---

Chisago Lakes 105, Cambridge-Isanti 79
After losing to always-tough Monticello in their first Mississippi 8 Conference tilt of the year, the Wildcats were able to get in the win column in their second match against Cambridge-Isanti on Tuesday, January 7.

Through three events, the teams were nearly deadlocked. In fact, the Bluejackets had out-scored CL by four points in the first two events. In the 200 individual medley, though, is when the Wildcats started to turn the heat up. They got a first, third and fourth place finish from Derek Frank, Andy Gombold and Josh Falkowski to turn the fourth point deficit into a two point lead.

In the 50 yard freestyle, the ‘Cats repeated the first, third, fourth finish and really put some distance between themselves and the Bluejackets. Jacob Carlson, Sam Gustafson and Alex Sagendorf were the competitors in the 50.

From their, the lead began to balloon. Carlson won big in the diving event and Frank, Phil LaPlante and Ben Steward gathered 11 points in the 100 butterfly.

The near final nail came when the ‘Cats again went 1-3-4, this time in the 500 freestyle behind Austin Turman, Ethan Harris and Eric Braun.

The meet reached exhibition status by the last event, with Chisago Lakes enjoying a 105-67 lead at the time. Other wins on the day came from Matt Braun in the 100 breaststroke, Frank, Gustafson, Olson and Turman in the 400 relay, and Frank Gustafson, Turman and Carlson in the 200 relay.

South St. Paul Packer Invitational
The Wildcats got third place at the annual Packer Invite on Saturday, January 9.

They scored 421 points, which was just 20 behind second place Orono, but far away from Burnsville who claimed the top spot with 548 points.
They started the day off well with a fourth place finish in the 200 medley relay. LaPlante, Falkowski, Harris and Carlson was the foursome that finished in 1:52.20.

Carlson followed with some impressive individual performances. He came in second place in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 23.10 seconds, and immediately got ready for diving after that race.

In diving, he won the event as CL’s lone champion on the day, scoring 404.40 points and earning 20 team points.

He wasn’t completely done, however, as he anchored the 200 yard freestyle relay team that earned second place and 34 team points. Sagendorf, Gustafson and Turman were the other three competitors who flew through the pool in 1:35.69.

Braun kept the good vibes rolling with a second place finish in the 100 breaststroke. He finished in 1:08.93 and was one of only two swimmers who were sub-1:10 in their times.

In the 400 freestyle relay, Olson, Sagendorf, Harris and Turman came in third place, just behind Burnsville.

All the points piled up to CL’s 421, and Carlson accounted for at least a part of 101 of those.

Upcoming
The ‘Cats will travel to Buffalo on Thursday, January 14 for a conference tilt against the Bison. They’ll stay on the road for their next two meets also, going to Princeton on Thursday, January 21 and Mesabi East for True Team Sections on Saturday, January 23.

---