Lee, Cuenot with Strong Day 3 Results at U.S. Nationals

HOUGHTON, Mich. — Andrea Lee finished as the second collegiate racer and Gaspard Cuenot was sixth among college racers as Michigan Tech continued competition in the U.S. National Cross Country Championships on its home course. Today's races were the freestyle distance events, with the women skiing 20 kilometers and the men 30K.

Lee covered the two 10K laps in 1:03:54, placing her 12th overall of the 63 women who started the event. She was the second collegiate woman to finish and fastest among skiers from the NCAA Central Region. Sonja Hedblom and Carolyn Lucca were the next two best skiers for the Huskies in 37th and 40th positions overall (17th and 20th among collegiate racers, respectively).

Cuenot's result put him 23rd overall in a field of 91 men in the senior race. The Huskies rookie crashed two kilometers into the 30K race but worked himself back from 88th place to 23rd in a time of 1:24:39. Kyle Hanson placed 39th overall in 1:27:35, and Didrik Fjeld Elset was 48th in 1:29:28. Both were among the top 20 collegiate finishers.

"This was a good day for our team," said Tech coach Joe Haggenmiller. "Andrea's race may be one of the best distance races we've had in the history of our program.

"Gaspard had a great comeback after his crash, and several of our guys skied really well."

The U.S. Nationals, which is being held at Tech's Nordic Training Center for the second time in as many years, will conclude on Saturday (Jan. 9) in classic sprints.