Posted: Jan 07, 2018

MTU Freshmen Crack Top 20 in Classic Race Sunday

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Michigan Tech Huskies Nordic Ski Team rounded out the competition at the U.S. Nationals in Kincaid Park with the classic 30K/20K/10K/5K ski events Sunday Jan. 7. Three Tech freshmen, Reid Goble 9^th, Mitch DeLong 11^th and Patrick Acton 17^th, cracked the top 20 in the Junior Male 10K Classic Mass Start.

Freshman Reid Goble led the junior group in 9^th place with a time of 28:04.0 in a field of 108 competitors. Mitch DeLong held strong in 11^th place with a time of 28:174.8 followed by Patrick Acton in 17^th place at a time of 28:23.0.

"These guys really had an amazing charge and laid it all out there today in an incredibly deep field," said head coach Tom Smith.

Eric Houck (58^th, 30:27.7), Josh Albrecht (59^th, 30:26.0), Tres Green (87^th, 31:53.6) and Hunter Dercks (105^th, 35:05.7) were among Tech's junior finishers.

Tom Bye finished 27^th in the 30K race setting the tone for fellow teammates Olav Vestol (40^th, 1:31:35.1) and Daniel Wood (43^rd, 1:33:59.3). Bye hit the line at an impressive 1:27:25.8 in a field of 48 athletes.

"He was the fifth U23 guy on the day, so that was another great qualifying result towards his bid to represent the U.S. U23 World Championships," said Smith.

Two Huskies women competed in the 20K races; Sarah Goble pushed for a 28^th overall finish, clocking in at 1:10:22.5, followed by teammate Erin Lipp in 36^th with a time of 1:15:11.7.

"Sarah was the 11^th U23 on the day and it was her first 20K ever," added Smith.

Bye and Olav Vestol will stick around Anchorage today, Jan. 8 to race in the classic sprint races to increase their opportunities for a bid to ski as part of the U.S. U23 World Championship Team.

"I think these guys gained a lot of experience," Smith said. "They came out and really showed that they wanted to race and compete. They represented the team well and showed that we are one hungry team that's on the up and up."

The Huskies will be back in action next week as they travel to Cable, Wis. to compete in the Birkie Jan. 20-21.