Needham Leads Nordic Huskies on Final Day at U.S. Nationals

MIDWAY, Utah – The Michigan Tech Nordic Ski team wrapped up the U.S. Cross Country Ski National Championships with the Classic Sprint day, led by senior Anabel Needham, who placed 16th overall.

Quotable

"There were really challenging conditions out there today with new snow and wet conditions making it challenging for waxing," head coach Tom Monahan Smith said. "We didn't have the best skis in the field today but our athletes found ways to be really tough regardless and ski fast–we're just really proud of the efforts of our team throughout the entire championships and especially on the final day where they're going to be tired going into this race. We're a really gritty team and it showed today and I'm proud of how this team races and competes every day. The highlight of the day was Anabel finishing as the third U23 athlete in the field. It was a really outstanding championship as a whole for her. We also had all three of our junior women make it into the classic sprint heats which was really cool for them and we had Wes Campbell finishing off the week by making the junior semi-final taking 8th place overall for the junior men."

In a field of 118 skiers, the women had Anabel Needham in the senior women's quarterfinals, while Hailee Zimpel, Bridget Burns and Greta Hansen made the quarterfinals in the junior race.

Needham had the 14th-fastest qualifying time (4:48.57) before placing fourth in the second heat of the quarterfinals to ultimately take 16th overall and third among the U23 field.

Wes Campbell capped a stellar week of racing with his eighth-place overall finish in the junior division. The Park City, Utah, native placed fourth in his heat of the semifinal with a time of 4:04.69.

Up Next

The Nordic Huskies will return to action on January 20 & 21 at the CXC Junior Cup at Mt. Itasca Nordic Ski Association in Coleraine, Minnesota.