Posted: Dec 10, 2023

Aflodal Wins Freestyle Sprint at Duluth CXC Cup

DULUTH, Minn. – First year Michigan Tech Nordic Skier Axel Aflodal opened his collegiate career with a bang, winning a loaded men's Skate Sprint in the season opener at the Duluth CXC Cup over the weekend.

Quotable

"Overall we really enjoyed being able to start our season again racing as a team," head coach Tom Monahan Smith said. "Axel taking the win in the men's skate sprint in a really strong field that included two-time U.S. National Champion Kristoffer Alm Karsrud, so that was really exciting for us to celebrate as a team. We also got some really great experience racing in some adverse conditions with it being rainy on Saturday and some soft tracks on Sunday. So I think our student-athletes got a lot of takeaways from being able to race in that environment on that specific type of snow.

"Overall, we're really proud of the team and how they competed this weekend. It was awesome to see quite a few of our student-athletes making some big improvements in the off season. Yanik Pauchard had a strong race today and same with Marie Wangen and some of the student-athletes who have dealt with some adversity like Skylar Patten."

Saturday

The women took to the races first in Saturday's Skate Sprint, seeing Marie Sølverud Wangen and Cat Stow make the finals, taking fifth and sixth, respectively.

Tech also took three of six in the semifinals as freshman Greta Hanson, Olivia Laven and Anabel Needham swept seventh through ninth-place.

Hailee Zimpel, Ingrid Halverson and Bridget Burns advanced out of the qualifying round to take 13th, 18th and 22nd.

The men's Skate Sprint was the race of the weekend for the Huskies as first-year Axel Aflodal knocked off a formidable opponent from Northern Michigan, Kristoffer Alm Karsrud. The two earned big Q's in the first heat of the semi final, with Alfodal less than a second behind Alm Karsrud, only to scorch the track in the finals and take the big step, winning the race by over a second in 2:50.55.

Wes Campbell also made the finals, placing fifth in 3:00.98.

The semi finals showcased four Huskies as Tryg Solberg led the way with a seventh-place finish. Skylar Patten placed ninth, freshman Mikkal Kalta took 10th and Parker Courte-Rathwell claimed 11th.

Jasper Johnston (13th-place), Yanik Pauchard (21st-place) and Henry Snider (23rd-place) rounded out the Tech racers.

Sunday

The frosh Aflodal repeated as the low-stick for the Huskies, placing fifth in Sundays 7.5km Classic Interval Start, clocking in 17:42.2 to lead a pack of four and showcase four of the top-eight finishers from Tech. Yanik Pauchard placed sixth (18:00.9), Patten placed seventh (18:06.1) and first year Mikkel Katla placed eighth (18:07.6).

Aflodal picked off five skiers per lap, starting the first lap in 16th before ending up fifth by the final lap.

In total, the Huskies men's squad finished in the top-25.

Wes Campbell and Tryg Solberg finished close to one another in 15th and 16th place, with less than three seconds between the two. Henry Snider went sub 19 to finish in 18th place, while Parker Courte-Rathwell and Sam Sterts placed 21st and 22nd, respectively.

The women's 7.5km Classic Interval Start showcased three top-10 finishes, with Anabel Needham leading the charge with a fourth-place finish in 21:14.5. Marie Sølverud Wangen was six seconds behind to claim fourth overall and Olivia Laven finished seconds behind College of St. Scholastica's Mia Case to claim 10th.

First year Greta Hanson was the fourth Tech finisher with a 15th place finish, with Alice McKnight right behind in 16th place.

Cat Stow (19th-place), Hailee Zimpel (23rd-place), Ingrid Halverson (27th-place) and Bridget Burns (30th-place) rounded out the Huskies finishers.

Team Results

Day-specific team standings (D01)
Team | D1F | D1M | Total
NMU | 070 | 069 | 139
MTU | 060 | 065 | 125
CSS | 051 | 041 | 092
UWGB | 000 | 039 | 039
SOC | 000 | 000 | 000

Day-specific team standings (D02)
Team | D2F | D2M | Total
NMU | 072 | 072 | 144
MTU | 060 | 060 | 120
CSS | 049 | 046 | 095
UWGB | 020 | 027 | 047
SOC | 025 | 012 | 037

Gender-specific team standings (Female)
Team | D1F | D2F | Total
NMU | 070 | 072 | 142
MTU | 060 | 060 | 120
CSS | 051 | 049 | 100
SOC | 000 | 025 | 025
UWGB | 000 | 020 | 020

Gender-specific team standings (Male)
Team | D1M | D2M | Total
NMU | 069 | 072 | 141
MTU | 065 | 060 | 125
CSS | 041 | 046 | 087
UWGB | 039 | 027 | 066
SOC | 000 | 012 | 012

Overall team standings
Team | D1F | D2F | D1M | D2M | Total
NMU | 070 | 069 | 072 | 072 | 283
MTU | 060 | 065 | 060 | 060 | 245
CSS | 051 | 041 | 049 | 046 | 187
UWGB | 000 | 039 | 020 | 027 | 086
SOC | 000 | 000 | 025 | 012 | 037

Up Next

The Huskies return to action next week, traveling to Cable, Wisconsin, for the Salomon CXC Cup Dec. 16-17.