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Forest Lake Times
Forest Lake Rangers boys wrestling falls to Anoka in section championship
Forest Lake falls just short of earning state berth The Forest Lake Rangers boys wrestling team’s 18-match win streak came to an end in the 7AAA Section Championship against Anoka at Forest Lake Area High School on Friday, Feb. 17. Forest Lake coach Joe Kunshier said he had the score mapped out prior, and his three-point margin was spot on as the Rangers fell 33-30. “Eventually it will [make the...
Forest Lake Rangers gymnastics finishes fourth in sections, sends three gymnasts to state
The Rangers finished just 3.825 points behind first-place Anoka The Forest Lake Rangers gymnastics team performed their best bars and floor rotations of the season at the Section 7AA Championship inside Elk River High School on Friday, Feb. 17. But it wasn’t enough to earn a state bid, leaving the Rangers with a score of 139.825 and fourth-place finish out of seven schools, behind Anoka (143.650), Elk River/Zimmerman (142.125) and Cambridge-Isanti (140.400). ...
Forest Lake Rangers girls basketball defeats CDH, plays meaningful games ahead of sections
Forest Lake has two important conference games this week The Forest Lake Rangers girls basketball team (7-9, 9-15) is still playing meaningful games in their final week of the regular season before sections. In fact, the Rangers have time to climb up the Suburban East Conference standings this week in their final two conference games that could also have sections implications. The Rangers, who sit in the No. 6 spot,...
Sports Briefs: Two Forest Lake Alpine skiers represent at state championship & more
(Pictured) Forest Lake freshman Adie Tredinnick (1:20.55) and junior Mathias Peterson (1:55.92) finished 17th and 73rd, respectively, in the 2023 State Alpine Ski Championship at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik, Minnesota, on Tuesday, Feb. 14. Boys hockey The Forest Lake Rangers boys hockey team (1-11-1, 8-16-1) lost 4-1 to Grand Rapids in the 7AA Section Quarterfinal inside IRA Civic Center on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Senior defenseman Gavin Wille scored the...
Funding given to study boat launch relocation
The Forest Lake Economic Development Authority recently approved a $18,345 agreement with Bruce Chamberlain of TLALLI Collaborative, an urban design, planning, and landscape company, for the review and feasibility plan for moving the boat launch currently at Lakeside Memorial Park. Chamberlain was previously the point man for developing the city’s downtown plan as an urban strategist with Hoisington Koegler Group, Inc., which the city contracted with for the downtown development plan. Chamberlain’s work with HKGi in the downtown plan included the suggestion to consider the...
Rotary Winter Plunge will proceed, but how is up in the air
High precipitation impacted lake ice more than warm temps The Rotary Club of Forest Lake plans to host its annual Winter Plunge this year, marking more than a decade of fundraising for nonprofit organizations in exchange for a cold dip in the lake. But planning for this year’s plunge – held on Forest Lake’s first lake – has not been as easy as previous years since the lake ice is teetering on being potentially unsafe to hold the weight of the event. The plan as...
Sports Briefs: Three Rangers wrestlers punch ticket to state tournament & more
The Forest Lake girls wrestling team’s success at the Section 6 and 7 Tournament held at Sartell High School on Saturday, Feb. 11, resulted in three wrestlers earning berths to the 2023 Wrestling State Tournament. Junior Aspen Blasko (Middle; 114 weight class), sophomore Nas Jarae White (Left; 152) and freshman Savana Stans (Right; 165) won their respective weight classes and will wrestle at state inside Xcel Energy Center on Saturday, March 4. Of those who didn’t make the cut to earn a state bid but...
Alpine ski sees season end at sections after ‘lack of execution’
Two Rangers head to state as individual skiers The Forest Lake Rangers boys and girls Alpine ski teams saw their seasons end and fell short of state after ninth- and 10th-place finishes, respectively, at the 7A Section Championship at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik, Minnesota, on Tuesday, Feb. 7. It can be attributed to a “lack of execution,” according to Forest Lake coach Trevor Pinewski. There was nothing unexpected that...
Forest Lake Rangers girls hockey comes up short in section quarterfinal loss
Senior goaltender Adria Haley kept the Forest Lake Rangers girls hockey team (5-9-2, 9-15-2) within a goal most of the game in the team’s season-ending 4-1 loss to Grand Rapids-Greenway in the 7AA Section Quarterfinal on the road on Thursday, Feb. 9. In fact, her back-door high-danger save in the game’s first shift was a prelude to her 29-save performance. It was two empty net goals at the 15:50 and 16:24 marks of the third period that sealed the deal. Haley ended the game with...
Forest Lake dance narrowly misses state with fourth-place finishes
The Rangers finish with highest section placement in eight years The Forest Lake Rangers dance team left the floor after each dance and went back into a room to watch their routines together, and the team was excited about how the performance looked, according to Forest Lake coach Rachel Kilpela. “We felt really good coming off the floor,” Kilpela said. “We honestly felt like it was our best performances of...
Forest Lake Rangers Nordic ski teams earn state berth
The Rangers finish second at sections behind Stillwater Forest Lake coach Ben Fick said freshman Madeleine Bonnett and senior Maria Stockinger were “apprehensive” ahead of their tandem sprint relay race, so he reminded them of the work they did during the season. The result: a first place finish with a time of 13:46, which topped Stillwater’s duo time of 13:59. ...
Columbus rezones Lake Drive industrial district
A rezoning of the west side of Columbus along Lake Drive has restructured what new businesses will be allowed. The Columbus City Council approved the rezoning of the Lake Drive commercial industrial business district into light industrial usage on the west side and regular usage on the east side during its Dec. 28 meeting in a 4-0 vote. Along with the rezoning of the commercial/industrial district, the city defined the west-side commercial/industrial light district as “low intensity” businesses that are “compatible with nearby residential neighborhoods,”...
School board weighs opt-in transportation system
Board rescinds masking policy In an effort to get out from under daily bus route cancellations, the Forest Lake Area school board discussed the possibility of adjusting its transportation system to an opt-in model to ensure route efficiency. At the board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 2 meeting, the board discussed the results from an assessment of its bussing routes by the Center for Effective School Operations, who the district hired...
Wyoming sets plans for parks
In late 2020, Wyoming set out to better understand where its parks system is and what it could be. “The council and park commission wanted something more concrete on deciding how to develop and redevelop city parks. … There wasn’t a systemic way about going about it,” said Assistant City Administrator Alex Saxe. So the city’s Parks Commission set out to create a master parks plan to analyze where parks lie in terms of needs and what can be improved. ...
Forest Lake Rangers boys swim and dive wins close dual meets
The Forest Lake Rangers boys swim and dive team received “a good boost” last week, Forest Lake coach Dominick Mancini said, after tight dual meet wins against both Chisago Lakes (98-86) on Tuesday, Jan. 31, and Roseville (97-88) on Thursday, Feb. 2. Mancini added that he expected the meets to be close because the teams have similar lineup structures and depth. Mancini said earning the wins made it “a little sweeter to walk away” from the meets, especially when it’s a tight race. “We pulled...
Forest Lake boys basketball loses third straight as schedule heats up
The Forest Lake Rangers boys basketball team (4-7, 7-11) knew they would need to adjust for their section clash with Cambridge-Isanti on Saturday, Feb. 4, because the Bluejackets play a “100 miles per hour” pace, according to Forest Lake coach Kyle McDonald. After all, the Bluejackets’ defensive structure is different from other opponents, McDonald said, so the team needed to change their offensive attack. “The guys adjusted, and it was kind of a different game plan than usual,” McDonald said. ...
Forest Lake Rangers girls basketball losing skid mounts to three
The Forest Lake Rangers girls basketball team (6-7, 7-13) uncharacteristically turned the ball over far more than usual in their 72-58 loss to conference-rival Mounds View on Thursday, Feb. 2, according to head coach Dave Ostercamp. Forest Lake found themselves down 47-23 at halftime, and part of that can be attributed to the Mustangs’ aggressive approach, Ostercamp and junior captain Cassidy Pitzl said. “We just played too fast. … They...
Sports Briefs: Forest Lake Nordic ski sees conference finals success & more
The Forest Lake girls and boys Nordic ski teams placed second and third, respectively, in the Suburban East Conference Finals at Battle Creek Regional Park on Tuesday, Jan. 31 and Thursday, Feb. 2. On the girls side, senior Jordan Parent (pictured) won the race with a time of 30:22. Junior Chloe Erickson (32:34), senior Evelyn Hudrlik (32:41) and sophomore Norah Hushagen (32:58) finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. On the...
Driver extricated after rear-ending Forest Lake Bus
No injuries were reported of students on the bus A driver rear ended a Forest Lake Area School District school bus as it was dropping off students in Linwood Township around 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2. The bus was traveling westbound when it stopped near the 19800 block of Viking Blvd. NE for students to deboard when it was hit from behind by a male driver in a sedan,...
Forest Lake bus rear ended, no one injured
A driver rear ended a Forest Lake Area School District school bus as it was dropping off students in Linwood Township around 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2. The bus was traveling westbound when it stopped near the 19800 block of Viking Blvd. NE for students to deboard when it was hit from behind by a male driver in a sedan, according to the Anoka County press release. No students...
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Forest Lake Times has been serving Forest Lake, MN since 1902. Published Thursdays by APG of East Central Minnesota with 24/7 local coverage found online at forestlaketimes.com
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