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Forest Lake Times
Boys track has high hopes with high numbers
Roughly 80 total kids on roster for 2024 season The Forest Lake boys track and field team will get to work this spring with aspirations of sending as many athletes as it can to the Class AAA state tournament – while also being prepared to compete when True Team rolls around in early May. Having lost a big chunk of roughly 20 senior runners last season, the Rangers have upward of 80 total kids on this spring’s roster – more than enough to make some...
Sports preview: Girls track team aims for sections wins, state bid
The Forest Lake girls track team sets out this spring with aspirations of competing for True Team sections in hopes of sending the team altogether to the 2024 Class AAA state tournament. A season ago, the Rangers took fourth in the Suburban East Conference and placed second in the Section 7AAA championships races behind Blaine, but ended up sending three individuals to the final stage, while also having its 4x relay team earn its bid in the process. The squad still has plenty of firepower...
Sports preview: Girls lacrosse team looks for a bounce-back year
The Forest Lake girls lacrosse team comes off a 2023 season described as a “learning year,” according to head coach Jenna Brown. After finishing the year with a record of 4-11 and earning a seventh-place finish in the Suburban East Conference, the Rangers saw their season come to a close in the Section 7 quarterfinals, courtesy of Chisago Lakes. In this year’s campaign, the squad looks to flip the script entirely and get back to its winning ways. The group will be led by a...
Sports preview: Boys golf swings for an improved season
Senior talent to play a pivotal role The Forest Lake boys golf team looks to improve upon its finishes from a season ago, where the Rangers ultimately placed eighth overall in the Suburban East Conference, while earning the same result in Section 7AA play. Led by head coach Matthew Schugel, the squad possesses a number of key returnees for this year’s spring season. A young, but talented freshman sniper in...
Sports Preview: Softball looks to another state title after last year’s runner up title
The Forest Lake girls softball team comes off a stellar finish to its 2023 regular season campaign, where the squad finished second overall in the Class AAAA state tournament after falling to Rosemount in the title game last summer. Placing second in the ever-daunting Suburban East Conference behind Stillwater, the team overcame the misstep by rallying off multiple wins to claim the Section 7AAAA title. The program aims to keep up its high level of play and to continue to establish what Forest Lake softball is all about – but not without the help of some key returnees. ...
Sports preview: Baseball team looks to compete for section title
Key players return The Forest Lake boys baseball team has the ultimate goal of competing for the Section 7AAAA championship this spring – but not without the help from a handful of key returnees. After finishing the 2023 season with an overall record of 8-16 and losing roughly nine seniors to graduation a year ago, the Rangers currently have another set of nine seniors for the 2024 season. Players who can make a big impact and turn the tides for Forest Lake this year include...
Soaring: From the stage to the sky
Forest Lake teen finds new heights in aviation career through National Guard Aubrey Hansen grew up soaring on the stage. As a student at both Lakes International Language Academy and St. Paul Conservatory for the Arts, she had once found her home on the stage, pursuing her talents through competitive dancing with The Dance Factory in Forest Lake and with dance companies in the Twin Cities. “I love dance. I...
St. Croix guidebook features local adventure, stories
Times columnist publishes travel book about St. Croix Watershed Like many who live here, Angie Hong has grown attached to the St. Croix Valley. The water education senior specialist at the Washington Conservation District brought her to the area in 2006, and it was then she “fell in love with” the area. She had followed her now-husband to Minnesota after graduating from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was immediately smitten. Though...
Boys volleyball team readies for transition season under two ‘courts’
Boys volleyball set to become an MSHSL sport in 2025 A new activity for Forest Lake Area High School has risen just in time for the 2024 spring sports season: boys volleyball. Once only considered as a high school “club” team under head coach Butch Bethke, the squad has been around since 2019 – and has since then been pushing to make boys volleyball an officially sanctioned high school sport...
Mister Car Wash construction begins
The Rochon Construction crew broke ground between the Speedway and Huntington Bank on Broadway Avenue on Tuesday, March 19, to make way for the new Mister Car Wash location. “We had some additional parking lot and some trees and shrubs that needed to be removed for the arrival and the installation of the new car wash,” said Garry Habisch, Rochon construction superintendent of the job site. Crews started their work...
Hardwood Creek Library sows groundwork for ‘seed library’ in county
Starting a seed library at Hardwood Creek Library had been something that Christina de Sobrino had thought about for some time. Yet, it wasn’t until a community member inquired if there was a seed library that she saw the opportunity present itself. “I forwarded that (inquiry) to one of my supervisors and said, ‘If this is something that library administration is interested in, I’d be interested in helping to develop it,’” said de Sobrino, an adult services librarian at the Hardwood Creek Library. ...
Rangers fall to Coon Rapids 62-65 in section championship game
Despite leading in the first half, turnovers and missed shots fed loss It was a tough loss to Coon Rapids in the Section 7AAAA championship game for the Forest Lake boys basketball team last Thursday, March 14. Forest Lake head coach Kyle McDonald knew the Rangers’ section championship game matchup, held at Princeton High School, was going to be tough. Forest Lake had narrowly eclipsed the Cardinals during the team’s...
Biden and Trump are area primary voters’ favorites
Primary voter turnout lower than 2020 Fewer overall area voters marked their ballots for the 2024 primary race last Tuesday, March 5 in what has been a markedly uncompetitive race for both Democrats and Republicans, as incumbent President Joe Biden seeks re-election, and former President Donald Trump has blown out his competition in the primary races so far as he seeks to win back the presidency after his loss in 2020 to Biden. ...
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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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