Skiers Race Freestyle at US Nationals; Finish 10th in College Cup Standings
SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah – The Michigan Tech Nordic ski teams raced in the freestyle on Wednesday (Jan. 8) to wrap up distance events at the US Cross Country Skiing Championships. The Huskies finished 10th in the College Cup standings and were 18 points shy of seventh place.
"I'm proud to be a top 10 Nordic ski team in the country," Tech coach Joe Haggenmiller said. "It's always fun skiing against the best in the country and we look forward to wrapping up our racing on Friday with the classic sprint."
Alice Flanders had the race of the day for the Huskies. She placed 23rd overall—and 12th in her age class—in the women's 20K freestyle. She crossed the line in 1:03:46.2.
"Alice had a really good day today," added Haggenmiler. "She has skied well at the beginning of the season and had a heck of a race today, finishing third in our region."
Deedra Irwin and Lynn Duijndam were 39th and 40th overall and 22nd and 23rd in their division. Irwin was 19 seconds ahead of Duijndam with a time of 1:06:25.3.
Sarah Daniels (1:07:15.0) was a couple of spots back in 43rd (25th), while Lisa Koenig (1:09:34.4) also raced for Tech.
"The Huskies competed well today with some difficult conditions and a very tough course," Haggenmiller said. "It snowed most of the day, making the course pretty slow. The altitude also really made a difference."
In the men's junior 10K freestyle, Kyle Hanson was 19th overall and 12th in his under-20 age division. He finished in 26:33.4.
Jay Woodbeck led Tech in the men's 30K freestyle with a 63rd place finish. He was 34th in his age division with a time of 1:29:37.4.
"Jay had a pretty good day, and Kyle represented Tech well in the junior race," Haggenmiller said.
Matt Wong (1:32:09.9) was 70th overall and 40th in his age group, while David Joda (1:33:45.3) was two spots back in 72nd and 42nd.