Needham’s Downhill Speed Awards Her All-America Honors in 5km Freestyle At NCAAs
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Senior Michigan Tech Nordic skier Anabel Needham had the fastest last split (1.25km) in the women's 5km freestyle to place 8th overall and be tabbed second team All-America to start the NCAA Skiing Championships at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, New York, on Thursday afternoon.
The Houghton native's final 1.25km split of 2:25.0 was over three seconds faster than the next fastest split from 3.75km to the finish, helping solidify her All-American status for the second-straight year.
"We are so incredibly proud of the entire team today," said head coach Tom Monahan Smith and assistant coach Kristen Monahan Smith. "Anabel earned that All-American finish today by throwing down the fastest race split of the entire field in the last 1km of the race. The way she attacked that was downright inspiring."
The coaching staff entered the NCAA Skiing Championships with the belief that the Huskies' ability to climb would help them to some of their best racing and that rang true in Needham's 5km freestyle.
"This course is all climbing and then all downhills," Needham mentioned. "I love agility and pushing the pace on the downhills so the second half of this course was definitely really fun for me."
Needham certainly pushed the pace on the downhills, moving her up four spots with her closing speed to finish the race.
"To be honest, my body didn't feel very awesome during this race," Needham added. "I felt pretty tired and sluggish and when I found myself closing the race I knew I needed to leave everything I had in the tank out there. I wanted to get to the finish line and be really deep in the pain cave, and I was able to do that and I am really happy with that alone."
The Huskies also showcased senior Henriette Semb and junior Olivia Laven in the women's 5km freestyle.
Semb (14:01.2) placed 22nd overall, while Laven (14:21.9) placed 33rd, respectively.
The men of Michigan Tech started the National Skiing Championships with the 10km freestyle featuring sophomore Colin Freed, junior Skylar Patten and senior Adam Witkowski.
Patten would lead the Huskies on the course, with a 14th-place finish in a time of 24:12.2. Freed began picking off skiers after the 5km mark, before finishing the race in 20th place in 24:25.1. Witkowski, making his NCAA Skiing Championships debut, finished 33rd overall in a time of 25:18.6.
Patten, a native of Park City, Utah, had top-10 splits through the first 5km of the race at the four markers on the course. His opening split at the 1.25km mark was the fourth-fastest in the field.
The Huskies conclude the second day of the National Skiing Championships in seventh place amongst the Nordic standings with 60 points and return for the final day of the championships on Saturday for the Classic 20km classic slated for a 10 a.m. start time.
