Forest Lake Times Winter Sports Preview

Winter Sports PreviewThursday, December 6, 2012 f o r e s T l a k e T i m e s . c o m Vol. 110 No. 30 - $1.00

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RangeR giRls BasketBall• 2011-12 record: 16-12 (fifth in SEC)• Captains: Seniors KP Palo, Angie Frericks and

junior Bailey Norby • All-Conference returnees: Bailey Norby, Anna

Eckert (honorable-mention) and Emily Peters (honorable-mention)

• Current seniors: six

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coaches• Head coach: Jen Wagner, eighth season• Assistant coaches: Maurya Laqua, Renee

Frericks, Roger Keller and Chris Rupar

“Hopefully we will win games along the way, but more importantly, we have to continue to get better each and every day,” – coach Jen WagneR

11/27 Andover 7:1511/30 Mahtomedi 7:1512/4 atCambridge-Isanti 7:1512/6 atNorth 7:1512/7 ChisagoLakes 7:1512/11 atMoundsView 7:1512/14 WhiteBearLake 7:1512/18 atRoseville 7:1512/21 Cretin-DerhamHall 7:1512/27 RogersTournament 8:0012/28 RogersTournament 6:00

1/4 atPark 7:151/8 EastRidge 7:151/11 Woodbury 7:151/15 atStillwater 7:151/17 atHastings 7:151/22 MoundsView 7:151/25 atWhiteBearLake 7:151/29 Roseville 7:152/1 atCretin-DerhamHall7:152/2 atDuluthEast 2:302/8 Park 7:152/12 atEastRidge 7:152/15 atWoodbury 7:152/19 Stillwater 7:152/22 Hastings 7:152/28 SectionTournament 7:003/5 SectionTournament@NB3/8 SectionFinals@NB

GIRLS BASKETBALL

16-11t 5thin SEC

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Rangers show promise with

talent, leadership

Kat LadwigSports Editor

Ranger girls’ basketball already has one leg up on most Forest Lake sports in drawing a big crowd with their annual appearance of beloved Timberwolves mascot, Crunch. But area sports fan have another reason to watch the girls play this season as they hope to clinch a section title and secure a trip to state.

After a solid fifth-place SEC finish last year, with both Roseville and White Bear Lake ranking top-10 in state, the Rangers are off to a good start this season. They won comfortably over Andover, 73-48, and blew away Mahtomedi, 70-21, in this year’s first two games.

Head coach Jen Wag-ner, in her eighth season at Forest Lake, said her team has been playing well, but they still have work to do in practice.

“We still have some ar-eas we need to improve

on,” Wagner said. “[Like] executing better and being more efficient on offense, better block-outs on de-fense and defending with-out the basketball by stay-ing in a stance.”

In the win over Andover, the girls showcased their speed and athleticism by running the court at every chance. That speed starts with the one-through-three spots: Emily Peters, Hanna Vidlund and Anna Eckert. Peters, a junior, commands the court at the point with exceptional ball-handling skills and is an offensive threat from behind the arc and in her ability to drive

the lane. Vidlund will fill the No.

2 spot, and worked hard in the off-season to earn her position and gain con-fidence on the court. Wag-ner said the guard has great length, quickness and is an offensive threat in both shooting and at-tacking the rim.

Junior Anna Eckert will be a key player on both ends as a guard and small forward with her quick-ness and athleticism.

“One of the best shoot-ers on the team who has great ball-handling skills, excellent vision in the open court and the quickness to be a deadly defender,” Wagner said.

Captains, seniors KP Palo and Angie Frericks and junior Bailey Norby, will be the foundation of this Ranger squad, earning points for their team from the low blocks. Norby will

man the center position, bringing leadership and energy with her into the post.

“[Bailey] is one of the best players to come through Forest Lake,” Wag-ner said. “An all-around outstanding player who can score at will in the low block, hit the outside jump shot, attack the rim, defend with success and a knack for rebounding.”

Palo will join Norby un-der the boards as a consis-tent low-block player with solid defense and rebound-ing skills, while Frericks will shine as one of the few true utility players. Wagner said Frericks is a solid de-fender with a high basket-ball I.Q., and is a consistent offensive threat from any position on the court.

This Ranger team has the talent and depth to take down the SEC and sec-tion forces during the de-manding winter season.

“The season is long and ultimately, our goal is to win the section,” Wagner said. “Hopefully we will win games along the way, but more importantly, we have to continue to get better each and every day, help-ing us to reach our goal.”

The Ranger season, seeded third ended dur-ing the section semifinals last year to No. 2-seed Cambridge-Isanti in a back-and-forth 71-65 loss. After a 7-20 record in 2010-11, Forest Lake began its climb last year at 16-12.

Rangers ready to continue climbing

Photo by Kat LadwigJunior Anna Eckert pulls up for a jumper in the lane during the 73-48 win over Andover in last Tuesday’s home opener.

Photo by TLC ImagesTop: The Forest Lake girls’ basketball team won their first two games of the season over Andover and Mahtomedi last week. Lower: Bailey Norby, Angie Frericks and KP Palo are the 2012-13 captains.

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12/1 Blaine 3:0012/4 Cambridge-Isanti 7:1512/8 atCentennial 3:3012/11 atSt.Francis 7:1512/15 atIrondale 2:4512/18 Roseville 7:1512/21 atCretin-DerhamHall 7:151/4 Park 7:151/8 atEastRidge 7:151/11 atWoodbury 7:151/15 Stillwater 7:15

1/18 Hastings 7:151/22 atMoundsView 7:151/25 WhiteBearLake 7:151/29 atRoseville 7:152/1 Cretin-DerhamHall 7:152/2 GrandRapids 2:302/5 atBigLake 7:152/8 atPark 7:152/9 atDuluthEast 2:002/12 EastRidge 7:152/14 Woodbury 7:152/19 atStillwater 7:152/22 atHastings 7:152/26 MoundsView 7:153/1 atWhiteBearLake 7:153/9 SectionTournament 7:00

RangeR Boys BasketBall• 2011-12 record: 6-12 in SEC (12-16 overall)• Captains: Seniors Brock Baumgartner, Anthony

Tyler and Noah Davis• All-Conference returnees: none• Current seniors: eight

coaches• Head coach: Dan Cremisino, seventh year• Assistant coaches: Dan Jacobs, Kale Henry, Kevin

Keto, Doug Sewall, Tim Conley, John Buck

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“We will not have the luxury of being able to make many mistakes and still win.”

– coach Dan cRemisino

BASKETBALL

Photos by TLC Digital Images The Ranger boys’ bas-ketball team is return-ing three of its top-five scorers from last season, when Forest Lake went 12-16 overall and took seventh in the SEC.

Left: Seniors Brock Baumgartner, Anthony Tyler and Noah Davis are the 2012-13 captains.

Below: Tyler drives the lane during a home game last season.


They have speed, depth and leadership. And with the boys’ squad returning three of its top-five leading scorers from last season, Forest Lake basketball fans can look forward to a competitive season.

Under the senior lead-ership of captains Brock Baumgartner, Anthony Ty-ler and Noah Davis, head coach Dan Cremisino is optimistic about the Rangers battling through the Suburban East Con-ference for one of the top seeds heading into Sec-tion 7AAAA finals.

That’s not to say For-est Lake won’t have its work cut out, as they kick off conference play on Dec. 18 against a physical Roseville team, current-ly ranked No. 6 in state (Class AAAA). The Rang-ers stuck with the pow-erhouse Raiders during last season’s conference opener, losing just 64-57.

Other tough match-ups for Forest Lake in conference play will be Woodbury, Cretin-Derham Hall, Mounds View and Stillwater. In section play, the Rangers hope to stick with tough teams from Duluth East and Anoka. Another force in Section 7AAAA is Blaine, who lost to the Greyhounds of Duluth East in section finals last season, and de-feated Forest Lake 61-56 in this year’s home open-er for the Rangers on Sat-urday.

Impact players for the Rangers include leading returning scorer Davis, who appeared in just 18 full games last season due

to injury. Despite missing 10 games, the 6’6” for-ward recorded 298 points, 134 rebounds, 40 assists, 22 steals and shot 42 per-cent from behind the arc.

“We need Noah to score,” Cremisino said. “He’s a unique player at 6’6” who can score both inside and out, and we just need him to stay healthy.”

Tyler also returns as an offensive threat as the squad’s third-leading scorer from last season with 234 points. The 6’4” senior will help Davis down low on the blocks after recording 91 re-bounds, as well as 39 steals and 18 assists at the five-spot. Cremisino said the returning starter is a threat on multiple levels with his ability to run the floor, guard ath-leticism, finish around the rim and work hard under the boards.

Matt Degendorfer will round out the scoring threats in maroon and gold this season at the two-spot after earning 162 points last season, as well as 43 rebounds, 18 assists and 27 steals. The 5’10” guard also shot 38 percent from three-point range, prompting Cremisino to plan on running a lot of motion plays this year to free up the junior, who the coach said is “probably the best shooter on the team.”

Returning letter winners and seniors Baumgartner and Taylor Gullickson, a left-hander, will man the point for the Rangers. Both come in with a strong ability to ex-ecute the offense, accord-ing to Cremisino.

Other upperclassmen expected to contribute include seniors Wyatt Lawson, Phil Sauer, An-drew Wright and Cody Walton, who are all vy-ing for minutes. Walton, already an accomplished athlete as a state finalist in the 300-meter hurdles, began playing basketball in ninth grade.

“He [Walton] is prob-ably the best athlete on the team,” Cremisino said. “His baskeball skills are still emerging, though. He can run the floor, guard athleticism and he’s one of those players that, with an open court, he’s going to finish with a dunk.”

Forest Lake also has a promising trio of sopho-

mores in Conner Knudsen (6’3”), Brent Kinder (6’3”) and guard Toby Boyer. Knudsen and Kinder can both play the wing and small forward spots, and Cremisino looks for all three to compete for qual-ity varsity minutes.

Cremisino said his squad is expected to com-pete at a high level, but they have room to grow and need to stay healthy.

“We will not have the luxury of being able to make many mistakes and still win,” Cremisino said. “We can be a team that on any given night can score points in hurry, and ei-ther build a lead or make a comeback after being down.”

Ranger ballers look to bounce back

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RangeR WRestling• 2011-12 record: 17-7 (second in SEC)• Captains: Seniors Andrew Meyers, Jeremy

McLaughlin and Austin Boniface• All-Conference returnees: Austin Boniface, James

Pleski, Jeremy McLaughlin (honorable-mention) and Andrew Meyers (honorable-mention)

• Current seniors: eight

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coaches• Head coach: Billy Pierce, sixth season• Assistant coaches: Gordy Morgan,

Joe Kunshier, Tony Harris, Jordan Kolbow, Ben Dahmes

“Wrestling is known to be tough, so kids don’t always gravitate to it, but we get hard workers with great attitudes and that’s what’s fun.”

– coach Billy PieRce

11/30 atStillwaterTriangular TBD12/1 atStMichael/Alb.Invite9am12/6 WhiteBearLake 7:0012/13 MoundsView 7:0012/14 atRochesterInvite 2:0012/15 atRochesterInvite 9am12/20 Tartan 7:0012/28 atRochesterInvite 9am

12/29 atRochesterInvite 9am1/5 atBurnsvilleInvite 10am1/17 Woodbury 7:001/19 atCamb-IsantiInvite 9am1/25 atRosevilleTriangular 4:301/26 RangerInvitational 8am1/31 Hastings 7:002/2 atPineIslandInvite 9am2/7 atParkTriangular 5:002/15 SectionFinalsTeam 2:002/22 SectionInd.atAnoka 3:302/23 SectionIndividualFinals atAnoka 11am

WRESTLING

FL wrestlers lost seniors, still

have leaders


Nine seniors graduated– six of them starters, four individual state qualifiers.

It would look to be a building year for most programs, but head coach Billy Pierce is confident his squad of Forest Lake wres-tlers will be back toward the top of the wrestling po-dium by mid-January.

The Rangers, who went 19-8 last season and fin-ished second in the SEC, return eight seniors this winter. Three of them are captains Austin Boniface, Andrew Meyers and Jer-emy McLaughlin.

Boniface, a multi-year varsity wrestler, is look-ing to make it his year to advance to state at the 160-pound weight class. The senior just missed his chance two years ago in a close match, then was in-jured during the section meet last season. Pierce said Boniface, who took sixth at the competitive Minnesota Christmas tour-

nament in Rochester last winter and is currently ranked No. 6 in the state (Class AAA), is ready to go.

“That kid just lives and breathes wrestling,” the sixth-year head coach said. “Wrestling is his life, he loves being around it, and puts a lot of time into it.”

Meyers is another state hopeful and will be a pres-ence at 132 or 138. He nar-rowly lost the top-ranked wrestler from St. Michael-Albertville on Saturday, 5-3.

Pierce said McLaughlin should be ready to go at 220 with his personal drive and the amount of experi-ence under his belt, having wrestled the upper weights for years.

Junior James Pleski is the sole returning state qualifier (two years) in the lower weights, having fin-ished fourth at 113 in 2011-12. The lower-weight grap-pler is currently ranked No. 2 in state in the 126-pound weight class.

Pierce expects nothing but the best from Pleski.

“He’s a smooth wres-tler,” Pierce said. “He just walks on the mat, says ‘let’s go’ and wrestles, and you can never count him out. He just doesn’t stop, kinda cat-like– always lands on

his feet.”Another lower-weight

wrestler to watch is sopho-more Luke McCord at 113 or 120, who placed sixth at the Minnesota Christmas Tournament last Decem-ber. Pierce said McCord tends to move so much he can get himself into trou-ble, but is always a blast to watch.

“He’s long, lanky, speedy and agile,” Pierce said. “He’s just a go-er, always on the move and really fun to watch. If he gets himself into trouble, he can get himself out just as quickly.”

Luke Niemczyk is also on the watch list at 152. The junior is expected to wrestle tough this year and work hard to get points in the middle-weight division for the Rangers.

Holding down the heavyweight spot is senior Aaron Calhoun who, simi-lar to McLaughlin, has a lot of wrestling experience.

Pierce is excited to have junior Kyle Winberg (182, 195) and senior Austin Riz-zo (138, 145) back on the mat by the end of Decem-ber. The two plus a transfer to the team, Nick Norem at 145, are out to injury.

While the Rangers can’t replace state champion Ben Morgan, third-place finisher Michael Pleski or qualifiers Tyler Isaacson and Mike Urban, they can push each other to con-tinue their stronghold as a top conference and section team by January, accord-ing to Pierce.

“We’ve got great kids that are really positive and coachable,” Pierce said. “Wrestling is known to be tough, so kids don’t always gravitate to it, but we get hard workers with great attitudes and that’s what’s fun, getting to work with those hard workers that love sports.”

Working hard to stay on top

Photos by Kat LadwigThe Rangers are ready to rebuild after losing six starters. Below: Andrew Meyers, Jeremy McLaughlin and Austin Boniface are the 2012-13 captains.

File photoJames Pleski returns as one of the team’s toughest grapplers. The lower-weight wrestler placed fourth at state last season in the 113-pound weight class.

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RangeR Boys Hockey• 2011-12 record: 12-14-1 (seventh in SEC)• Captains: Seniors Jack Schmidt, Trevor

Thompson, Kyle Parker and Noah Brown • All-Conference returnees: Junior Brett Gravelle

(honorable-mention)• Current seniors: eight

11/27 atStMichael-Albertville 7:0011/30 GrandRapids 7:3012/6 Stillwater 7:3012/8 atMoundsView 7:3012/11 SaintFrancis 7:3012/13 atRoseville 7:3012/15 Park 3:0012/20 atCretin-DurhamHall5:3012/22 Cloquet 3:00

12/26 MoundsView TBD12/27 atSchwanCupInviteTBD12/28 atSchwanCupInviteTBD1/2 atWoodbury 7:301/5 WhiteBearLake 7:301/10 atHastings 7:301/12 EastRidge 7:301/17 Cretin-DerhamHall 7:301/19 atStillwater 7:301/22 atDuluthEast 7:001/26 Roseville 7:301/31 atWhiteBearLake 7:302/2 Woodbury 7:302/7 atPark 7:302/9 Hastings 7:302/14 atEastRidge 7:30

coacHes• Head coach: Aaron Forsythe, sixth year• Assistant coaches: Chris Parrucci, Jon Loo,

Jim Hipp, Dan Forsythe, Matt Fenno, Bill Coleman

“I’m not nervous, but I’m excited. We’ll find scoring where we haven’t in the past, from different kids in different lines.” – coacH aaRon FoRsytHe

BOYS HOCKEY

RangeR giRls Hockey• 2011-12 record: 5-18-3 (ninth in SEC)• Captains: Seniors Abbi White and Amy Enrooth • All-Conference returnees: Seniors Lexi Carpenter

and Abbi White• Current seniors: six

coacHes• Head coach: Ryan Sauter, second season• Assistant coaches: Leah Crow, Paul Bailey

and Rick Shelafoe

“We can revert back to what Forest Lake used to be, or we can build to where we want it to be.” – coacH Ryan sauteR

11/10 atCloquet 3:0011/13 SaintFrancis 7:3011/15 DuluthDenfeld 7:3011/27 atCretin-DerhamHall7:3012/1 Hastings 7:3012/4 MoundsView 7:3012/8 atStillwater 3:0012/11 atEastRidge 7:3012/15 atRoseville 7:3012/20 WhiteBearLake 7:30

12/22 Park 7:3012/27 atBlaineTournamentTBD12/28 atBlaineTournamentTBD12/29 atBlaineTournamentTBD1/3 Woodbury 7:301/5 Cretin-DerhamHall 3:001/8 atHastings 7:301/11 GrandRapids 7:301/12 atMoundsView 7:301/15 Stillwater 7:301/19 EastRidge 7:301/22 Roseville 7:301/26 atWhiteBearLake 7:301/29 atPark 7:302/2 atWoodbury 3:002/7 SectionTournament 7:00

GIRLS HOCKEY

Photo by TLC Digital ImagesEven with the loss of key scorers from last season, the Rangers have talent to spare. Below: Seniors and captains line up for a shot. The 2012-13 captains are: Jack Schmidt, Trevor Thompson, Kyle Parker and Noah Brown.

Photos by TLC Digital ImagesRanger hockey girls are in their second season under coach Ryan Sauter. Above: Seniors Abbi White and Amy Enrooth are the 2012-13 captains.

Ranger hockey finding new

scorers across the board


“Repitition and experi-ence” is Forest Lake head coach Aaron Forsythe’s mantra this season, as he said the boys’ hockey team has the skill set to surpass the 2011-12 squad’s 12-14-1 record.

The team lost seven se-niors who all logged var-sity ice time last winter, including school record-holder Lucas Kohls and dynamic scorer CJ Frank-lin. Forsythe is looking for big things from all-confer-ence honorable-mention returner Brett Gravelle and senior captains Jack Schmidt, Trevor Thomp-son, Kyle Parker and Noah Brown.

Cody Rogala will be a key player for the Rangers at forward. The senior’s scrappy play and high en-ergy will be something his teammates feed off of on the ice alongside junior Weston Kilpela’s offensive productivity.

Parker is expected to anchor the left wing–

Forsythe calls him one of the fastest and strongest skaters on the team.

Goalies Jesse Garcia, Collin Peterson and An-drew Murray will all battle for ice time this season with Garcia returning with varsity experience and taking the lead role early on.

With eight seniors on varsity and just five with varsity experience, Forsythe said the Rangers will have to rely on a vari-ety of players to succeed, but that there’s a lot of tal-ent in that bunch as well.

“We haven’t had depth like this before,” Forsythe said. “I’m not nervous,

but I’m excited. We’ll find scoring where we haven’t in the past, from differ-ent kids in different lines. That will be our key to success.”

One of the youngest players on the team also debuted his cool head on the football field. Sopho-more Brandon Rogers, who started on the varsi-ty hockey team as a ninth-grader, will help anchor the Forest Lake defense along with seniors Jack Schmidt, Noah Brown, Brandon Hess and juniors Clayton Dahly and Paul Stehr.

Also looking at varsity minutes are sophomore

Johnny Suess, junior Ryan Herbert and senior Land-on Pikala.

Forsythe wants to fin-ish in the top three of the conference. He is hop-ing to do so with scoring across the roster and sol-id defense, all stemming from the repitition and experience only practice and varsity minutes can bring.

“I think we have the strongest section in the state,” Forsythe said. “We just need to get our kids in more situations to get them the confidence they need.”

FL looking for winning season,

starts with mindset


It’s not easy to go out for a sport that hasn’t had a winning season in six years, and win its first and only section title 11 years ago. Forest Lake girls hockey is out to change that.

The Rangers started this season 2-0-1, tying a tough Duluth team that hasn’t lost to Forest Lake in five seasons. The young team has a range of play-ers to look to for leader-ship, starting with senior captains Abbi White and Amy Enrooth.

White, the returning varsity goalie, was the rock of the Ranger defense last year with more than a .900 save percentage while facing more than 30 shots per game. White is

again showing her prow-ess in the net this season with a save percentage of 93, blocking 82 of 88 shots on goal in four games.

Enrooth, a forward, re-turns as a varsity letter winner, and is impressing head coach Ryan Sauter.

“Her leadership al-ready this season has been nothing short of outstanding,” Sauter said. “She has great work ethic, is a very vocal leader, and the girls really respect her because of her hard work.”

Sauter will look to re-turning leading scorer Kaitlyn VanTassel as an of-fensive force. and said the forward leads the Ranger squad by example.

“She is just a phenome-nal hockey player who un-derstands the game,” Sau-ter said. “She leads her teammates by example, but we’re looking for her to be a little more vocal.”

Lexi Carpenter is also a returning offensive weapon, Sauter called the senior a hard worker who knows how to pick her

team up when the Rang-ers need a spark.

On the defensive end, Forest Lake will rely on senior Karlyn Ristrom and junior Rachel Skoglund to get some stops. Sauter said he is excited about having Skoglund on the ice this season.

“Our defense relies on Rachel a lot,” Sauter said. “She has a couple goals and assists and at the ap-propriate times. Last year she expended a little too much energy while charg-ing, but she’s really start-ing to figure things out now.” Ristrom saw varsity time last year, but Sauter said her role on the team has increased substan-tially after graduating six key players from last sea-son and is seen as a vo-cal leader and mentor to younger players on the Ranger squad.

Another impact Ranger this season is senior Alexa Bremer. The forward is a scoring threat as well, but can clear the puck on de-fense.

“Alexa is one of the qui-

eter girls on the team,” Sauter said. “But she has good hands and a knack for scoring goals on the offensive end.”

Sauter also said as a whole, the team contin-ues to improve on its transition game, pass-ing, spending more time on offense and becoming mentally stronger. One ex-ample of the latter is the Duluth game, where the Rangers were down 3-0 af-ter losing intensity and fo-cus in the second period. Sauter and his assistant, Paul Bailey, addressed the team’s mentality in the locker room, telling their team that there’s no time for sulking if they want to continue climbing the SEC ladder.

“Champions can’t just sit there and say we’re beat,” Sauter said. “We can revert back to what Forest Lake used to be, or we can build to where we want it to be.”

Mix of inexperience and talent for FL

High hopes for Ranger girls

A – Thursday, December 6, 2012 – Forest Lake Times www.forestlaketimes.com

RangeR noRdic Skiing• 2011-12 record: Fourth in state (boys) and

second in section (girls)• Captains: Seniors Jacob Jankowski and Jack

Ebel (boys) and junior Jess Greeley (girls) • All-Conference returnees: Jacob Jankowski, Jack

Ebel, Tommy Babcock, Leo Hipp, Quinn Duffy (honorable-mention), and Davis Long (honorable-mention) for the boys. Rocci Wohlk, Kate Schaaf, Jess Greeley and Molly Meed (honorable-mention) for the girls.

NORDIC SKIING 12/4 Invite@TrollHollow 4:00p.m.12/11 Meet@ComoParkGC 4:00p.m.12/18 Meet@LesBolstadGC(UofM) 4:00p.m.1/3 Meet@TBD 4:00p.m.1/8 Meet@BattleCreekRegionalPark 4:00p.m.1/15 Meet@LakeElmoParkReserve 4:00p.m.1/21 Meet@TBD 11:00a.m.1/31 ConferenceMeet@BattleCreek 10:00a.m.

coacheS• Head coach: Deno Johnson, 16th season• Assistant coaches: Dave Johnson

“The athletes are part of a program with massive tradition and they have that understanding.” – coach deno JohnSon

RangeR Swimming• 2011-12 record: 3-6 in dual meets (second at

section)• Captains: Seniors Joe Goossens, Joel Stomberg,

Evan Woehl • All-Conference returnees:junior Bryan Fleming,

senior Joe Goossens and senior Joel Stomberg. junior Stefan Albright (honorable-mention) and sophomore Corey Bahr (honorable-mention).

coacheS• Head coach: Barbara Vailodash, 11th

season• Assistant coaches: Bob Andresen and

Kim Jones

“I attribute the leadership to the well-round-ed, balanced and well-grounded seniors who have led this team for the last couple of years.”

– coach BaRBaRa VailodaSh

SWIMMING12/6 atStillwaterConf.Relays5:3012/13 Roseville 6:0012/20 atWhiteBearLake 6:001/3 atMoundsView 6:001/8 atStillwater 6:001/10 EastRidge 6:001/17 atPark 6:001/24 Woodbury 6:00

1/26 atCamb-IsantiInvite 1:001/31 Hastings 6:002/7 Cretin-DerhamHall 6:002/16 JVConf.Meet atStillwater 12:002/22 SectionPrelims@TBD 6:002/23 SectionFinals@TBD 6:00

Photos by Kat LadwigRight: The Ranger swimmers return a lot of talent this season along with fresh faces on the 40-member squad that took second at sections last season. Left: Seniors Joe Goossens and Joel Stomberg are the 2012-13 captains. There are no competitors in diving so far this year.

Swimmers look strong, but

divers lacking


Following a second-place finish at the Section 7AA meet last year, head coach Barbara Vailodash said the Forest Lake boys’ swimming and diving team has one ultimate goal this season: win the section championship.

The Rangers have the talent and senior leader-ship to do it, too.

Senior captains Joe Goossens, Joel Stomberg (two-time) and Evan Woe-hl finished at the top of their game last year, each achieving personal bests at sections to end the 2011-12 season.

“I attribute the leader-ship to the well-round-ed, balanced and well-grounded seniors who have led this team for the last couple of years,” Vailodash said. “They demonstrate to the rest of the team maturity and solid positive decisions in and out of the pool area.”

Goossens recorded a time of 1:51.61 in the 200 freestyle preliminary, earning the eighth-best time in school history at Forest Lake High School, followed closely by Stom-berg who recorded a per-sonal best, 1:52.39.

One of the strongest events for the Rangers is the 100 fly, where junior Bryan Fleming excelled at sections with a personal-best time of 57:71. juniors Stefan Albright and Corey Bahr also show promise in the event with best times of 58:13 and 58.52, respectively.

Bahr and Albright will take the reins in the 200-meter individual med-ley, while Fleming and Go-ossens will lead in the 50 free and 100 free sprints after personal bests in both at sections last Feb-ruary.

Stomberg earned a personal-best of 5:12.74 in the 500 free, while Woehl improved on his personal

record by 1.60 seconds in the 100 breaststroke.

Goossens and Stom-berg were also on the 400-free relay team along with returning letter winners, juniors Corey Bahr and Bryan Fleming. The team recorded the fifth-fastest time in Ranger history at 3:26.23.

Due to the graduation of Erik Klein and Nate Merrier in the 200-medley relay, Vailodash is looking to junior Andrew Bowes to swim the backstroke leg and sophomore Cam-eron Parrucci to fill in at freestyle.

In the 200-free relay, Stomberg is looking to be the likely candidate to fill Merrier’s shoes.

While the boys’ squad looks to be a force in swim-ming, Forest Lake has yet to find competitors for the one-meter dive event. Div-ing coach Bob Andresen and Vailodash are hoping to find participants, but will have to absorb the

loss of points in the mean-time.

It shouldn’t be hard to make up points for the Rangers under the direc-tion of the returning “Sec-tion 7AA coach of the year,” who sends each captain to a leadership conference in Illinois each spring to meet with NCAA coaches, Olympic swim-mers and other leaders in the swimming and diving community nationwide.

Vailodash said the con-ference helps her cap-tains learn how to set examples of discipline for the younger athletes by reaching high in all areas of life, including the Rang-ers’ goal of winning the section title this season.

“Without discipline and direction, the journey to success can open the pos-sibilities of confusion and misdirection,” Vailodash said. “Therefore losing sight of the path to achiev-ing the ultimate goal.”

Nordic boys and girls both look for

state bid


The Forest Lake nordic boys put themselves back on the map last winter with a fourth-place finish at state after entering the meet unranked.

The Rangers may have graduated key skiiers, Joe Jackson and Alex Kelley, but absorb the loss by returning all-conference honorees Jack Ebel, Ja-cob Jankowski, Tommy Babcock, Leo Hipp. Quinn Duffy, Davis Long and Alex Richert also returns as all-conference honor-able-mentions.

Seniors Jankowski and Ebel, the captains, will take the reins for the Rangers, with head coach Deno Johnson calling Jankowski a “genetic freak with an engine that never quits” and Ebel a “focused and tenacious competitor who seldom loses in the

second half of a pursuit race.” Jankowski is cur-rently ranked No. 12 in state, while Ebel recently returned from a stress fracture that cut his cross country season short.

Ninth-grader Babcock and sophomore Hipp looking for a top-25 fin-ish after taking 65th and 69th at state last year, re-spectively. Babcock’s final time of 32:52 was the fast-est of all racers his age group and younger. Bab-cock currently sits at No. 29 in state and Hipp at the No. 33 spot.

Overall, Johnson, in his 16th season of coaching, expects his team to take a top-three spot at state, and have No. 1 Hopkins, Roseville and Eden Prairie in sight.

The girls are also look-ing for a trip to state, fall-ing just short last year at the section meet.

Forest Lake has a lethal weapon in sophomore Rocci Wohlk, who finished third at state and earned her second all-state hon-or. She returns with a No.

2 ranking.The Rangers return

two all-conference honor-ees in ninth-grader Kate Schaaf and junior captain Jess Greeley as well as all-conference honorable-mention Molly Meed, a sophomore. Schaaf earned a top-10 finish last year at section, while Greeley ended in the top-15.Johnson also expects to see strides from Marlee Humble and Madi Ander-son in the team’s quest for a state trip, which would be their first since 2005, apart from earning sec-ond at state in 2011. In the past nine years, the girls have never placed worse

than fourth in the sec-tion, happening just once in 2009. For the boys, it’s been 14 years since the Rangers didn’t receive a state bid after taking first in the section with the ex-ception of third place in 2010-11. Johnson said this season will be no different. “The coaching staff knows we can fully ap-proach each training ses-sion with clear, precise goals in mind and the athletes will, no question, get after it 100 percent daily,” Johnson said. “The athletes are part of a pro-gram with massive tradi-tion and they have that understanding.”

Closing in on the section title

Rangers in hot pursuit

Photos by Kat LadwigAbove: The Forest Lake nordic ski team poses for a picture before heading to Troll Hollow. Left: Junior Jess Greeley is the 2012-13 girls’ captain. Above right: Seniors Jacob Jankowski and Jack Ebel are the boys’ captains.

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Last season, Ranger gymnastics competed as a young squad hoping to do well. This year they’re back with five seniors, a roster of 23 and most im-portantly, experience.

Forest Lake finished its 2011-12 season third in the Suburban East Con-ference and fifth at the Section 7AA meet in St. Francis. Head coach Ash-ley Brett, in her seventh season at Forest Lake (third as head coach)(CHECK) is excited for her girls to come out more prepared this sea-son.

“Last year we were a small, inexperienced team,” Brett said. “This year we have a big team, a lot of talent, and the girls worked harder in the off-season than any team [in their routines] I’ve had, so they’re com-ing in with much higher difficulty than they left with.”

A lot of that talent comes from senior cap-tains Jessica Dhaene, Merina Lenz and Amanda Williamson.

The multi-sport all-star Dhaene has competed at state three times in three years, qualifying last year in the vault, bars, floor and the all-around. She

took 15th in bars, 16th in the all-around, 19th in vault and 27th on floor.

Both Lenz and William-son are familiar with top finishes as well, both placing in the top-15 at section last season (Lenz on the vault and William-son on floor).

Brett said the two will have a big impact and ex-pects strong scores from them in the floor event.

“The energy from the girls is a very positive one,” Brett said. “That has a lot to do with the senior leadership that Jessica and Merina bring as they carry over that

captain status from last year, plus Amanda’s per-sonality just adds to the dynamic.”

Junior Katie Dison placed top-15 on the bars at sections to close her 2011-12 season, and Brett said both Dison and sophomore Lyndsey Anderson are extremely hard-working competi-tors with good attitudes.

The Forest Lake gym-nasts welcome three newcomers to varsity in eighth-grader Lilly Foss, ninth-grader Abby Jung-wirth and junior Julia Walton, with all three vy-ing for one of the five var-

sity spots this year. Brett said the lack of

a set lineup is an advan-tage for the team, forcing each gymnast to com-pete at their highest to earn a position, especial-ly when going up against SEC teams like defending state champion Roseville, Park and Stillwater.

“They push each other to be the best gymnasts and teammates they can be,” Brett said. “This team has decided it is time for the Rangers to return to state as a team and they are going to do what needs to be done to get there.”

Older and wiser squad aims high

“[Our goal] is to do our absolute best, and let the chips fall where they may. It’s a fun sport– playing with gravity is a great thing.”

– coach Grant Lindemer

ranGer aLpine SkiinG• 2011-12 record: girls took second in the SEC meet,

boys took fifth• Captains: Seniors Kellie Welch and Melissa Mackey

(girls). Senior Jacob Schwanz and junior Jacob Bush (boys).

• All-Conference returnees: Joe Alberg, Marty Longsdorf (honorable-mention) and Jacob Bush (honorable-mention) for the boys and Kellie Welch and Maddi Gemuenden (honor-able-mention) for the girls.

• Current seniors: four

coacheS• Head coach: Grant Lindemer, third year• Assistant coaches: Andrew Perry and

Collin Cassem


Most coaches use the previous season as a start-ing point on which to im-prove. Not Forest Lake alpine skiing coach Grant Lindemer.

The third-year head coach (fifth year on staff) said he concern himself with how the Rangers closed their 2011-12 sea-son.

“We’ve got to focus on the here and now, the pres-ent and future,” Lindemer said. “It’s not really about conference or section standing, it’s about indi-vidual skills and ability.”

For those who need a reminder, the alpine girls finished last year’s five-meet SEC season in second place out of 15, just ten points behind conference champ Cook County, then went on to finish eighth out of 19 at the Section 7 meet at Giant’s Ridge in Bi-wabik.

The girls graduated top skiier Krista Kirchner, who placed third in the SEC in total points and 36th out of 89 at the state meet, but Lindemer said there is much to look forward to this winter.

Replacing the lead role will be senior captains Kellie Welch and Melissa Mackey, Welch missed qualifying for an individual state bid last year by 10 spots and five seconds at the section meet and took 26th in 1:31.59, while Mack-ey took 49th at 1:40.73.

Lindemer said he is pleased with the two dif-ferent skills his only senior girls bring to the co-cap-tain roles.

“Mellisa brings us ex-ceptional leadership skills, maturity and an excel-lent mentoring role to the younger girls,” Linde-mer said. “Kellie is highly skilled and an exceptional example for the other girls to emulate.”

Other contributors to the Rangers will be juniors Maddi Gemuenden, Syd-ney Halley and ninth-grad-er Maggie Longsdorf.

On the boys side, Forest Lake will be led by captains Jacob Schwanz and junior Jacob Bush, as it tries to improve on a fifth-place finish in the SEC and a low-place finish at sections. Schwanz, a senior, posted a season best at the SEC meet at Wild Mountain, fin-ishing in 25th at 1:09.27.

“Jacob [Schwanz] is

very much the male coun-terpart of the role that Melissa has for the girls, he is a very stable force and a very hard worker,” Lindemer said. “Jacob Bush has the learned skills necessary to be a top per-former, and in that respect he’s like Kellie for the girls. They make a great team of captains.”

Other key performers include ninth-graders Joe Alberg, Max Stangler and Marty Longsdorf, sopho-mores Riley Schilling, Chris Wallner and senior Bobby Beynon.

The 32 skiiers (18 boys, 14 girls) will compete in two of five conference meets this season on what they consider home turf

on Wild Moun-tain, including the confer-ence meet.

The alpine athletes won’t see their first con-ference competition until Tuesday, Jan. 1 at Welch Village, but have been practicing on snow for nearly three weeks already.

Lindemer said his squad is already two weeks ahead of the rest in training due to the early snow on Wild Mountain, and can’t wait to start competing and having fun as a team.

“[Our goal] is to do our absolute best, and let the chips fall where they may,” the head coach said. “It’s a fun sport– playing with gravity is a great thing.”

No looking back for FL skiiers

Photos by Kat LadwigLeft: This year’s Forest Lake gymnastics team is a stark contrast to the 2011-12 team on paper. Five seniors are taking the lead this season for the Rangers, opposed to zero from last year. Below: Seniors Amanda Williamson, Merina Lenz and Jessica Dhaene are the 2012-13 captains.

File photoSenior captain Kellie Welch took to the slopes during the 2011-12 season. She is co-captain with Melissa Mackey. Boys’ captains in-clude Jacob Schwanz and junior Jacob Bush.

“This team has decided it is time for the Rangers to return to state as a team and they are going to do what needs to be done to get there.”

– coach aShLey Brett

ranGer GymnaSticS• 2011-12 record: third in SEC, fifth at Section

7AA meet• Captains: Seniors Jessica Dhaene, Merina

Lenz and Amanda Williamson • All-Conference returnees: Jessica Dhaene• Current seniors: four

coacheS• Head coach: Ashley Brett, second year• Assistant coaches: Carol Suess, Joel-Lynn

Tinklenberg and Heather Olson

GYMNASTICS 11/29 Cretin-DerhamHall 6:3012/6 MoundsView 6:3012/13 atRoseville 6:3012/19 Hastings 6:301/5 atFaribaultInvite 11am1/10 atStillwater 6:301/17 WhiteBearLake 6:30

1/24 atPark 6:301/31 EastRidge 6:302/7 atWoodbury 6:302/15 SectionFinals atSt.Francis 5:002/22 StateMeetatUofM SportsPavillion 11am

ALPINE SKIING 1/3 ConferenceMeet@WelchVillage 5:00p.m.1/8 ConferenceMeet@AftonAlps 5:00p.m.1/15 ConferenceMeet@WildMountain 5:00p.m.1/22 ConferenceMeet@AftonAlps 5:00p.m.1/29 ConferenceMeet@WildMountain 5:00p.m.

A – Thursday, December 6, 2012 – Forest Lake Times www.forestlaketimes.com


It’s the most team-oriented, selfless group of girls in sports, and the squad in Forest Lake plans on improving on its already-stellar reputation in both kick and jazz this year.

The Forest Lake dance team is following its best season yet after winning the school’s first SEC championship with a sweep in both events, and plans on a repeat perfor-mance this season, as well as a top-three finish at state. The Rangers closed the 2011-12 season at sec-tions with a fifth-place fin-ish in jazz, and sixth-place finish in kick.

Head coach Cheryl Smoczyk is entering her seventh season at Forest Lake, and said the more momentum her squad gains, the more notice it receives.

“Mounds View had six straight years of never losing a meet at the var-

sity and junior varsity lev-el, including conference championships,” Smoc-zyk said. “Now we have a target on our backs after winning SEC last year.”

But the Rangers are ready to roll, especially after taking third place in the jazz category at their opening invitational in Burnsville on Nov. 17. The 12-member jazz team was the sole representa-tive of Forest Lake, as the 24-member kick team did not compete, and finished just behind Eagan and Spring Lake Park.

Smoczyk said the kick team will be a force this year with its ability to choreograph, memorize placement and movement and project personal-ity from each dancer. The jazz team is loaded with talent and athletic ability to perform the leapsand turns necessary to deliver a sound performance.

“We have about 10 leaps and six sets of turns in our dance, and making it through three minutes

of that while smiling is like doing wind-sprint sets while smiling,” Smoczyk said. “[It’s] not easy.”

Smoczyk said its real-istic for her girls to earn that section title, and hopes to do so under the leadership of seniors Hay-ley Waldoch and Emily Proulx and juniors Rachel Rue and Mia Leeson. The captains, along with their head coach, have choreo-graphed the fall dances

for the first time in four seasons. Aside from the choreography, another change for the Ranger dance team is the addi-tion of a B-squad for the jazz category.

“It’s just so competitive where some girls don’t have enough experience, but have the talent, but then again don’t have the varsity mindset just yet,” Smoczyk said. “We just needed those three differ-

No plans for slowing down

Photos by TLC Digital ImagesTop: The Ranger dance team opened its season on Nov. 17. Bottom: Rachel Rue, Hayley Waldoch, Emily Proulx, and Mia Leeson are the 2012-13 captains.

RangeR Dance Team• 2011-12 record: sixth at section meet in kick,

and fifth in jazz• Captains: Seniors Hayley Waldoch and Emily

Proulx and juniors Rachel Rue and Mia Leeson

• All-Conference returnees: Rachel Rue• Current seniors: seven

coaches• Head coach: Cheryl Smoczyk, seventh year• Assistant coaches: Katie Jensen, Ang Nelson,

Kate Corrigan and Erica Siever

“Now we have a target on our backs after winning SEC last year.” – coach cheRyl smoczyk

DANCE TEAM

ent levels in jazz.”One constant for the

dancers, and another goal to repeat this season, is the achievement of aca-demic all-state honors. The award goes to stu-dent-athletes with an av-erage GPA of 3.5 or higher, and the girls earned it again last season for the sixth-consecutive year.

“It takes a smart danc-

er to be a good dancer,” Smoczyk said. “Our var-sity routines for kick have between 25-29 formation changes and dancers are expected to know where their head, toes and ev-ery body part in between are on every beat of a 3:30 routine. Only intelligent people can do that well, and that’s who I want on our team.”

11/17 BurnsvilleInvitational 9:00a.m.12/3 ConferenceMeet@Park 6:00p.m.12/8 EastviewInvitational 9:00a.m.12/11 ConferenceMeet@Woodbury 6:00p.m.12/15 RochesterJohnMarshallInvitational 9:00a.m.1/5 HenrySibleyInvitational 9:00a.m.1/12 LakevilleNorthInvitational 9:00a.m.1/16 ConferenceFinals@Cretin-DerhamHall 6:00p.m.1/19 WayzataInvitational 9:00a.m.1/26 MoundsViewInvitational 9:00a.m.2/9 SectionFinals@BloomingtonKennedy 9:00a.m.2/15-2/16StateTournament@EXcel TBD


The North Lakes Acad-emy girls’ basketball pro-gram began four years ago, but has yet to win a conference game. Head coach Jeff Beimert said the girls plan to take care of that this season.

The Huskies finished last season at 2-18 overall and despite a winless con-ference record, it was the first year in the EMAC con-ference for North Lakes, having been independent for the three seasons.

“We were basically tak-ing a group of girls who had never played before, and teaching them to play basketball in one season,” Beimert said of the pro-gram’s start in 2009.

North Lakes now has a foundation in senior leaders and captains Shylo Stevens and Kirst-en Thiele. Stevens, a 5’3” shooting guard returns to the varsity lineup as the team’s leading scorer, while 6’0” Thiele returns

as the staple of the Hus-kies’ rebounding and de-fensive force in the five spot.

Beimert is looking for junior Alex Munkelwitz to step up at the off-guard/small forward position for North Lakes, and con-siders her to be one of the best shooters on the team. The head coach will also look to another forward, sophomore Ab-bey Millerberend to make an impact with strong de-fense and rebounding, as well as her ability to com-municate on the court.

Sophomore Sarah Torma will command the offense as starting point guard.

“She is definitely com-ing into her own out there,” Beimert said. “She has more confidence, and I feel like she is stepping into that leader and true point guard role more and more.”

North Lakes needs strong play from fresh-man Liv Dufour and ju-nior Nicole Rime coming

off the bench. (Nicole) will help to anchor the defense with her strength and is a consistent pres-ence for the Huskies on the court. As for Dufour, Beimert named her the most athletic girl on the team, a top defender with the ability to come in as a strong back-up point guard. Her athleticism shows through seven var-sity letters in volleyball, softball and basketball as a freshman.

“Liv is really starting to grow as a player,” Beimert said. “She is coming along quickly, so you’d better get used to that name.”

After losing six play-ers from last season, the Huskies plan on persever-ing this season through hard work and strong leadership, according to Beimert.

“We definitely need to gain some confidence and work on our ability to ex-ecute, but we work hard,” Beimert said. “We may not be the most talented, but we work hard.”

Photo by Kat LadwigThe North Lakes Academy girls’ basketball team is looking for its first conference win after joining the EMAC last season.

NLA girls continue building program


North Lakes Academy may have just one winter sport, but fans will have all the excitement they need when watching the Huskies play basketball this season.

North Lakes went 14-12 last year, and head coach Judd Yaeger, in his third season at North Lakes, said his team’s biggest strength will be rebounding. That could be related to the stacked lineup of six-footers try-ing to fit into the middle school gym on practice days, along with the eight returning letter winners with varsity experience.

Stepping into the cap-tain role are Christopher Rosencrantz, Cody War-ren and Josh Ozment.

Key players will be ju-niors Derek Beatty (5’10”) and Rosencrantz (6’2”),

who will anchor the backcourt and take turns commanding the offense from the point and shoot-ing guard positions. Ros-encrantz led the Huskies last season in scoring as a sophomore.

Jake “Ozzie” Ozment is the second-leading re-turning scorer for North Lakes. Yaeger said the team needs his points from inside to climb to the top of the EMAC lad-der, and the junior power forward should be an all-conference candidate this year.

Warren gives the Hus-kies athleticism rarely seen at the center po-sition. Yaeger expects some offensive fine-tun-ing from the 6’2” junior this season, and knows he will put in the needed effort to put up points.

“[He] plays over his height due to his athletic

ability and energy,” Yae-ger said.

Lone senior starter Brandon Flom, with athleticism similar to Warren, will handle the boards and tough de-fensive assignments for North Lakes.

“Flom will guard ev-eryone from the oppos-ing pointguard to post players,” Yaeger said. “Flom is a classic high-energy multi-dimensional player.”

The third captain, Oz-ment, will put in big min-utes off the bench. At 6’7”, the senior is able to play in the post as well as on the wing due to solid passing skills.

Other expected con-tributors include the speedy junior, Dylan Be-atty, and Evan Svenkeson, who will show strength on the inside.

NLA: Defense and rebounding to determine season’s success

Photo by Kat LadwigThe Huskies return key players this season and hope to improve on last season’s 14-12 record. Captains are Christopher Rosencrantz, Josh Ozment and Cody Warren (back middle from left to right).

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