Posted: 2/19/03

FL edges Park with frenzied finish

Berk Brown
Sports Editor

When Chris Duff and Jake Morrison dove into the pool as the anchor legs of their respecitve 400-yard freestyle relay teams against Park last week, the Rangers appeared headed for a loss.

Roughly 50 seconds and 100 yards later the Rangers were able to celebrate a 95-91 victory in their final home meet of the season as Duff and Morrison rallied their relays from behind and set off a thunderous celebration from an already frenzied crowd.

ìI donít know about everyone else, but (the win over Park) was the most exciting meet Iíve ever been to,î Forest Lake coach Dick Waskey said. ìIt was the loudest Southwest pool has been for many years.î

It was a back-and-forth meet all night and with three events left, the Wolfpack and Rangers were deadlocked at 70.

Forest Lake then got the point it would ultimately need for victory when John Fahnhorst, Mark Sandager and Kevin Burk went 1-2-3, respectively, in the 100 backstroke to give the Rangers an 83-73 lead.

Park got a 1-2 finish in the 100 breaststroke to pull within 89-83 and set the stage for a dramatic finish in the 400 freestyle relay. Park needed a first and second place finish to win the meet or a first and a third to tie it.

The Wolfpackís top relay team dominated the race, forcing the Rangers to place second or third in order to win.

Heading into the anchor legs, Park still had the second-place relay team, but Duff pulled his relay team into second with roughly 75 yards left in the race for the Rangers.

Morrison ñÝwho had a personal-best time on his leg ñÝovertook Park for third place at the final flip and held on for the final 50 yard.

Forest Lakeís second-place relay team of Jeff Sandager, Sam Gort, Fahnhorst and Duff finished with a time of 3:45.17. The third-place relay team of Jacob Waskey, Paul Stocco, James Kassel and Morrison finished in 3:46.65 for the Rangers. Parkís fourth-place relay team had a time of 3:48.36.

Although the meet wasnít decided unti l the very end, Waskey said it took several clutch performances throughout the meet to earn the win.

ìThe boys had a lot of strong performances in this meet,î he said.

Among those was the personal best score of Brian Welch in diving, who took first with a 234.90.

Forest Lakeís only other first-place finish came from freshman Sam Gort in the 500 freestyle. He won the race with a time of 5:25.23.

The victory over Park improved the Rangers to 5-5 this season in dual meets. The previous three years, Forest Lake went winless in duals.

On Tuesday, Feb. 11, Forest Lake won big over Chisago Lakes, taking a 109-77 victory.

Forest Lake got first-place finishes from its 200 medley relay team of Fahnhorst, Robinson, Corey Docken and Jeff Sandager as well as its 400 freestyle relay team of Duff, Gort, Fahnhorst and Jeff Sandager.

Gort (500 freestyle), Scott Schulze (200 individual medley) and Fahnhorst (100 backstroke) also finished first for the Rangers.

Those having personal-best performances in the win over Chisago Lakes included: Zach Clasen in the 200 freestyle, Morrison and Mark Sandager in the 200 individual medley, Scott Thomas, Tyler Sperry and Schulze in the 100 butterfly, Burk in the 100 backstroke, Tom Kelly in the 50 and 100 freestyle, Luke Kubitschek in the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.

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