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The Section 7AA True Team meet turned into a duel between North Branch and Chisago Lakes on the girls side, and although the Wildcats came out on top by about 30 points, the Vikings had some great performances.

Sophomore Sophia Thorsen was an absolute monster for the Vikings, as she swept the sprint events top spots. She had a personal record in the 100 meter dash, finishing in 12.30 seconds. Thorsen then breezed through the 200 meter dash in 25.77 seconds to win her second event of the day. In the 400 meter run, Thorsen was close to breaking a minute, but her 1:00.19 time still won the event comfortably. To top off her day, Thorsen was a part of the 4x200 relay team that held off Hermantown by fractions of a second to win that event as well. The NB foursome finished in 1:50.69 while Hermantown’s quartet came across in 1:50.86.

Senior Dakota Esget also helped the team get a pile of points in many of  the same events as Thorsen. She finished fourth in the 100, and third in the 200 and 400, but she also grabbed one of the Vikes’ other wins on the day with a first place finish in the triple jump. She jumped 34’6.5” in the event.

The only other win for the Vikes on the day came from Ella Dick in the pole vault. The junior cleared 11 feet flat to claim the victory. Teammate Brooke Giese was right behind her, with a personal best jump of 10’6” to finish in second place.

There were a few other notable finishes from the Vikes, with senior Derrian Dick coming in second place with a season best 16’4” in the long jump, senior Ella Kuhlman coming in fourth place in the 800 meter run, Valerie Zarbok grabbing fifth in the 100 meter hurdles, and the 4x100 relay team coming in second place.

As a team, the Vikings piled up 414 points, but fell shy of Chisago Lakes’ 443.5, which earned them the trip to the true team state meet.

On the boys side, the best finish for the Vikings came in the form of a few third places. Josh Halseth grabbed third in the long jump, Ethan Holmberg tossed the discus 114’3” for third in that event, and Brody Rothe finished the 110 meter hurdles in 16.29 seconds. Jordan Stumm grabbed a top five finish in both the 800 and 1,600 meter runs, coming in fourth in the 800 and fifth in the 1,600.

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