Posted: 1/8/03

Depth carries Rangers to Chisago title

Berk Brown
Sports Editor
Without the benefit of a single first or second place finish, the Forest Lake boys swimming and diving team won the Chisago Lakes Invitational on Saturday.

Forest Lake won the nine-team meet with a score of 406. Second-place Cambridge-Isanti finished with 377 while Chisago Lakes had 369 to finish third.

According to second-year Forest Lake coach Dick Waskey, winning the team title was a well-deserved reward for his teamís effort.

ìWe surprised a lot of people with this win and received many nice compliments during and after the meet,î Waskey said. ìWhat is surprising is that we won without any first or second place finishes. We relied solely on our depth and that almost all of our swimmers had personal bests at this meet.î

Waskey also said winning a meet like this can only help a program which has not experienced much winning in recent years.

ìItís really a turning point for us as a team because before this meet we were each competing for ourselves, trying to get better individually and if we failed it was very private and personal,î he said. ìSince everyone was responsible for this win, things have changed. If someone trains poorly, eats poorly, doesnít get enough sleep, misses a meet for some reason, it affects the entire team.î

While Forest Lake did not get any first or second place finishes, the Rangers got their share of third-place performances.

John Fahnhorst was third in the 100 backstroke for the Rangers while Sam Gort was third in the 500 freestyle and Scott Schultze was third in the 200 individual medley.

Chris Duff placed fourth in the 100 backstroke, an event he normally doesnít compete in. Mark Anderson was fifth in the 500 freestyle while Schultze and Corey Docken were seventh and eighth, respectively in the 100 butterfly. Zach Clasen was 10th in the 200 freestyle.

In the diving portion of the meet, Forest Lake had a strong showing against some of the best in the state.

Forest Lakeís top diver was Brian Welch, who finished fifth with 321 points. Ben Johnson and Sam Chaussee also had strong showings, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, with scores of 295.2 and 295.05.

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