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The Chisago Lakes girls alpine ski team won the school's first ever team state championship on Wednesday, February 15 at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, MN.

The girls finished with 152, nine points ahead of Lakeville North in second place. The 'Cats were paced by Ellie Frischmon, who came in fourth plae in the whol state. Hannah Stec earned CL's second top-10 finish at state with an eighth place run. Senior Mikayla Granfors had an amazing final career run and finished in 11th place in state. Hannah Janzig finished off CL's championship score with a 21st place finish.

Anders Brown, the lone state qualifier from the boys team, finished in second place in the individual tournament. He was beaten by Elliot Boman, a competitor who has only participated in a handful of high school races this year -- just enough to qualify for the state meet -- because he skis an international schedule. Brown finished just eight-one-hundredths of a second behind Boman.

Section 7 Championship
The Chisago Lakes girls alpine ski team saved their best for last, skiing mostly flawless races en rout to a state tournament berth out of Section 7 on Tuesday, February 7.

The team was headlined by Ellie Frischmon, who kept her unbelievable season rolling right along with a section championship. She finished both the blue and red course in first place to take the top spot with an overall time of 1:23.71. Second place really wasn’t even that close to Frischmon, with Tessa Trettel of Centennial finishing in second place with a combined time of 1:25.63.

Hannah Stec wasn’t far behind the top tier of finishers. She came in fifth place overall with a time of 1:27.55. She went 43.83 on the red course and 43.72 on the blue course.

Hannah Janzig kept Chisago Lakes’ times low with an 11th place finish, including a 13th place go on the red course and an 11th place time on the blue course.

Senior Mikayla Granfors topped off the first four for Chisago Lakes with a 14th place finish. Her combined time of 1:31.99 was from a 14th place on the red course and 12th place on the blue course.

Sophie Janzig came in 24th place and Bailey Letourneau finishing in 33rd. Letourneau had a 17th place finish on the blue course, but a lost edge on the red course cost her a higher finish.

As the ‘Cats top skiers were on top of their game, other teams faltered around them and Chisago Lakes ended up running away with the team section championship. They tallied 396 points while second place Stillwater was 41 points behind with 355.

Cook County, Hermantown and Forest Lake rounded out the top five, all with over 340 points.

“It was an amazing day for the girls,” Assistant Coach Su Leslie said. “Ellie, Hannah Stec and Hannah Janzig all qualified as individuals, as well as in the team race.”

She pointed out that Frischmon’s state tourney berth is her fifth in six years of competing on the varsity squad.

Boys
The boys team didn’t quite have the perfect race the girls did. They got their top gun, Anders Brown, to finish in first place and set a good pace, but nearly everyone else was plagued by falls and tough conditions.

Brown finished second on both the blue and red courses, but his consistency was enough for the section championship with a combined time of 1:15.34. His state tournament qualification meant that he earned a postseason berth in all six of his seasons, from seventh grade to now, his senior year.

Jamie Mower put his best effort forward, skiing nearly identical times on the two courses and coming in 15th place with a combined time of 1:20.99.

Mike Frischmon registered the third best CL time, with a 1:34.48 in 52nd place. Augie Brown rounded out CL’s top four with an 87th place finish, but he had a nasty fall on the blue course. He had put up a 34th place finish on the red course.

“We just had some falls today and it pushed us down to 10th place,” Leslie said. “But, Anders qualified for stat again and Jamie Mower had a good race!”

As a team, the ‘Cats put up 261 points in 10th place. Cook County won the meet with 345 points and Stillwater came in second with 340. Mahtomedi rounded out the top three with 316 points.

The girls and Brown will participate in the state tournament at Giants Ridge that began on Wednesday, February 15, after the Press goes to print. For full results from the meet, check out next week’s Chisago County Press.

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