Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

The story may sound the same, but for the third consecutive week, the Forest Lake swimming and diving team looked good, even though they lost.

The reason there is so much positivity for the Rangers is due to who was handing out the losses. From Stillwater to Woodbury to Cretin-Derham Hall, those are three ranked teams in which Forest Lake has rarely given much of a battle.

Those days are certainly over, as once again, the Rangers even held the lead against Cretin before losing, 100-85.

“Again, we were truly excited about our performances,” head coach Barb Vailodash said. “It is always hard to compete three weeks in a row against three tough, state-ranked teams, but we went in with great hopes for a win.”

With a history of not being truly competitive in these types of meets, Vailodash and the team are more than pleased with how they’ve improved

“Our overall performances have been impressive. We are showing speed and depth within the program,” she shared.

For starters, Vailodash liked the strong finishes in the 200 freestyle by Clint Krummi coming in first place and Josh Stomberg, who took second.

Tyler Sperry dropped two seconds in the 100 butterfly and ended that race in second place.

The 50 freestyle had John Goossens in second, John Gavanda in third (with a time of 23.89) as well as a solid time for Scott Isaacson at 24.86.

Mark Sandager led a pack of Rangers in the 100 freestyle, as he grabbed first, with Goossens in third, Gavanda in fourth, and Kevin Brennhofer setting a new personal best.

In similar fashion, Forest Lake was well represented in the 500 free, placing Krummi in first, Kevin Lalla in fourth place and Frank O’Neil in fifth place.

Elijah Miller had to face big-time competition with a top state competitor in the 200 IM and the breaststroke, but he finished close for second place in both events.

Mark Sandager was joined by his brother Peter in the backstroke with Mark getting second and Peter landing in fourth place.

DIVING

“Cretin was a fun meet,” head diving coach Deb Welch said. “We fought hard all the way to the end.”

With a personal best score of 202.65, Jeff Isaacson continued to build on a great season and took first place.

Despite suffering from a broken toe, Connor Florand ended the night in third place, in what Welch described as a “great effort.”

Also rounding into form was Matt Goossens, who finished with a personal best score that put him in fourth place.

In the junior varsity competition, Jake Duffy grabbed another first place finish.

Up next for the Rangers is the JV conference meet this Saturday, Feb. 17, and then varsity sections, the weekend of Feb. 22-24 at Northdale Junior High School.

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