Dawson and Nemeth win 50K Vasa; Davis and Ditty take 27K

Tue, Feb  17, 2026 - By Mike Muha

North American Vasa Freestyle

50K

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the North American Vasa brought back the 50k Freestyle and 50k Classic. In a salute to her father - co-race director Ken Dawson - Natalie Dawson won the women's 50k in 2:42:36. Jenny White and Julia Healey were second and third in 2:54:34 and 2:58:13.

Johnny Nemeth was the top male, winning in 2:27:33, just 16 seconds ahead of Weston Willoughby (2:27:49). A winner of multiple past Vasa's, Milan Baic, was third in 2:31:41.

In the classic division, Allen Sorgenfrei (3:06:50), Dave Borton (3:08:18), and Peter Hinck (3:16:22) were the top three. Jennifer Brown won the women's division in 5:00:58.

George Kuhn Half Marathon 27K

George Kuhn Half Marathon 27k Freestyle Race was the official Michigan Cup-scored senior race of the day. Aaron Ditty took the win in 1:17:53 followed by John O'Hearn in 1:19:11 and Michael Davis in 1:19:24.

Kaitlyn Vanias won the women's division (1:19:32), with Elizabeth Callison second in 1:27:12 and Rebecca Davis third in 1:27:32.

Okerstrom Kortelopet 12k Freestyle

The 12k race - although the results put everyone together - was divided into a citizens race and a Michigan Cup junior race.

Lulu Cole, Jemma Cole, and Emma Dykstra were the top junior women with times of 37:58, 38:04, and 38:54, beating all the women citizen racers. For the Junior men, Solomon Debruyn was first in 32:13 followed by Bode Dykstra (34:27) and Britton Wheeler (37:41).

In the Citizen class, Kevin Tarras was first in 31:13 followed by Joseph Peng (35:43) and Austin Holsinger (37:27). The top three citizen women were Karen Kirt (40:29), Ashley Thompson (44:15) and Sage Brownell (44:27).

Results, Photos, and News Article

Full results sorted by gender: 2026 North American Vasa Freestyle results (PDF)

Photos from Andy JC Photography are available for purchase at https://www.andyjcphoto.com/2026-vasa-1?ct=3. You can search by bib number!

An article in the Record Eagle can be found here, although if you don't have a subscription, you'll have to pay a small fee to see the article: 50th Vasa features fast racing, young and old racers; Nemeth, Dawson, Sorgenfrei, Brown win 50K races; Ditty, Vanias take 27K races