Huskies Race Freestyle Sprint on Sunday

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah – The Michigan Tech Nordic ski teams raced in the freestyle sprint at the US Cross Country Skiing Championships on Sunday (Jan. 5). Lisa Koenig had the top race of the day for the Huskies in 35th. She was 0.8 second from advancing to the heats and was 18.13 seconds behind the top qualifier.

Alice Flanders (51st) and Lynn Duijndam (58th) were in the top 60 while Deedra Irwin (72nd) and Sarah Daniels (77nd) finished in the top 80. There were 130 skiers in the women's race.

"Lisa was so close to getting into the heats, and Alice, Lynn and Sarah were pretty excited about their races today," Tech coach Joe Haggenmiller said.

Thomas Kendrick led the men's team in 50th. He was 13.17 seconds behind the top skier in the qualifying race. Kyle Hanson advanced to the men's junior bracket and finished fourth in his quarterfinal heat. He was 95th overall in qualifying.

"Thomas had a good day for himself and Kyle qualified for the junior heats," Haggenmiller said. "He ended up in a tough group."

Matt Wong (92nd) and Jay Woodbeck (119th) also raced on the men's side. 192 skiers began the qualifier.

"We had some good performances today and some that were maybe average," added Haggenmiller. "We'll regroup and get ready for the 20 and 30K skate races on Wednesday. Kyle has a 10K junior freestyle race that day too."