Doing the Cabbage Patch
OK, so I’m not really going to do the Cabbage Patch dance, as I’m a terrible dancer! But, I’m going to learn to be a better dancer this school year, because our exchange student, Guglielmo, is an Italian Junior Champion dancer. He’s going to teach me a thing or two, so the next time I am on the dance floor, I don’t make a fool of myself like normal.
Turnovers doom North Branch in 42-28 loss to Pequot Lakes
North Branch kicked off their football season with a tough test against the Pequot Lakes Patriots on Thursday, August 31.
Chisago City’s Casey breaks two Minnesota 11-12 records in swimming
Kaia Casey had some lofty goals coming into her long course summer swimming season, and reaching some of them wasn’t easy, but she stuck with it and hit her milestones just one week apart.
Dietz excited for school year to start as Chisago Lakes’ new superintendent
Chisago Lakes’ search for a new superintendent earlier this year led them to Brian Dietz, and now Dietz is hoping to lead Chisago Lakes to new heights, including passing a new levy in the fall.
Labor Day begins a new adventure
Labor Day is going to take on a special meaning for Aly and I this year. We decided to host an exchange student for the whole school year, and he’ll be arriving this week, just in time for Labor Day weekend.
To-may-to, to-mah-to
Although the dry, hot summer we’ve had haven’t been the best for growing tomatoes, as long as you kept on your watering schedule, and maybe gave the big red fruits an extra drink or two, you should be reaping the rewards from your tomato plants about now. So it’s time for some recipes!
Reed takes break from vacation to win last Chisago Lakes Tri, Herrick takes women’s crown
John Reed, of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, has willpower that most could only dream of. He took a day out of vacationing in Minnesota and visiting his girlfriend to compete in and win the Chisago Lakes Triathlon on Sunday, July 30.
Beat the heat with light fare
This week was another scorcher, except now we’ve got the dreaded humidity involved too! I love grilling and smoking food but frankly, grilling out in 90-plus degree temperatures isn’t pleasant.
Time to pick the big green veggie
The zucchinis are coming in big and fast this year, if you’ve been able to keep them properly watered in this summer heat.
Chisago Lakes Middle School to silence cell phone use this year
Cell phone use has become a problem at the Chisago Lakes Middle School, and after a year on the job, principal Todd Warzecha laid out the plan to curb use in the building whenhe spoke at the regular school board meeting Thursday, July 13.
Time for the pepper sneezes
Last year about this time, I did recipes for green peppers, as they nearly ready to be picked in our garden. This year, they still have a little bit of time left to go. I’m not a great gardening mind, but I assume it’s because of how hot and dry it’s been this year. We water our plants every day, but when there is just natural moisture and rain here and there, I feel like it makes a big difference in the speed and size of your plants and their growth.
I’m feelin’ hot, hot, hot
This summer has been particularly harsh when it comes to high temps, and although we all had a pleasant Karl Oskar Days and the few days after, more 90+ degree days are on the horizon, and it’s come like clockwork the last three years.
Chisago Lakes’ path to state football now goes through St. Paul schools with section realignment
Every two years, the Minnesota State High School League takes a look at section placement and typically makes just some small tweaks. A team here or a team there gets shuffled, but programs largely find a home and stick to it.
Glada Karl Oskar Dagar
My headline today reads Happy Karl Oskar Days, and I hope each and every one of you has a wonderful time if you plan on taking part in any of the activities.
Meat Sweats: 4th of July edition
The Fourth of July is always a time to celebrate. It’s America’s Independence Day, and it’s always a fun time!
Area golfers compete at state meets
For North Branch’s Olivia Weyenberg, it was her last time donning the red and white of North Branch in competitive golf, but for Chisago Lakes’ Andrew Swanson and Kali Hanson, and NB’s Nick Melvin, the 2023 state golf meets were hopefully the start of some great futures.
BOYS LAX TEAM FALLS JUST SHORT OF CONSOLATION TITLE
The Chisago Lakes boys lacrosse team entered the state tournament as a decided underdog last week.
Oh, how I missed you!
For the first time in over two years, I missed a column last week!
SECTION SUCCESS: NB and CL send multiple athletes to state meet
In our sports preview issue earlier this spring, Wildcat girls’ track head coach Nathan Appleby said he thought the Wildcat girls would get 15 spots at the state meet this year. Appleby was right on the mark, as six athletes will take 15 spots at state, including eight spots in a total of two relays. The boys will send six athletes to state, for a total of seven spots, including four spots in a relay. First and second place finishers, plus any athletes who hit certain qualifying marks, advance to the state tournament.
CL cruises past Rangers, but dream season ends against Rebels
Despite sporting an undefeated record going into sections, the Chisago Lakes girls lacrosse team got the fourth seed and knew that top-seeded Champlin Park would eventually be on their path to sections.
Chisago Lakes takes care of business as top seed, playing for title
It’s not always easy having the biggest target on your back, as the Chisago Lakes boys lacrosse team found out getting every teams’ best effort in the early rounds of sections.
Swanson and Hanson ride great second rounds to Class AAA meet
Andrew Swanson has been Chisago Lakes’ top golfer all year, and he saved some of his best for last in the Section 7AAA meet the past week.
NB and CL baseball bow out of sections in tough fashion
The North Branch baseball team had a roller coaster ride through sections, and the first major bump proved to be too big to overcome.
Congrats to the Class of 2023!
I had the pleasure of covering Chisago Lakes’ graduation ceremonies earlier this week, and besides the immaculate weather, I was just struck by how much everyone was enjoying themselves, how proud the families were of their graduations, and how, at least for a night, everyone seemed to be best buds.
CL socks North Branch in upper bracket, will rematch for section softball championship
Courtesy runner Jess Dittel scored on a wild pitch with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the top-seeded Wildcats a 4-3 win over the fifth-seeded Cloquet Lumberjacks in the championship bracket of the Section 7AAA softball tournament Saturday, May 27 at Braun Park in Cloquet. Sam Johnson drove in all three of the Wildcats’ runs prior to the winning run. The win sent the Wildcats to face the second-seeded North Branch Vikings in the next round of the section tournament Tuesday, May 30 at the Grand Rapids Sports Complex.
Offensive explosion powers North Branch; headed to section semis
The North Branch baseball team put up a score last week that’s extremely rare, even in the high school ranks.
CL third at M8C Championships, NB fifth
The Wildcats girls’ track team finished third in the Mississippi 8 Conference championship held Wednesday, May 24 at Big Lake while the North Branch girls came in fifth. On the boys’ side, the Wildcats came in last out of eight teams and NB seventh. Seventh-grader Annika Hall won the 3200-meter run in 11:37.85, finishing 24 seconds ahead of Makenna Sjoberg of Cambridge-Isanti. She also came in second in the 1600-meter run. And sophomore Catharine Larson won the triple jump with a leap of 34’2”.
‘Cats upended by STMA Knights
The dream undefeated season for the Chisago Lakes boys lacrosse team came to a crashing halt Tuesday, May 23 against St. Michael Albertville.
Chisago Lakes makes a deep run before bowing out at home
Chisago Lakes got to show off their beautiful tennis facilities the past week and a half during the Section 7AA Individual and Team tournaments, and they made a nice little run to the semifinals to boot.
Liar, liar, pants on fire
OK, I lied! I said I would only do one week of rhubarb recipes since I had such a long column last week, but I had a few more in the chamber to fire off, so I wanted to go back to the tarty vegetable (yes, rhubarb is a vegetable and not a fruit, despite it’s sweet uses.)
Vikings and ‘Cats work to sharpen their games before golf sections
Princeton Golf Course Chisago Lakes was still stuck chasing Becker at the Princeton Golf Course on Monday, May 15, with another second place finish behind the Bulldogs.
Wildcats move to 11-0 before finally falling to St. Michael-Albertville
Despite a slow start, the Chisago Lakes boys lacrosse team eventually turned their offense up a notch and ran away from the Sabres of Sartell on Thursday, May 18.
Girls cruise by three more opponents, run winning streak to 11
It was easy pickings for the Chisago Lakes offense when they traveled to Sauk Rapids Rice High School on Tuesday, May 16 to take on the Storm’n Sabres co-op.
Finances and potential levy at the forefront of regular CL board meeting
At the regular school board meeting on Thursday, May 18, the Chisago Lakes School Board got a levy update ahead of a beefy working meeting session that was held this week after the Chisago County Press went to print.
I hope you’re hungry this week!
I typically have the same amount of space each week, but the way the paper laid out in this issue, I have a little extra space for recipes this week, which is a good thing, since it’s rhubarb time! I usually spread these over two weeks since it’s so popular and abundant, but I think with this space, I’ll get them all in this week!
Chisago Lakes and North Branch girls battle for true team crown
With both girls’ teams on top of their games this year, the Section 7AA True Team championships turned into a dual meet between Chisago Lakes and North Branch, with the Wildcats edging the Viking with 571.5 points while North Branch had 548. Cloquet did try to get in on the action with 541.5 points, but it was a Chisago County battle from beginning to end
ALL THEY DO IS WIN
Two more contests resulted in two more wins for the still undefeated Chisago Lakes girls lacrosse team. They took on Spring Lake Park and Anoka in two western suburb tilts, and didn’t have much issue taking care of both squads.
Doubles highlight narrow loss
All three doubles teams earned wins for Chisago Lakes, but it just wasn’t enough to knock off Cambridge-Isanti on Monday, May 15.
Turning up the heat on grilling season
I’ve been grilling and smoking plenty of foods outside so far this season, but it hasn’t always been pleasant to run out when it’s raining or windy and cold and check on the food. But, it sure seems like we are now full blown into the grilling season here where you can check your food in bare feet and spend some time over the open fire with your favorite beverage in hand and soak in the sunshine.
Olson leading the way for Chisago Lakes
The Chisago Lakes tennis team fell to Becker this last week, but then rebounded for a double header win over tough section teams Grand Rapids and Forest Lake. They’ve been led this year by Abe Olson at first singles, as he takes on the top player from the other team every night and has done well.
NB and CL continue to battle with Monticello for top spots in M8C
Chisago Lakes’ Andrew Swanson and North Branch’ Nichloas Melvin battled it out for the top individual spot on a cold and windy day at Pebble Creek Golf Club in Becker on Tuesday, May 2, but it was Monticello who still came out with the team win in the Mississippi 8 Conference meet.
Bernier gives up one run in four game stretch
Junior pitcher Hannah Bernier had a great start to the season, giving up just one run in two games against tough Mississippi 8 Conference opponents Chisago Lakes and Princeton.
Wildcat lax team still undefeated
Chisago Lakes’ season hit a high note offensively on Wednesday, May 3 at home when the Wildcats absolutely crushed the Duluth Marshall Hilltoppers 23-1 in a lopsided affair.
Hanson wins at Monticello CC
Despite Becker retaining a stranglehold on the Mississippi 8 Conference team events, Chisago Lakes’ keeps getting individual champions out of the meets.
Good luck with fishing opener!
Here in Minnesota, it seems a foregone conclusion that people love to eat walleye.
Board accepts Spencer’s resignation; appoints Aadland ahead of special election
Plenty of coffee was on the menu for the Chisago Lakes School Board Monday, May 1, as they met for a special meeting at 7 a.m. to accept board member Cory Spencer’s resignation, and discuss plans going forward to fill the now-vacant seat.
Chisago Lakes moves to 3-0 with wins over Monti and St. Cloud
Chisago Lakes sports a perfect 3-0 record on the year, and they’ve had a good mix of competitive games and and blowouts that have gotten a lot of players on the score sheet.
Vikes’ lineup smashes St. Francis closer for seventh inning comeback
In what had already been a wild, back-and-forth affair between North Branch and St. Francis on Thursday, April 27, the Vikings added a bit of extra flair to the 11-6 win.
True test at Bluejacket Invite
The North Branch girls track and field team battled it out at the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejacket True Team event last week in the cold, wet temps to finish in third place behind Cambrid-Isanti and Sartell. From left to right; Asaysha Olson won the triple jump event for NB and finished fourth in the long jump. Avery Smith anchored the 4x100 relay team that finished in second, just a second and a half behind Cambridge-Isanti’s foursome. Shaenya Andreotti won both the 100 meter hurdle event and the 300 meter hurdling event to continue her great season. The boys finished in fifth of sixth teams at the event.
North Branch bests Brooklyn Center
North Branch will have a tough time winning many matches in the very competitive Mississippi 8 Conference this year, but they got a commanding 7-0 win over the Brooklyn Center Centaurs last week.