Needham's all-around effort highlights ski weekend at Gitchi Gami Games
CABLE, Wis. – Michigan Tech's Nordic ski team continued the SuperTour events this weekend with three days of competition at the Gitchi Gami Games. The Huskies once again made their mark, especially at the collegiate level. Anabel Needham led the way with top three finishes each day.
"Overall, it was a strong weekend of racing," Coach Tom Monahan Smith said. "It was tough having three race days in a row, but we are proud of the student-athletes for their tenacity and putting together three great efforts on the weekend."
Anabel Needham opened up her weekend with a 14th place finish (2nd place collegiate) in the 15K freestyle. On Saturday, Needham had one of her career-best results, placing tenth (2nd collegiately) in the sprint races. Needham would round out her weekend with a third-place collegiate finish in the 10K classic on Sunday.
"Anabel highlighted our results this weekend with some career-best results." Monahan Smith said.
Olivia Laven (16th) and Henriette Semb (19th) also placed in the top 20 on Friday. Semb also finished 19th in Sunday's 10K classic, good for fifth place across the collegiate competition.
On the men's team, Parker Courte-Rathwell recorded two top-30 results on Saturday and Sunday, and a 31st place finish on Friday. He recorded the fifth-best collegiate time in Sunday's 15K classic.
Skylar Patten also had success with a top-5 collegiate finish in Friday's 15K freestyle. Junior skiers Colin Freed and Jasper Johnston also made their mark by each reaching the junior finals in the sprint races on Saturday.
"As a team, it is great to see we have the depth that we need heading into the college race season," Monahan Smith said. "It was great for the student-athletes to have SuperTour experience and compete against some of the best athletes in the country these first two weekends."
The Huskies will have two weekends off before heading to the US Cross Country Ski Championships on January 2-7 in Soldier Hollow, Utah.