 |
Thursday, September 02, 2010
|
|
 |
|
|
| 11/5/2009 9:38:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
|
| Above: Mary Cross was the Wildcats’ top finisher, crossing the checkered line in 16th place. Below: Danielle Vitali (left) and Chelsea Johnson leave the Wildcats with two big holes to fill next year. |
 |
 |
|
Section 7AA proves to be a daunting challenge for Chisago Co. teams
Scary collapse by Johnson dampens an otherwise successful day for Chisago Lakes cross country
BY JEFF NORTON
Sports editor
All season, senior Chelsea Johnson has been preparing for this part of her schedule.
After finishing fifth in the section meet last year and earning a trip to the state meet, Johnson was expected to carry the team this year and make another appearance at the prestigious year-end meet.
Although she did pace the team all year in their docket of races, in the section meet over the weekend, it was a different story.
Just over two miles into the race, Johnson, who was well off of her pace at the time, collapsed as she was trying to tough out the rest of the course. Her legs, which she had conditioned so well for the past few years, just gave up on her.
"Looking back at it, it was a pretty good day for most of the team, but this bad dream just keeps popping in my head," said Head Coach Ken Orwoll, who was worked closely with Johnson throughout her running career. "Chelsea is one of the hardest workers, year round, and she has always finished her races."
Not only has Johnson always been a finisher and never had a similar problem, it came as even more of a surprise to Orwoll since he noted that Johnson had a great week of practice. "Mentally, I felt she was ready to make a repeat trip to the state meet."
According to Jean Johnson, Chelsea's mother, since the race, all of Chelsea's medical tests, including a blood test, heart test and EKG, have come back normal, and she's doing fine.
"It's hard to believe our most dedicated and most talented runner with the best chance to return to a state meet wasn't able to finish the race," Orwoll explained. "It's hard to see something happen like this to an athlete that does everything you ask of her. Chelsea is really a class act -- we will really miss her next year."
Although much of the focus was on Johnson's health, the rest of the girls team had a nice performance in the stacked meet. "I'm not sure I remember much about the girls race, but I give the rest of the girls a lot of credit for the effort they put in after seeing their ace having problems."
Mary Cross finished in 16 minutes flat, two seconds off of her personal record. The finish put her in 16th place in a race that the top 10 girls go to the state tournament.
One minute later, Kelsey Sorenson came across the finish line in her first ever section meet race. Her 17:02 was a personal best for her as she finished in 39th place.
Senior Danielle Vitali completed her final race as a Wildcat by finishing in 17:50, good for 57th place. Orwoll believes Vitali could've ran a faster time, but she was worried about Johnson for most of the race.
Right behind Vitali, Katie Christy and Madi Vukich finished in 60th and 66th place. Christy, only a seventh grader, finish in 17:52, which was a personal record for her, and Vukich came across just under 18 minutes at 17:59. Eighth grader Krya Danielkowski also had a personal best 18:54, which put her in 83rd place. "I was pretty pleased with how wll both our middle school athletes did in their first section meet in some pretty tough conditions," Orwoll said of Christy and Danielkowski. "They both had very gutsy performances."
As a team, the Wildcats finished in ninth place out of 13 teams with a 235. Elk River and Grand Rapids earned the team state tournament berths as the Elks scored a miniscule 28 and Grand Rapids came in second with 82.
The score for Chisago Lakes is a little misleading, however, because of Johnson's unusual struggles. If she had even been able to duplicate her performance from last year, it would've moved the 'Cats up from ninth to fifth place in the meet.
Boys
The guys also had a strong team performance with a few personal records, and a few that were awfully close.
Youngster Andy Magnuson led the 'Cats like he has almost all season, as he set a personal record with a time of 17:43 to finish in 23rd place. "Andy ran a very consistent race, finishing hard whil passing many runners that had gone out too hard in the beginning," Orwoll said.
Josh Olinger was the second guy to set a personal best on the day when he crossed the finished line in 18:20. His time put him in 39th place in the meet.
Caleb Gieske, Peter Tengwall and Riley Myers finished off the boys varsity scoring. Gieske was two seconds off of his personal best time with an 18:46. He finished in 50th place in the event.
Tengwall came across in 19:39, good enough for 74th place. Myers, in his last race as a Wildcat, finished in a season-best 20:15 in 87th place. "It was nice to see the senior in his last race have a good time and help the team out scoring," Orwoll said of the departing Myers.
The guys finished in 11th place out of 14 teams on the day, besting Cloquet, Princeton and Duluth Central. Forest Lake won the meet and earned a team trip to the state tournament with a 71. Cambridge-Isanti secured the other team trip with a 78 to finish in second place.
"I was pleased overall with our effort on a cold, rainy day," Orwoll said. "It was a sloppy, muddy and slick course all day."
|
|
|
|
|