PREVIEW: Michigan Tech Hosts U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships

PREVIEW: Michigan Tech Hosts U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech Nordic Ski team will open the 2020 slate of tough competition when they welcome some of the best skiers in the country for the 2020 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships, hosted by L.L. Bean. The event, held at the Michigan Tech Recreation Trails, will run from January 2-7.

This marks the fifth time Michigan Tech has hosted a U.S. Cross Country Skiing Championships event and the first time since 2016 the Huskies have competed in the event on their home turf. The event will also see potential members of the 2020 U.S. Olympic ski team, as well as some of the top U18 boys and girls in the country compete against one another.

The competition will begin on Thursday (Jan. 2) with the Freestyle Sprint, followed by the Freestyle Individual 10K/15K events on Friday (Jan. 3). Following a day of training, the action will resume on Sunday (Jan. 5) with the Classic, with a mass start format in distances of 7.5K/10K/20K/30K depending on the age group. The week-long competition will conclude on Tuesday (Jan. 7) with the Classic Sprint event. The start times for each event can be found on the schedule page of the official 2020 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships website, USNationals.mtu.edu.

Tech enters this week's event following competition at the MTU Pre-Nationals CXC Cup, which they hosted from the Michigan Tech Recreation Trails on December 21-22. Reid Goble and Aleksi Leino represented the Huskies in the Saturday final of the Men's Freestyle Sprint, while Sarah Goble and Amanda Kautzer raced in the final of the Women's Freestyle Sprint. In Sunday's Classic events, Reid Goble, Aleksi Leino, and Patrick Acton finished in the top 10 of the men's race, and Sarah Goble, Anabel Needham, Mary Lyon, and Amanda Kautzer represented the Huskies in the top 10 of the women's event.

Follow the 2020 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships on Facebook and Instagram. Click here to look up parking information if you are interested in attending the 2020 L.L. Bean U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships.