Posted: 2/8/06
Boys Nordic team wins 7th SEC title in 9 years
|
|
 |
Joe Drennan
Sports Editor
The Forest Lake High School Nordic ski teams started the month of February off on the right foot as the boys team won its seventh Suburban East Conference title in nine years and the girls placed third.
ìI think overall it was a very good team performance,î Rangers head coach Deno Johnson said. ìObviously the boys skied well and accomplished all they did without senior captain Ben Fick.î
The boys team dominated by placing five skiers in the top 10
Senior Ted Steiner won the race with a time of 26:06. Steinerís first place victory made it official that for the past three seasons every single individual first place finish in SEC races had been won by a Rangers skier.
ìYou could probably look far and wide at different conferences and sports and it (winning every race for three years straight) is not a common occurrence,î Johnson said.
Junior Leif Nordgren placed second with a time of 26:24 and junior Zac Clark in third with a time of 26:25.
Travis Strike was the top placing sophomore as he crossed the line seventh with a time of 27:45. Senior captain Jamison Hull placed 10th with a time of 28:10
The five Rangers in the top 10 all earned All-Conference honors as did junior Dave Kasl who placed 17th with a time of 28:51 and sophomore Ben Brodin who placed 22nd with a time of 29:30.
Shawn Wright, Roman Morris, Joe Mitchell, Mike Howe and Ryan Wright also raced for the boys team.
The Rangers finished an astonishing 64 points ahead of second place Stillwater. The Rangers had 482 points, while Stillwater had 418.
ìThe boys absolutely dominated the race,î Johnson said. ìJust think, they took the top three spots with five in the top 10 and seven boys were named All-Conference. All of this without senior captain Ben Fick. Here they come.î
In the girls race sophomore Annie Dehmlow led the Rangers to a third place finish as she finished eighth overall with a time of 32:17. Other Rangers finishing in contention for All-Conference honors included junior Kristi Jo Buerkle who placed 14th with a time of 33:16 and sophomore Kate Babbitt who placed 20th with a time of 34:23.
Seventh grader Liz Peterson was the top seventh grader, placing 23rd with a time of 34:39 and just out of contention of All-Conference honors. Lauren Marosok, Amber Anderson, Jen Scott, Megan Gooley, Bridget Holmes and Amy Wilcox also raced for the Rangers.
ìThis young team showed they know how to compete,î Johnson said. ìWeíre losing no seniors this year, and with another year of off season training weíll be able to compete for the SEC title next year.î
Roseville won the race with 479 points, followed by Stillwater who had 463 points and the Rangers who had 409 points.
ìRoseville and Stillwater are very strong teams this year,î Johnson said. ìOnly two seniors took All-Conference out of 20. Iíve never seen anything like that before.î
Fick update
For the first time in six years senior Ben Fick wasnít a part of the Rangers efforts in the SEC title race. Instead Fick was off racing with the U.S. Ski Team in Scandinavia.
Fick placed 33rd in the skate-sprint race of the Scandinavian Cup.
ìWe were excited to find out that not only was Norway and Sweden at the race, but Estonia, Iceland, Finland and Denmark were as well as they sent their top seven skiers under the age of 17,î Johnson said.
ìBen was pleased with his finish because at nationals last year he was 30th, so to be skiing with guys who will be in the Olympics in four years he was happy with his level of competition.î
Fickís next race was a 5K classic where he was the top American, placing 11th out of 70 skiers.
ìConsidering he qualified sixth out of the seven American skiers who went, he was pleased,î Johnson said.
Fick finished ahead of all the skiers from Estonia, Finland, Iceland and Denmark. Only skiers from Sweden and Norway finished ahead of him.
Fick will rejoin the team Tuesday night.
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605