---

Packer Invite
Despite missing plenty of meet action early this year due to snowy weather, the Chisago Lakes boys swimming and diving team has come out of the long layoff with two big wins, including a Packer Invite championship from Saturday, January 14.

The Wildcats set the tone early by winning the 200 medley relay race with the foursome of Tanner Betts, Jackson Cunningham, Nick Olson and Jimmy Nord.

Max Arntson, Nate Bear, Lincoln Battles and Riley Solberg all followed that performance up by finishing in the top eight in the 200 freestyle. Arntson was second, Bear fourth, Battles seventh and Solberg in eighth.

The depth of the team continued to show off in the 50 freestyle, with Vincent Adams winning the event in 24.20 seconds and Charlie Sprado, Nord, and Chris Marchant finishing fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

Adams and Olson went two-three in the 100 butterfly to keep piling up points for CL.

Arntson and Sprado both fared well in the 100 freestyle, even though a pair of swimmers from Two Rivers swept the top two spots. Arntson came in third and Sprado in fifth.

The 500 free hasn’t been terrible strong for CL over the past couple of years, but Bear and Marchant finished in second and thid in the event at the invite.

In the 200 free relay, Olson, Adams, Sprado and Arntson teamed up to finished second. They were in a duel with the Two Rivers quartet the whole time and were just narrowly out-touched at the end by .05 seconds. Two Rivers won with a time of 1:37.44 and Chisago Lakes was second with a time of 1:37.49.

The last two individual events were again littered with high finishers from Chisago Lakes. Evan Sundberg, Betts and Battles were all top seven in the 100 backstroke and Cunningham, Olson and Colin Heiland each finished top eight, with Cunningham and Olson coming in second and third in the 100 breaststroke.

The meet ended with the 400 free relay, and again, Chisago Lakes had a tight battle with Two Rivers for the top spot, but Two Rivers came out on top against in 3:37.42. The foursome of Arntson, Sprado, Betts and Adams came in second in 3:39.90.

All of the depth and success from the Wildcats led to a pretty comfortable first place finish for CL. The ‘Cats tallied 371 points in the top spot while Two Rivers had 287 to finish in second. Richfield/Holy Angels came in third with 228, host South St. Paul was fourth with 173 points, Columbia Heights finished fifth with 116 points and River Falls High School had 24.

“The guys have been working incredibly hard in the weight room and the pool,” Head Coach Luke Weyandt said. “They support each other in getting better constantly. An invite win at midseason speaks to their dedication to the team and to each other.”

Chisago Lakes 97, Cambridge-Isanti 75
The invite was preceded by CL’s first Mississipi 8 Conference meeting of the new year when the ‘Cats hosted the Bluejackets on Thursday, January 5.

Chisago Lakes got wins up and down the docket until they had a big enough lead to swim exhibition the last two events.

Betts, Cunningham, Olson and Nord kicked it off with a win in the 200 medley relay, Arntson got individual wins in the 200 individual medley and 100 free and was part of the winning teams in the 200 and 400 free relays.

Nord dominated in diving, compiling 278.1 points and swam anchor in the 200 free relay that won.

Adams earned a first place in the 100 butterfly, and as part of the 200 and 400 free relay squads.

Betts finished first in the 100 backstroke and Olson came in first in the 100 breaststroke.

---