Men Dominate the Freestyle at the Duluth Hilltop Invite

DULUTH, Minn. -- The Michigan Tech Nordic ski teams competed in the women's 5K freestyle event and the men's 10K freestyle event on Saturday in Duluth.

"It was a pretty good day for the Huskies. The guys had an awesome day and really turned in a good performance. We beat NMU in points today, securing the top spot for the men and second place for the women's team." said head coach Joe Haggenmiller.

The Tech men had an impressive day in the field. Gaspard Cuenot took 1st place for the second weekend in a row. Cuenot finished the 10K with a time of 24:24 at a 2:27 pace out of 107 skiers.

Tom Bye also held a strong pace, crossing the line in 4th place for the Huskies with a time of 24:51. Tomi Mikkonen also slid his way into the top 10, taking 9th place and hitting the line at 25:19. David Jaszczak also pulled 19th place at time of 26:04 and Seth Mares rounded out the field of competitors for Tech (90th, 30:19).

"Gaspard followed up last week's win with another win today. Pretty exciting that Tom Bye was up there as well in 4th overall and 4th collegiate. In additiona, Tomi was the 5th collegiate. I'm really proud of the guys. They did a great job." added Haggenmiller.

Four women on the Nordic ski team made the top 20 in the 5K freestyle on Saturday. Carolyn Lucca led the Huskies today, clocking a time of 14:28 and taking 11th in the race. Just five seconds shy of Lucca was Sonja Hedblom, who is also a key skier for the Huskies. Hedblom finished 14th carrying a time of 14:33. Following in 16th was Anna Kubek (14:46), Lisa Koenig (20th, 14:57) and Ruth Oppliger (53rd, 16:00).

"The women fell a little behind NMU today." said coach Joe Haggenmiller. "Carolyn Lucca had a really great day today and was the top non-Northern collegiate skier. Same with Sonja Hedblom who was also in the top 10 for collegiate skiers. It's also great to see Anna Kubek getting better each weekend and it's fun to see her moving in the right direction after so many setbacks."

The Nordic skiing teams were scheduled to have a classic race on Sunday, but they are not able to set a track. There will be skate races, but they will not be college qualifiers. The majority of the varsity team is traveling back to Houghton Saturday night.

"Tomorrow is another opportunity for us to get another race in and we have a few people who are staying back to race. Carolyn Lucca is having a lot of fun racing in her hometown and Ruth Oppliger will also stay back to try to get some work in on Sunday. Anna Kubek and Erin Lipp plan to get another race in since they have had so much trouble with injuries this season too." said coach Haggenmiller.

Final results from the Duluth Hilltop Invite will be posted on MichiganTechHuskies.com following Sunday's race.