The second day of the Telemark Chase saw another great day of racing. After yesterday’s classic races the men and women of the CCSA were faced with 10 and 15k mass start skate races. With conditions continuing to be solid and temperatures hovering in the mid-twenties, it made for some very fast conditions all day.
The day started off at 10am with the start of the women’s 10k. Right out of the start the Northern Michigan Wildcats flexed their muscle by having seven of their skiers in the top 10 throughout the first lap. It was on the second lap that the race heated up with NMU Redshirt skier Kristen Bourne attacking on the final big climb of the day. As she crested the hill she had a 10 second gap leading into the downhill. It was over the next two kilometers that Michigan Tech’s Andrea Lee hunted down Bourne over the final rolling hills. Passing Bourne in the final climbs Lee was able to hang on for first by 0.1 of a second. “It was really exciting to see her ski in that NMU train going up the last big climb. I could tell she was pretty relaxed and knew what she had to do. It’s very exciting to see how savvy she is as a racer and I look forward to seeing more of that in the future” said MTU coach Joe Haggenmiller.
Five seconds back was UAF’s Anne-Tine Markset turning in another stellar effort to finish third overall and second for the CCSA conference. Taking third for the collegiate race was Northern’s Felicia Gesior. Northern also took fourth through ninth in the collegiate rankings with UAF’s Nicole Bathe rounding out the top ten. All of the racing was very close in the women’s race with 1-10 being separated by less than a minute.
UAF’s Coach Nick Crawford was very pleased with his team’s effort noting that “Anne-Tine Markset proved that she is one of the top women in the CCSA again today following up on her second place finish yesterday with a third place overall. Nichole Bathe and Sarissa Lammers also had good races doing a good job moving up through the field in the second lap and having strong finishes.”
On the men’s side, Northern Michigan once again showed their dominance and depth by taking all three steps on the podium with Adam Martin taking his second win of the weekend followed closely by Ian Torchia and Jake Brown. Michigan Tech came back today and capitalized on their coaches comments from yesterday by building on their efforts of the previous day and placing second in the men’s team scores while being led by Gaspard Cuenot in fourth. Cuenot was followed by Northern’s Fredrik Schwencke. Max Donaldson led UAF’s men with a sixth place finish. Northern’s Sam Elfstrom took seventh with MTU’s second skier Kyle Hanson right behind in eighth.
Coach Haggenmiller was excited about Hanson’s efforts mentioning that he “was the one that was driving the second chase group, and I think his result was a big part the men’s team placing second today.”
Saint Scholastica’s Reid Hodgert had a stellar finish in ninth with his coach Chad Salmela stating, “Reitler loves classic races. So coming off an eighth place in his favorite event, the 10km Classic, a 15 kilometer freestyle mass start is the antithesis of his skiing essence. But a gritty performance netted him nearly the same result. UW Green Bay’s Matthew Nichols finished off the top ten.
The CCSA skiing action continues next weekend in Houghton, MI with host Michigan Tech University. Each athlete will continue their hunt for crucial points that will help get them to the NCAA Championships in Steamboat, CO in early March.
For full results from the second day of racing please go to: www.performancetiming.com