Girls win Centennial Invitational at Giants Ridge

The Centennial Invite is a good indicator for the Chisago Lakes alpine ski teams to where they might be when the state tournament rolls around. The event is held at Giants Ridge, which is the location of the state tournament in a week and a half. For the girls team, the indication is nothing but good. They took another first place finish, this time with a lot more competition in a fiercer environment.

The girls edged out Cloquet and Duluth East for the top spot. The Lady Cats scored 258 points whil the Lumberjacks had 251 and East had 241. Chisago Lakes was led by a familiar face in Ellie Frischmon. She finished in second place overall at the event, earning the ‘Cats 73 team points. Her 46.01 second run on the red course was fourth best on the day while her 39.40 second run on the blue course was the second best on the day behind Sarah Severson of Cloquet. Analise Parks was the second Wildcat to register points. She came in ninth place for 66 team points for Chisago Lakes. Her red course time of 48.82 was ninth best on the day and her blue course time of 41.32 was eighth best. Hannah Janzig cruised through the red course, finishing in eighth place, but then a couple small slips put her in 22nd place on the blue course.

Her combined time of 1:32.35 was good enough for 14th place and 61 points. Hannah Stec rounded out Chisago Lakes’ scoring in the event with a 17th place finish. She was the opposite of Janzig. She went fast on the blue course, finishing with the 12th best time on the day, but she came in 26th on the red course. But, she still combined for an impressive finish, and one that helped propel the Wildcats to the victory. Lauren Peltier and Mikayla Granfors finished in 20th and 22nd place, respectively, giving the Wildcats plenty of options in their deep rotation of skiiers.

Boys
On the boys side, the Wildcats finished in fifth place when two of their top skiiers took a tumble during their runs. Both Ryan Mower and Casey Bennett, who have been top performers for Chisago Lakes this year, fell on the blue course. Before that, Bennett was sitting in 14th place and Mower in 29th. Bennett’s fall on the blue course caused him to finish in 1:05.97, in 60th place on that half of the course. Mower went down and recovered for a 1:02.88 time, which was 56th on the course. It dropped the two boys from the top 15 and top 30 to 49th and 51st place, making a win near impossible at the stacked meet. However, the falls may be blessings in disguise, as both skiiers now know where they need to be extra cautious when the postseason meets come up.

For the rest of the Wildcats, they were led by Anders Brown, who had his typical marvelous day. Brown finished in third place overall with a combined time of 1:17.46, earning Chisago Lakes 63 of their 191 points. John Frischmon had a nice meet too, finishing in 16th place with a time of 1:23.86. He stayed consistent on both runs, and could be a threat come sections. Jeremy Wesloh and Isaac Bierman rounded out the varsity scorers for Chisago Lakes with nearly identical times. Wesloh came in 26th place with a time of 1:30.76 while Bierman came in 28th place with a time of 1:30.92. The pair combined for 78 of the team’s points. Chisago Lakes finished in fifth place with 194 points, just 39 points behind Forest Lake, who won the meet with 233 points. With mistake-free runs by Mower and Bennett and a potential return from the injured Tanner Rivard, the Wildcats will be right in the title hunt come section time. Sections were held earlier this week, and the state tournament will be at Giants Ridge on Wednesday, February 12.