Branch only had one home meet this year and it was early in the season, they decided to put their senior night during the friendly Chisago Lakes-hosted county duel.

“This meet was our senior night and everyone was excited about fast times and showing parents the respect they deserve,” North Branch Head Coach Tom Kingsland said. “We have a strong senior presence with 14 seniors overall. Five senior girls and nine senior boys. All of our seniors made us proud with the speeches they gave to their parents and presenting them with a rose.”

“Overall, it was a fun day for us and the kids ran hard on senior night,” Chisago Lakes Head Coach Ken Orwoll said. As for the results, the teams split their wins.

The Chisago Lakes boys swept the meet with a perfect score. Andy Magnuson, Zac West, Nick Bartz, Carson Velaski, Simon Eddy and Carl Osterberg all crossed the finish line before a Viking runner came through. Magnuson led with a 17:20, West came in at 17:39 and Bartz clocked a 17:48. That trio were the only runners under 18 minutes on the day. For North Branch, their top runner was Scott Ramberg, who finished in 19 minutes flat. Kyle Granger, Kyle Crowell, Cole Willis, Jake Bear and Noah Hubbard rounded out the boys scoring for NB. Chisago Lakes won the meet with 15 points and North Branch had 48.

Girls
The girls meet came a bit closer, but North Branch prevailed by a score of 24-31. The Vikings got the top scorer in Rhianna Rinke. She finished in 15:37, blasting the competition by almost a minute. Chisago Lakes’ Sarah Greene finished in second in the meet, clocking in at 16:29, she narrowly edged out North Branch’s Casey Hovland, who finished in 16:31. Wildcat Rebekah Olinger finished in fourth place with a time of 17:03. But North Branch got the next two finishers, and that was key in their victory. Cassidy White and Madison Belland finished in fifth and sixth with times of 17:08 and 17:32.

Natalie Sandstrom and Elizabeth Zemlin of Chisago Lakes finished in seventh and eighth, and then Laura Dolezalek clinched the meet for North Branch with a ninth place finish in 18:02, giving NB 24 points. Kathryn Sistrunk and Katie Christy rounded out Chisago Lakes’ varsity lineup. “The girls team was strong with our top five runners all around 18 minutes and under for a 4,000 meter race,” Kingsland said. “On the boys side, Scott Ramberg led the team and finished strong with a time of 19:00 for a 5,000 meter race.

Both Chisago Lakes and North Branch’s next meet was the Mississippi 8 Conference Championships on Tuesday, Oct. 15 in St. Francis. The wet course at The Ponds will generate some slower times, but the boys from Chisago Lakes will be looking to snatch a conference title in their first year in the M8C, while the North Branch girls have an outside shot and make some noise near the top.