Michigan Tech’s Alice Flanders and Northern Michigan’s Kyle Bratrud earned the top spots in the women’s 10K and men’s 15K freestyle races, respectively, at the Telemark Chase in Cable, Wisc. on Saturday. The first win of the season for each skier, the CCSA has now seen six different student-athletes top the podium in its six events so far in 2014.
Flanders, part of a deep group of Michigan Tech women’s skiers, produced a dominant performance on her way to the top of the podium. Her time of 30:19.8 put her a full 15 seconds ahead of her closest competitor (Jordyn Ross, who is redshirting this season for Northern Michigan) and a good 37 seconds ahead of the next CCSA skier to cross the line.
An impressive team performance from Alaska saw them place three skiers within the CCSA top four. Nicole Bathe continued her fine start to the season by earning the region’s silver medal place, with a time of 30:57.6, while teammates Heather Edic and Aly McPhetres weren’t far behind – Edic taking third in the CCSA with her 30:58.4, and McPhetres finshing fourth just under a second back.
Northern Michigan’s Mary Kate Cirelli took fifth in the CCSA with her 31:00.8, with Michigan Tech’s second skier, Deedra Irwin crossing the line in sixth. St. Olaf’s Paige Schember’s time of 31:23.0 was good enough for seventh in the region, while Northern Michigan’s Felicia Gesior, the Huskies’ Lynn Duijndam and NMU’s Kristin Bourne rounded out the top ten.
On the men’s side, Bratrud continued to show signs of the form that landed him an NCAA berth a year ago, completing his 15K in 37:52.6 to top the CCSA field. St. Olaf’s Jake Brown, the reigning CCSA skier of the week, took second in the region with his time of 38:02.5; the junior continuing his excellent start to the 2014 season.
Bronze medal in the region went to St. Scholastica’s Paul Schommer, as the junior turned in a time of 38:06.4. NMU’s George Cartwright was next across the line in 38:12.2 to take fourth, following closely by a group of Nanooks – Alaska’s Max Olex (5th in CCSA, 6th overall), Michael Fehrenbach (6th in CCSA, 7th overall), Logan Hanneman (7th in CCSA, 8th overall) and Jonas Loffler (8th in CCSA, 9th overall) all finishing within a minute and a half of one another. Michigan Tech’s Matt Dugan and St. Scholastica’s Joe Dubay wrapped up the region’s top ten.
The CCSA competitors head back out to the Telemark for the distance classic race tomorrow, starting with the men’s 10K at 9:30 a.m. For complete results, please visit Performance Timing.