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Cambridge Invite
The Chisago Lakes cross country teams got some good competition in, Friday, September 5 at the Isanti Middle School.
The Cambridge Invitational included large schools such as Centennial, Forest Lake, Andover, Roseville, Mounds View, Blaine and Duluth East.
The Wildcat boys finished in eighth place out of 12 teams in the event. Their top finisher was Zac West, who come in 13th place in the event.
The senior crossed the finish line in 17:21, an impressive time for the early season race.
Nick Bartz was the second Wildcat to cross the finish line on the warm Friday afternoon, clocking in at 17:39, good enough for 23rd place.
Quinton Lee clocked his first sub-18 minute time, finishing in 37th place. Elijah Olson wasn’t far behind, as the sophomore came in at 18:14, good enough for 43rd place.
Colten Christy, Philip LaPlante, Nicholas Lindsey and Hunter Worden rounded out the varsity runners for Chisago Lakes.
As a team, the ‘Cats compiled 182 points, beating Blaine, Minneapolis North and Fargo South.
“Overall I was pleased with our performance on Friday.  Almost everyone ran 30 to 60 seconds faster than they did last year at this same meet,” Head Coach Ken Orwoll said. “Our top three ran very nice races as they always do. The boys will be better now that Jake Schwelling earned his varsity spot back.  That will give us four of last year’s seven runners that ran at state.  I was very pleased with the effort of Eli Olson.  He ran a very nice race and a personal best.  It won't be long before we have all five of our scorers running under 18:00.  The team knows we have some work to do and it is nice to know we also have some time.”

Girls
The girls fared a bit better as a team, but they didn’t quite have any standout performer.
They got a strong finish from Kathryn Sistrunk, a senior, who finished the race in 16:36, good enough for 22nd place.
Freshman Rebekah Olinger clocked in at 17:31, in 37th place. Fellow frosh Elizabeth Zemlin was right behind her, coming in 40th place with a time of 17:33.5. Natalie Sandstrom, a senior, finished that trio of CL runners, coming in 42nd place with a time of 17:33.8
Katie Christy rounded out the varsity scoring for Chisago Lakes, coming in 48th place with a time of 17:42.
Katie Johnson, Mariah Sistrunk, Olivia Schweitzer and Lila Dabill also ran varsity for CL in the meet.
The girls finished in sixth place in the meet with 183 points. They beat out Princeton, Fargo South, Mora, Blaine and Cambridge-Isanti.
“The girls ran well without Sarah Greene -- Greene decided to focus on basketball and not run cross country this year.  All the girls also ran faster than they did last year,” Orwoll explained. “Kathryn Sistrunk ran an incredible race, beating her personal best by over 30 seconds.  She is such a fearless runner, always giving her all. It was nice to see our next four run in a pack.  They really worked well together, finishing just 11 seconds apart.  I'm pleased with our sixth place finish with the competition at this meet.  This will be a fun year for the girls,” Orwoll concluded.

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