Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

If the girls cross country team had a fourth group running at the Cambridge Invitational, Forest Lake might have hit for the cycle.

The afternoon of Friday, Sept. 7 started with the middle schoolers hitting the trail, and the Rangers came in first. Up next in the second event was the varsity, who did their part and finished in second place. In the days third and final race, the junior varsity members fell right in line and took third, in what amounted to be a unique sweep of the medal stand.

After watching his crew finish with mixed results at their first competition in Eagan, Forest Lake head coach Eric Kaluza felt his team had a superb meet at Cambridge.

“The girls competed well and it started with Cassie Thobe and Holly Winberg in the middle school race,” he said.

Pushing the middle school squad to its first place position were Thobe and Winberg, who came in first and second, respectively. Adding a boost to the team standings was Caroline Harris, who picked up a ribbon with a 10th place finish.

In the varsity meet, Elizabeth Peterson outdid everyone in the symmetry department, as she lost the lead toward the end of the race to take second place in the second event for the second place team.

“Gina Lange was seventh and (is) looking stronger with each competition,” Kaluza shared.

Just over a minute behind Lange were Annie Dehmlow (12th) and Mackenzie Galleberg (15th), which were essential in providing quality depth for the Rangers.

The next three runners for Forest Lake were Nicole Olson (20th), Julia Hipp (21st) and Megan Gooley (23rd), while McCall Lemmons was the eighth varsity runner and she finished in 34th place.

And finally, rounding out the top three slots was the junior varsity and its third place finish.

Perhaps Kaluza was trapped in Themeworld, but he went on to cite three standout JV performances in Taylor Winkel (10th), Christy Newell (11th) and Kate Babbitt.

The next meet for the girls is Thursday, Sept. 13, when they participate in the Lucky Lindy at Little Falls Golf Course.

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