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Wednesday, 06 February 2008
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Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor
In a display of good news, not-so-bad news for the Forest Lake Nordic ski teams, the Suburban East wrapped up its conference meet on Feb. 1 just as expected.
As the girls were closing in on the end of the regular season, they were also closing in on their main competitors — Stillwater and Roseville.
The boys, on the other hand, had four consecutive SEC titles pushing and pulling them throughout the year, and head coach Deno Johnson was counting on his group to make it five straight. Or a five-peat. Or one for the thumb. Or Ranger V, if you will.
“I’m proud of the effort the girls made,” Johnson said after their third-place finish. “Each and every one went out there and gave it their all.”
The Forest Lake girls totalled 430 points, putting them behind Roseville’s 458 points, and Stillwater at 438.
The lead Ranger was Annie Dehmlow, who capped off her senior year in the SEC with a fourth-place finish, in a time of 27:31.
Behind her were teammates Elizabeth Peterson (10th), Jen Scott (15th) and Amber Anderson (20th), as all four grabbed all-conference.
“Annie is on the upswing, and Elizabeth , Jen and Amber had great days, also,” Johnson shared.
“Sections is almost here and Kate Babbitt is very fired up. The girls squad will be ready for their best collective effort yet.”
Which brings us to the boys, who collectively squashed the competition on their way to first, with 480 points. In second place was Stillwater at 417, but that might not explain the full story.
Forest Lake crammed the All-SEC list with nine Rangers, leaving only 11 spots for the rest of the schools to fight over.
“We’ve had seven all-conference boys three years in a row. To break that record with a fabulous nine athletes, and getting the SEC’s first 8th grade boy in Joe Jackson to all-conference honors was something special,” Johnson said.
Taking charge of the boys race was Ben Brodin, and behind him was that gang of Ranger race crammers: Travis Strike (3rd), Ryan Wright (4th), Shawn Wright (8th), Steve Coozennoy (9th), Roman Morris (10th), Mike Howe (13th), Mitch Wohlk (16th), Joe Jackson (19th) and Matt Maki (36th).
“Ben Brodin was on fire,” Johnson said.
“Travis had his best race of the year and we’ll be looking for more of that. He used a different pair of skis for the skate race and that helped a lot.”
When Johnson mentions looking forward, he’s talking about Wednesday’s (Feb. 6) Section 4 Championship as well as the state competition on Feb. 15.
“The boys team’s form is coming along nicely and they know they have bigger fish to fry. I’m cautiously optimistic,” Johnson concluded.
Last season the girls were able to land Dehmlow, Peterson and Babbitt in the state meet, and now they might have company from a few more teammates.
SEC Conference finals
Boys
1. Ben Brodin 22:46
3. Travis Strike 23:24
4. Ryan Wright 23:31
8. Shawn Wright 24:20
9. Steve Coozennoy 24:31
10. Roman Morris 24:36
13. Mike Howe 25:02
16. Mitch Wohlk 25:05
19. Joe Jackson 25:32
36. Matt Maki 27:06
Girls
4. Annie Dehmlow 27:31
10. Elizabeth Peterson 28:29
15. Jen Scott 29:37
20. Amber Anderson 29:56
26. Kate Babbitt 30:21
34. Megan Gooley 31:29
40. Julia Hipp 32:24
59. Amy Wilcox 35:30
Jayvee results
Alex Kelley: Classic 14:33, Skate 12:59
Adam Marosok: Classic 14:55, Skate 13:50
Scotty Wambold: Classic 16:40, Skate 14:40
Kellie Wambold: Classic 19:44, Skate 18:35
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