Nordic Huskies Take Second at CCSA Championships
DULUTH, Minn. – The Michigan Tech Nordic Ski team took second place honors as a team at the CCSA Conference Championships in Duluth, Minnesota, over the weekend. Axel Aflodal made the podium with a third-place finish in Sunday's Mass Start, while Synne Herheim had two fourth-place finishes to lead the women's team.
Quotable
"We had a few athletes out with sickness this weekend which made it tough to compete for team titles," head coach Tom Monahan SMith "We're really proud of how our athletes competed who were healthy and able to compete this weekend. Saturday's skate race had a career-best for Parker who finished fourth skiing right with the leader for two of the three laps. We had six men in our top-10 without having our full squad. It was awesome to see the depth that we showed and the competitiveness. On the women's side, Synne and Olivia were fourth and sixth and less than five seconds from the podium. Sunday's classic race–we're really proud of how Axel raced this weekend with his first CCSA podium and Colin Freed and Tryg Solberg had some of their best races on Sunday. Synne had a strong effort in the classic race and it was awesome to see Marie be competitive after battling some sickness–Cat also competed as hard as she could and did it for the team today."
Tech opened Saturday's 7.5km Freestyle Interval Start with a fourth-place finish from Synne Herheim, leading four Huskies among the top-13. Olivia Laven finished in sixth place, just three seconds behind Herheim. Cat Stow and Marie Sølverud Wangen placed 12th and 13th, respectively.
The men's Freestyle Interval Start showcased a pack performance for the Huskies, with Parker Courte-Rathwell leading six Huskies, placing fourth through ninth. Tryg Solberg (5th), Colin Freed (6th), Mikkel Kalta (7th), Henry Snider (8th) and Axel Aflodal (9th) rounded out the group. Yanik Pauchard finished outside of the top-10 with his 11th-place finish.
Axel Alfodal displayed his distance strengths with his bronze finish in the men's 20km Classic Mass Start, placing third by under three seconds. Colin Freed (6th), Tryg Solberg (7th) and Mikkel Kalta (9th) were among the top-10.
In the women's race Sunday, Synne Herheim posted her second fourth-place finish of the weekend to lead the Huskies for the second-straight race. Marie Sølverud Wangen (9th) and Cat Stow (15th) cracked the top-15.
Day-specific team standings (D01)
Team | D1F | D1M | Total
NMU | 072 | 072 | 144
MTU | 057 | 063 | 120
CSS | 053 | 040 | 093
UWGB | 024 | 034 | 058
SOC | 029 | 012 | 041
Day-specific team standings (D02)
Team | D2F | D2M | Total
NMU | 072 | 071 | 143
MTU | 054 | 064 | 118
CSS | 051 | 040 | 091
UWGB | 027 | 031 | 058
SOC | 034 | 011 | 045
Gender-specific team standings (Female)
Team | D1F | D2F | Total
NMU | 072 | 072 | 144
MTU | 057 | 054 | 111
CSS | 053 | 051 | 104
SOC | 029 | 034 | 063
UWGB | 024 | 027 | 051
Gender-specific team standings (Male)
Team | D1M | D2M | Total
NMU | 072 | 071 | 143
MTU | 063 | 064 | 127
CSS | 040 | 040 | 080
UWGB | 034 | 031 | 065
SOC | 012 | 011 | 023
Overall team standings
Team | D1F | D1M | D2F | D2M | Total
NMU | 072 | 072 | 072 | 071 | 287
MTU | 057 | 063 | 054 | 064 | 238
CSS | 053 | 040 | 051 | 040 | 184
UWGB | 024 | 034 | 027 | 031 | 116
SOC | 029 | 012 | 034 | 011 | 086
Up Next
The Huskies will host the NCAA Central Regional Skiing Championship at the Tech Trails on Feb. 24 & 25.