The second day of racing at the Michigan Tech Invitational saw a lot of hard racing in both fields. Each team was faced by tricky conditions with temperatures hovering around 32 degrees. The morning started off with the women’s 15 kilometer classic mass start. With the warm conditions it seemed that each team had a different approach to making the skis kick, some using hardwax while others opted for klister or klister covered by hardwax.

Once the race was off the women of NMU asserted their dominance by getting to the front and controlling the pace. By doing so they were able to take the top three spots led by Vivian Hett with a time of 49:21.9. Hett skied to a commanding win after the second lap winning by almost 48 seconds over yesterday’s winter and teammate Felicia Gesior. Just under a minute back, there was a real battle for third going on between NMU’s Sophie Schimpl and Michigan Tech’s Andrea Lee. In the end Schimpl out sprinted Lee by 0.3 of a second. With the top three spots the ladies of NMU solidified their win on the weekend in the team scores.

Led by the strong forth place performance by Andrea Lee, the women of Michigan Tech were able to fend off and extend their lead on Saint Scholastica. Lee was followed by Sonja Hedblom in ninth and Carolyn Lucca in 12th to accrue 41 points in the team scores. With taking second on the weekend coach Haggenmiller was pleased with the solid effort his women put in.

“Yesterday I was happy with taking second place with both teams. I think that came down to the way our second and third place skiers were racing on both sides. They were skiing hard and battling it out. Today we saw more of the same for the women, I think we had an even better day today.”

Saint Scholasica’s women placed third on the day with 33 points. Kelsey Dickinson led the charge for the Saints in 11th place with teammates Elizabeth Evans in 13th and Chelsey Youngberg in 15th.

In the men’s 20 kilometer mass start classic race, the weather proved to be even trickier with the sun peeking out just before race time and changing the snow conditions. As each team was getting their racers skis ready they noticed this change and realized that most hard waxes were too slick while most klisters were still too sticky. With these conditions we saw many athletes choose their Zeros to try and get the best kick and glide combo possible.

At the start of the classic race, the NMU men followed the eample of their women earlier in the day and jumped out to an early lead. NMU ultimately took the top three positions while also placing the rest of their seven man squad in the top 10. NMU was led by a strong effort from Ian Torchia who finished with a time of 55:54.3. Torchia was followed by teammates Adam Martin in second and Fredrik Schwencke in third.

The men of Saint Scholastica snatched the second place team spot from Michigan Tech today with 42 points, giving them second on the day as well as the weekend. The Saints were led by Reitler Hodgert in sixth, with Joe Dubay close behind in eighth and Chris Parr rounding out the top 10.

Michigan Tech ended up third today on the men’s side with 30 points. Starting with a harsh crash early on in the race that saw one of their top skiers drop form the race, Tech was led by Kyle Hanson in 12th, followed by Tomas Kendrick in 13th and Seth Mares in 15th.

UW Green Bay was nipping at the heels of Michigan Tech today only 3 points back with a total of 27. Their men fought hard with an 11th from Matthew Nichols, 20th Kyle Marshal and 24th Jacob Ajax.

The CCSA racing continues in two weeks at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, MN. As the last few races approach, each athlete and team will be in the hunt for crucial NCAA qualifying points.

For a full list of the weekends results visit: superiortiming.com

The Michigan Tech Invitational was kicked off today under clear skies and above average temperatures. The day started off with the men’s individual start 10k skate. Temperatures were gradually rising above freezing just before the start, causing each team to look for the best wax and structure possible to fight off the increasing moisture in the snow.

Ian Torchia of NMU took top honors in the men’s race finishing in a time of 25:50. He was followed 28 seconds later by two of his teammates, Adam Martin and Jake Brown. With these three places NMU took an early lead in the team scores with 51 points.

Gaspard Cuenot led his Michigan Tech team to second place in the team scores with a fourth place finish. He was followed by teammates Kyle Hanson in ninth and Daniel Wood 16th to stay just ahead of Saint Scholastica with 37 points.

Saint Scholasticas men are nipping at the heels of MTU with 35 points. Led by a strong performance from Reitler Hodgert in ninth. Hodgert was followed closely by his teammates Ryan St. Clair in 11th and Chris Parr 13th. Of his men’s team effort, Saints head coach Chad Salmela was pleased with the progress from last week stating “We’re moving in the right direction in freestyle. We got pummeled in freestyle last weekend and we tightened up our team effort against Tech, but still came up a couple points shy. Regardless, it’s the right direction.”

For the women’s race the temperatures had climbed up into the low 40’s with the sun shining down causing the snow to become glazed with moisture.

The CCSA women’s field was dominated by the skiers of NMU, taking the top five positions. NMU was led by Felicia Gesior stamping her authority all of the 5k course, and winning by 17.5 seconds. Gesior was followed by her two teammates Vivian Hett and Sophie Schimpl in second and third. With these three spots the NMU women followed in the footsteps of their male counterparts and took the lead in the team scores with 51 points.

With both teams taking the lead after the first day, coach Fjeldheim was very pleased with how his athletes seemed to be pushing one another.

“Our team is in a really good place right now,” said Fjeldheim. “They are working off one another to get faster each week, and we are seeing better and better racing out of them as the season goes on.”

The Michigan Tech women held strong to finish second on the day being led by Andrea Lee in seventh. Her two teammates, Sonja Hedblom and Carolyn Lucca followed in 10th and 11th to give MTU 39 points.

The women of Saint Scholastica will be looking to reel in Michigan Tech tomorrow after falling by three points. The Saints were led by Kelsey Dickinson in sixth place. After an early crash, Elizabeth Evans battled back hard to a 13th place finish. She was followed just over 20 seconds later by teammate Allison Ternes to finish 15th, giving them 36 points and third on the day.

Of his women’s effort, coach Salmela said, “I was happy with what I saw in effort and race form today, it hurts to lose to rival Michigan Tech, but Ellie and Kelsey looked great and were skiing competitively and Allison looked the strongest in skating yet this year.”

Outside the top three teams Saint Cloud States Coach Jeremy Frost was pleased with the improvement he saw in his team compared to last weekend. “It was great to see our skiers get off the start line and through the flat first kilometer a little quicker this weekend” said Frost. “This should give us more confidence leading into the last couple race weekends of the season.”

The racing action continues tomorrow with the women’s 15k classic mass start and men’s 20k classic mass start.

For a full list of results and team scores please visit Superiortiming.com

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

Day one of the Telemark Chase saw hard fast racing by over 500 competitors, both collegiate and junior athletes alike. The weekend started off with a 5 and 10 kilometer classic individual start. With solid tracks and mild temperatures the course was primed for some great racing.

Leading off with the men’s race the Northern Michigan Wildcats jumped out to an early lead in the team scoring by taking the top three slots on the result sheet. The Wildcats were led by Adam Martin who completed the 10 kilometer course in 26:14.7. Martin was followed closely by his two teammates Ian Torchia (26:16.7) and Fredrik Schwenke (26:50.2).

With three of his skiers taking the top three spots, Northern Michigan head Coach Sten Fjeldheim was most excited about his athletes that were just outside of the winning pace. “I am most excited about Sam Elfstrom (5th) for having a breakthrough performance today, and freshman Leo Hipp (11th) for being the second junior in the race. It’s a really good atmosphere with our men’s team right now, it seems like they are having a lot of fun pushing one another to their limits” said Fjeldheim.

Just off the podium in fourth was University of Alaska Fairbanks skier Michael Fahrenbach. The Saints of Saint Scholastica placed two men in the top ten with Chris Parr (6th) and Reitler Hodgert (8th). Michigan Tech’s Gaspart Cuenot ended up splitting the Saints in seventh with Northern Michigan’s Jake Brown in ninth and UW Green Bay’s Matthew Nichols rounding out the top 10.

With a stellar performance from his top three men, Saint Scholastica Head coach Chad Salmela was very happy with his men’s team sitting in second place in the team scores. “Anytime you’re in the top three in the conference as a team, that’s a good day for us. Beating Alaska and Tech by more than a point or two is more than expected even on a good day.”

For the women’s 5k, Northern Michigan added to their team lead with Felicia Gesior taking top honors by 2.8 seconds over University of Alaska Fairbanks racer Anne-Tine Markset. Markset was followed by another Northern skier Sophie Schimpl to finish off the top three.

That lead didn’t come without a solid battle in the women’s race between Northern Michigan and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Just missing out on third place by one second, UAF’s Nicole Bathe took fourth with Northern’s Vivian Hett right behind in fifth. UAF’s third scorer, Ann-Cathrin Uhl, was only ten seconds down to Hett in sixth place. Saint Scholastica’s Kelsey Dickinson broke up the NMU/UAF run by squeaking into seventh 0.3 seconds ahead of another Northern skier Nicole Schneider. Michigan Tech placed their second skier in the top ten of the day with Andrea Lee taking ninth and another UAF skier Sarissa Lammers rounding out the top ten.

With two of his skiers breaking into the top ten, Head MTU coach Joe Haggenmiller is looking for a little more in tomorrow’s 10 and 15k mass start skate race. “I think as a team we were a little flat but I think everyone was battling hard today. We are just going to have to go out there tomorrow and build on our efforts from today.”

With one race under their belts, the athletes will have one more effort tomorrow to help propel their teams higher in the rankings. With each spot come crucial points and each athlete will by vying for that top spot.

For full results from today’s race please visit: www.performancetiming.com