NMU Beats Alaska at SuperTour

Tue, Jan  23, 2007 - By David Faiella, NMU

COLERAINE, Minn. – The Northern Michigan University men’s cross country ski team competed at the Mt. Itasca NorAm Super Tour event over the weekend.  Saturday the men competed in the 10K classic while on Sunday it was the 15K freestyle skate.

Phil Violett led the Wildcats in the classic race as he finished third in the event (26:26.8).  Two skiers were from the University of Alaska had the top two places.  Bill Bowler (26:36.6) and Martin Banerud (26:37.8) were fifth and sixth respectively.   Justin Singleton had a top 10 finish with his ninth place showing (27:17.2).  Ben Cline just missed a top 10 spot as he skated across the finish line with a time of 27:29.4 which was good for 11th.  Tim Cook rounded out the NMU participants as he was 29th (29:04.6).

In Sunday’s freestyle event the ‘Cats had half of the top 10 places.  NMU had three of the top four finishers as Bowler was second (37:14.4), Banerud third (37:48.3) and Violett fourth (38:03.4).  Singleton (38:41.8) and Cline (40:10.2) were sixth and 10th respectively.  Cook had a skate of 41:02.9 which placed him 17th.

The Women’s Ski Team

Saturday the women competed in the 5K classic while on Sunday it was the 10K freestyle skate.

Maria Stuber with a third-place finish in the classic race led the Wildcats in the event.  She covered the course in a time of 15:19.4.  Kelly Ahern was the next NMU skier across the finish line in fifth place (15:39.0). A third ‘Cat had a top 10 finish as Anna Bergland was ninth (15:44.0).  Tanya Cook in 13th place (16:23.5), Christina Gillis 15th (16:26.2) and Ingrid Fjeldheim 19th (16:47.2) rounded out the skiers for the ‘Cats.

Stuber placed about 15 seconds ahead of the second-place skier in winning the freestyle on Sunday.  She had a time of 26:50.6 with the runner-up coming in with a 27:05.9.  The next four places were all Alaska Nanooks.  Bergland was the next ‘Cat in the race as she was seventh (28:10.9).  Ahern (28:22.6) and Gillis (28:50.4) were in the top 10 as they were ninth and 10th respectively.  Cook covered the course in 29:31.6 which was good for 13th.  In 17th was Fjeldheim (29:46.1).

In the overall two-day combined results the NMU team (men and women) were first with 354 point with Alaska second (352).

Up next for the ‘Cats is the Super Tour event in Hayward, Wis. (Jan. 27-28).