Posted: Jan 08, 2020

Emma Albrecht Wins Girls' Junior Classic Sprint at U.S. Ski Championships

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Emma Albrecht won the Girls' Junior Classic Sprint to cap off a very successful week of competition for the Michigan Tech Nordic Ski team at the 2020 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships.

A freshman from Stillwater, Minnesota, Albrecht crossed the finish line of the Girls' Junior Classic Sprint in a time of 5:10.23, beating out Katherine Oldham of Aspen Valley SSC by 0.8 seconds to win the event. Fellow Huskies skier Anabel Needham was also in the final and captured third-place with a time of 5:12.46. Albrecht advanced to the final after placing first in her semifinal heat with a time of 5:18.40. Meanwhile Needham finished third in her heat with a time of 5:18.67, making her one of the "Lucky Losers" to advance to the final despite finishing outside of the top two in the heat.

In the Women's bracket, three Huskies advanced to the quarterfinals. Amanda Kautzer finished the day with the third-fastest time in her heat with a mark of 4:35.93, just missing out on advancing to the semifinals. Sarah Goble and Oda Hovland also represented Tech in the quarterfinal of the event, with times of 4:46.36 for Goble and 5:04.38 for Hovland. Kautzer's time put her at 14th overall and third among American under-23 skiers, while Hovland ended the day 17th overall and seventh among all under-23 competitors, and Goble finished 27th overall and eighth among American under-23 skiers.

Reid Goble and David Jaszczak skied for the Huskies in the quarterfinal of the Men's event. Goble finished with a time of 3:56.19 in his heat to rank him 25^th overall and sixth among American under-23 skiers, while Jaszczak clocked in at 3:59.93 in his group to finish 28^th overall and ninth against fellow American under-23 competition.

The Huskies women's team also captured the 2020 U.S. Ski & Snowboard College Cup with 276 team points, beating out Middlebury College and Northern Michigan for the award. Tech also finished in a tie for second with the University of Vermont in the overall team title, scoring 514 points to place behind Northern Michigan (538 pts.).

"It was an awesome week. The team skied great, they showed up every day ready to compete, and they all had some great performances," said head coach Tom Smith. "For the women to get the overall title in the College Cup, that's a true milestone for our program and it shows just how strong of a team they are."

Michigan Tech will return to the course on January 18-19 when they travel to Coleraine, Minnesota for the CCSA Mt. Itasca Invitational. The Huskies won the first CCSA team event of the season on the second day of the 2020 L.L. Bean U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships.