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Posted: Apr 18, 2024

Nordic Skiing Announces Team Award Recipients

Nordic Skiing Announces Team Award Recipients

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech Nordic ski team distributed its annual team awards at its potluck banquet at the coaches' home over the weekend. Anabel Needham and Skylar Patten repeated as Most Outstanding Skiers. This marks Needham's fourth consecutive honor and Patten's third-straight. 

The Huskies took a combined top-10 finish at the NCAA Skiing Championships as the only central region team to qualify a full team. Olivia Laven earned the Elite 90 Award as the men's team placed seventh overall.

This season marks the conclusion of the careers of five Huskies as Olivia Laven (B.S. Engineering Management), Anabel Needham (B.S. Environmental Engineering), Jasper Johnston B.S. Forestry), Henry Snider (B.S. Mechanical Engineering) and graduate assistant coach Félix Cottet-Puinel (M.S. Exercise Science) are all graduating this spring.

Team Award Recipients:

Scholastic Achievement Award:

Olivia Laven:

  • Elite 90 Award winner w/perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA as a senior in Engineering Management.

  • Named to the National Collegiate All-Academic team all four years.

  • Incredibly hard working, goal-oriented, and incredibly impressive how she'd excelled as an international student here at Michigan Tech!

Parker Courte-Rathwell:

  • Earned National Collegiate All-Academic for third consecutive year with 3.78 fall GPA.

  • Double majoring in Mechanical Engineering & Exercise Science with double minors in aerospace engineering and pre-medical studies.

  • Found the right balance this year in approach to being the best student–and-athlete, achieving outstanding academic success while also having his best competitive ski season thus far as a Nordic Husky!

Most Improved Skier Award:

Colin Freed: 

  • Achieved 1st CCSA win this season at the Mt. Itasca CCSA Invitational in the Skate 7.5km race.

  • Improved in every classic race through season w/two top 5 performances at CCSA Conference & NCAA Regional Championships!

  • Best NCAA Championship performance finishing Top 25 in both skate & classic races!

  • Named All CCSA 1st team honors.

  • Achieved all this after coming back from a broken hand in the fall and not being able to race with two ski poles until only a few days before the U.S. Cross Country Ski National Championships in January!

Olivia Laven:

  • Most consistent season overall and best championship season in her senior year!

  • Achieved 5x skate podiums.

  • Top central finisher in 7.5km skate at NCAA Championships w/a Top 25 finish.

  • 13th place overall 40km, 3rd collegiate in the 40km Skate Mass Start at U.S. Spring National Championships. 

  • Top 10 CCSA performances in all distance races this season! 

Most Outstanding Skier Award:

Anabel Needham:

  • NCAA Central Regional Champion in Skate 7.5km race

  • Qualified for U23 World Championships for third straight season, and achieved best results.

  • Won every skate CCSA NCAA qualifying race this season.

  • Named All-CCSA first team.

  • Finished senior season w/semi final result & Top 10 Team Sprint result at U.S. Spring National Championships. 

Skylar Patten:

  • 9th place overall finish, 4th collegiate in the 40km Skate Mass Start race at U.S. Spring National Championships!

  • NCAA Central Regional Skiing Champion in both skate and classic races!

  • 14th place finish skate, 16th place finish classic at NCAA Skiing Championships as top Central skier at NCAA Skiing Championships.

  • Achieved all this after breaking hand in summer that included a 4 month recovery where he was only to train on spin bike! 

Harold Meese Sportsmanship Award:

*Harold Meese was a longtime Dean of Students at Michigan Tech. He had a close working relationship with the athletic department and was viewed by many student-athletes as a "father figure." All MTU Athletic Teams award team sportsmanship in Harold's name to honor his service to MTU Athletics.

Colin Freed:

  • His love and excitement expressed through his everyday presence and actions have helped lead the team and cultivate the culture we have today!

  • True team player, he will go out on that race course and dig so deep, but he digs even deeper because he knows he's doing it for his teammates. 

  • Never lets the BIG or little things get to him.

  • Infectiously positive!

Bridget Burns:

  • Positive leader for this team and leads by example with her actions day in and day out.

  • Incredibly caring and compassionate human!

  • Outgoing and can talk with anyone!

  • Incredibly approachable and coachable.

  • She is a ferocious competitor, she digs really deep and lays it all out there no matter the situation

  • She is always willing to help, and making sure that there is nothing more that needs to be done

  • Love that she has for being with the team, and specifically CHEERING! 

  • Has a strong presence, and as a first year student athlete we are excited to see how she will continue to be an impactful and positive student athlete for this team.

Team Husky Award:

*Named after "team dogs" in sled dog terms, this award goes to a team member that is a key contributor to team performance and success.

Synne Herheim: 

  • Scored for the team in every race through the entire season! 

  • Scored for the Huskies in both races at NCAA Skiing Championships as a freshman!

  • Adapted to the team environment flawlessly, having joined the team starting in the spring semester meeting the team for the first time in Utah for U.S. Cross Country Ski National Championships.

  • Synne took every new challenge and opportunity and just went with it. She didn't let challenges get to her, she just figures things out and keeps going, always with an incredible attitude! 

Henry Snider:

  • Has been a key contributor to our team's performances throughout his four years as a Nordic Husky.

  • Highlights this season include his podium finish at the Ariens CCSA Invite to lead the team to its first Overall Combined Team title of the season, and his two Top 5 scoring performances at NCAA Central Regional Skiing Championships to help lead the team to its 3rd consecutive Overall Combined Team title.

  • Best NCAA Championship results of his career as a 3x qualifier in his senior year, scoring in both races to help lift the Men's Team to a 7th place National Championship team finish.

  • Fierce competitor and never lets the pressure get to him, actually thrives under pressure, and always gives 100% effort!

Coach Comments:

What this team achieved through the adversity we faced made this a truly outstanding season! This was one of the worst snow years on record and that had a huge impact on training in the most important time of year as a skier…the ski season! We didn't get to ski in classic tracks before our first race, we had more ski practices at Mont Ripley this season than we did at the Tech Trails, we had Championship races at two of the highest altitude venues in the nation, and we had a brutal mid season sickness take out literally ⅔  of our Women's Team for Conference Championships. We say all this not to create excuses for what we didn't achieve this season, but way more importantly to recognize what we did achieve this season through all the competitive challenges we faced this season! 

What we've come to realize in coaching this team now for 7 years is that the teams that have the most fun have the most competitive success. This team achieved what it did this season because we truly had a fun competitive atmosphere, blasting music on the side of the trail and cheering your faces off for our teammates! Every race weekend was truly enjoyable! The team culture we have is only going to continue to bring this team success in the future as no other team brings the energy like we bring it!

Season Highlights:

Academic Performance:

  • 16x SA's earned National Collegiate All-Academic honors with 3.5 or higher fall GPA

  • 100% Women's Team earned All-Academic honors w/cumulative team GPA 3.9

  • 8 SA's w/perfect 4.0 fall GPA

  • Overall combined team GPA 3.68

  • Highest cumulative Team GPA amongst all MTU athletic teams for second consecutive year

NCAA Skiing Championships:

  • Olivia Laven named Elite 90 Award winner for NCAA Skiing

  • Top 10 Combined Nordic Team at NCAA Skiing Championships

  • 7th Place Men's Team finish at NCAA Skiing Championships

  • Top Central Team finish at NCAA Skiing Championships w/full team qualification

NCAA Central Regional Skiing Championships:

  • Combined Overall Team Champions at NCAA Central Regionals for 3rd straight season

  • Skylar Patten skied to Individual Regional Champion in both skate & classic races at Regionals

  • Anabel Needham skied to Individual Regional Champion in skate race at Regionals

  • 19x All-Region finishes at NCAA Regionals

All CCSA honorees:

Ariens CCSA Invitational:

  • Combined Overall Team Champions

US Cross Country Ski National Championships:

  • Anabel Needham qualifies for U23 World Championships for third time

  •  Wes Campbell qualifies for World Junior Championships and wins junior skate sprint

Junior National Championships:

U.S. Spring National Championships: