Huskies Set for Seeley Hills SuperTour/CCSA Invite
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech Nordic Ski teams, fresh off competing in the 2023 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships, return to action at the Seeley Hills SuperTour/CCSA Invite in Cable, Wisconsin, on January 14 & 15.
Saturday, the Huskies will compete in the longest distance race of the season in the 32km mass classic start at 9:30 a.m. while the classic sprint will take place at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Results of the event can be found here.
"We had a really great week," head coach Tom Monahan Smith said. "It's really challenging to have your top performing day every single day especially when you have four race days but overall we had really strong races, especially the first and last race day."
The Huskies had a stellar week at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships hosted at the Tech Trails. Skylar Patten highlighted the first day by making the U.S. National podium with a bronze finish in the men's freestyle 10km interval start.
The first day of competition was also a CCSA invite, in which the Huskies secured another combined team win. In the women's race, the podium was all Black & Gold as Anabel Needham, Henriette Semb and Olivia Laven went 1-2-3.
Patten was joined by Colin Freed, taking gold and silver, respectively.
The good times continued to roll for the Huskies on the final day as Adam Witkowski placed eighth overall in the men's freestyle sprint, opening the day with the fastest time amongst a field of 161 athletes.
Needham finished 16th overall but earned a U23 World Championship selection after being within the top three in the U23 field.
Additionally, freshman Cat Stow made the U.S. junior national podium with a bronze finish, finishing 24th overall in the women's freestyle sprint.
In the junior men's freestyle sprint, Wes Campbell and Jasper Johnston were among the top in the field, with Campbell finishing fifth after qualifying for the junior heats in 12th. Johnston finished fifth in the second semifinal heat.
"We're going to really be focusing on having fun in once again a really strong nationally-competitive field and embracing the process of a whole new race experience and the fact that we're racing something different which should be really motivating for the student-athletes" Monahan Smith added.