Posted: 9/18/02

Forest Lake girls claim St. Francis title

Berk Brown
Sports Editor

For the third time in four years the Forest Lake girls cross country team won the St. Francis Invitational. Barely.

Forest Lake edged Elk River by just one point and Coon Rapids finished just four more points behind on Thursday, Sept. 12.

Forest Lake finished with 74 points. Elk River was second with 75 and Coon Rapids third with 79.

Besides the team title, Forest Lake coach Janet Howe said the Rangers got a shot of energy.
ìIt was a big confidence booster,î she said. ìWe really learned at the beginning (of the season) that we have to work harder this year. Things came a little easier last year with Stephanie (Howe) leading our big one, two, three punch.î

The key to Forest Lakeís team title was its improved depth. The Rangers got their usual stellar performances from Kristen Howe and Laura Edlund but got drastically improved times from the rest of its team.

Those improvements were especially needed in the absence of Sarah Wright, who missed the race due to illness.

Howe placed fourth in 15:57 for the Rangers while Edlund was fifth in 16:13.

Shawna McNamara was 17th in 17:14 while Emily Buck was 23rd in 17:34, Kristi Buerkle was 25th in 17:35 and Rachel Charpentier was 45th in 19:04.

Janet Howe said she was mostly impressed with her teamís desire to race against each other rather than with each other.

ìEmily and Kristi really pushed each other instead of racing next to each other,î she said. ìThereís a big difference. We hadnít been doing that.î

In the junior varsity portion of the race, Forest Lakeís Annie Dehmlow placed second in 18:04.

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