Baic & Anderson Win Chestnut Valley Freestyle

Mon, Jan  3, 2005 - By Mike Muha

Traverse City Nordic's Milan Baic held off Hugh Pritchard of Team NordicSkiRacer to win the Chestnut Valley 11 km Freestyle race on the first day of the new year by four seconds, 23:17 to 23:21. Another four seconds later, Kari Tikka finished third. Hugh was racing with a cast over his broken wrist, a reminder of a little rollerski accident he had back in his native England.

The Cross Country Ski Headquarter's Wendy Anderson continued her dominance from last year by finishing first in the women's 11 km in 28:12, beating Team NordicSkiRacer's Julie Houle (31:03) and Tracy Hakoin (31:27).

Morgan Weir won the J1 division in 26:17. Chris Miller finished the 11 km in 23:59 to win the men's OJ division.

In the 7 km race, Michaela Harris convincingly won in 18:58, followed by Catarina Gulledge in J1 division. In J2, Emily Westerman finished first for the women in 23:33. Elliot Putman was the J2 men's champion in 19:27.

The rain on Thursday night and temperatures in the 50's on Friday were not enough to put a damper on the Chestnut Valley race. To ensure a optimal course conditions for the race, Race Director Nick Baic headed out late Friday night to groom just as the temperature turned to freezing. On race morning when Nick returned to complete the grooming and set up flags, temperatures had dropped all the way to19F and a dusting of fresh snow had fallen on the course.

Skiing was excellent, with great snow coverage and very fast conditions. Some melt water had collected and frozen in a few low areas but the ice did not cause a problem. Many skies were surprised at the unexpectedly good racing conditions, not realizing that the Chestnut Valley Golf Course has it's own microclimate that tends to be cooler and get more snow than surrounding areas.

The race was three 3.5 km laps for the men and women, and two laps for the juniors. Because of course design, spectators at the course start/finish area were able to see almost half of the course, making this a very spectator-friendly race.

Many skiers - particular downstaters and Ohioans - took advantage of the conditions and went for long skis after the race on the Chestnut Valley course or the connecting Nubs Nob trail system.

Many pictures of the race can be found Here!

Chestnut Valley 7 / 11 Km Freestyle January 1, 2005
7 Km Race
Place	Rank	Time	BIB	LAST NAME	FIRST NAME	CITY	Dist
J2 Female 15 & Under - 7 Km
1	8	0:23:33	37	Westerman	Emily	Traverse City	7
2	12	0:28:40	38	Ciesla	Hannah	Traverse City	7
3	14	0:30:29	63	Timm	Alexandra	Bay City	7
J1 Female 16-17 - 7 Km
1	1	0:18:58	42	Harris	Michaela	Traverse City	7
2	4	0:21:01	212	Gulledge	Catarina	Roscommon	7
3	9	0:23:46	41	Garrity	Sarah	Traverse City	7
4	10	0:24:00	39	Hemming	Jesse	Traverse City	7
J2 Male 15 & Under - 7 Km
1	2	0:19:27	46	Putman	Elliot	Traverse City	7
2	3	0:20:16	99	Baic	Brendan	Walloon Lake	7
3	5	0:21:14	45	Jaffe	Aaron	Traverse City	7
4	6	0:22:29	31	Anderson	Lyle	Cuyahoga Falls	7
5	7	0:23:06	32	Anderson	Lloyd	Cuyahoga Falls	7
6	11	0:24:43	48	Harris	Kirk	Traverse City	7
7	13	0:29:22	43	Alanson	Mark	Traverse City	7
11 Km Race
Place	Rank	Time	BIB	LAST NAME	FIRST NAME	CITY	Dist
Female 20 -50 - 11 Km
1	30	0:28:12	30	Anderson	Wendy	Cuyahoga Falls	11
2	45	0:31:03	26	Houle	Julia	Brighton	11
3	49	0:31:27	34	Hardin	Tracy	Cheboygan	11
4	59	0:33:55	96	Baic	Carrie	Williamsburg	11
5	69	0:38:57	262	Glick	Shelley	Bremen	11
6	73	0:40:15	246	Mueller-Brumbaugh	Carole	Rockford	11
Female 51 & Over - 11 Km
1	66	0:36:55	22	Grambeau	Sue	Harbor Springs	11
2	74	0:41:02	86	Mendyk	Connie	Harbor Springs	11
3	77	0:47:11	82	Caldwell	Beth	Ann Arbor	11
4	78	0:53:37	84	Murray	Jean	Mt. Pleasant	11
5	79	1:03:30	174	Timm	Cheryl	Bay City	11
J1 Male 16-17 - 11 Km
1	18	0:26:17	79	Weir	Morgan	Rapid City	11
2	25	0:27:20	47	Endicott	Kyle	Traverse City	11
3	50	0:31:34	44	Ward	William	Traverse City	11
OJ Male 18-19 - 11 Km
1	5	0:23:59	141	Miller	Chris	Gaylord	11
2	11	0:25:17	50	Hall	John	Traverse City	11
Male 20 To 39 - 11 Km
1	2	0:23:21	27	Pritchard	Hugh	West Hill	11
2	7	0:24:52	143	Smith	Robert	Roscommon	11
3	8	0:24:53	181	Vigland	Todd	Interlochen	11
4	9	0:24:58	214	Smigiel	Stephen	Cedar Springs	11
5	10	0:25:13	91	Byar	Christian	Spring Lake	11
6	13	0:25:51	83	Zehnder	Jacob	Harbor Springs	11
7	16	0:26:06	177	Todd	Dell	Grand Rapids	11
8	23	0:26:28	218	Winkler	Brad	Boyne City	11
9	24	0:26:30	146	Robinson	Ryan	West Bloomfield	11
10	33	0:28:15	216	Goodman	Glenn	Bellaire	11
11	34	0:28:16	176	Cook	Tom	Cleveland	11
12	44	0:30:31	175	Svoren	Derek	Cleveland Heights	11
Male 40 To 43 - 11 Km
1	3	0:23:25	23	Tikka	Kari	Chelsea	11
2	6	0:24:45	40	Paul	Denny	Cheboygan	11
3	14	0:25:52	257	Heidinger	Mike	Plymouth	11
4	15	0:25:57	28	Harwood	Jim	Grayling	11
5	20	0:26:19	296	Seaman	Michael	Mt. Pleasant	11
6	26	0:27:40	149	Kanaby	Larry	Bad Axe	11
7	27	0:27:42	170	Britton	John	Zanesfiedl	11
8	29	0:28:06	142	Dufour	Yvon	Brighton	11
9	70	0:39:21	24	Woelfert	Ed	Boyne City	11
10	76	0:46:30	145	Ernst	Dale	Sandusky	11
Male 44 To 47 - 11 Km
1	1	0:23:17	97	Baic	Milan	Williamsburg	11
2	12	0:25:27	81	Muha	Mike	Wixom	11
3	22	0:26:21	150	Pryor	Jim (junior)	Saginaw	11
4	31	0:28:13	90	Green	Jamie	Gaylord	11
5	39	0:28:48	148	Cornell	Doug	Corunna	11
6	40	0:28:51	144	Moore	Joel	Harbor springs	11
7	43	0:30:23	59	Webb	Jon	Hubbard Lake	11
8	54	0:32:26	217	Love	John	St. Johns	11
9	56	0:32:44	60	Endicott	Doug	Traverse City	11
10	57	0:32:49	89	Neier	Rick	Tawas City	11
11	68	0:38:06	62	Blanchard	Paul	Petoskey	11
Male 48 To 56 - 11 Km
1	17	0:26:07	248	Putalik	Greg	Harbor Springs	11
2	19	0:26:18	225	Weingartz	Chris	Petoskey	11
3	21	0:26:20	128	Ernsberger	Ron	Williamsburg	11
4	36	0:28:18	33	Kessler	Randy	Milford	11
5	37	0:28:20	273	Rynalski	Frank	Bay City	11
6	47	0:31:10	35	Hardin	John	Cheboygan	11
7	51	0:31:46	94	Bourassa	Michael	Harbor Springs	11
8	60	0:34:25	88	Moore	Jeff	Northville	11
9	61	0:34:30	25	Elcoate	Mike	Petoskey	11
10	63	0:36:24	49	Atkins	Dave	Charlevoix	11
Male 51 To 56 - 11 Km
1	4	0:23:31	80	Onthank	Clifford	Traverse City	11
2	28	0:27:56	98	Payne	Mark	Interlochen	11
3	32	0:28:14	36	Kostrzewa	John	Traverse City	11
4	35	0:28:17	258	Glick	Ken	Bremen	11
5	38	0:28:24	179	Luce	Robin	Central Lake	11
6	53	0:31:51	78	Timm	Larry	Bay City	11
7	58	0:33:31	92	Vande Kopple	Bob	Pellston	11
8	62	0:35:28	95	Nizio	Frank	Grosse Pte.	11
9	71	0:39:30	61	Garriy	Joe	Traverse City	11
Male 57 & Over - 11 Km
1	41	0:29:23	211	Smigiel	Steve Sr	Ada	11
2	42	0:29:34	87	Mendyk	Marv	Harbor Springs	11
3	46	0:31:08	213	Johnson	Peter	Whitehall	11
4	48	0:31:13	29	Anderson	Lloyd	Cuyahoga Falls	11
5	52	0:31:50	77	Weir	Rick	Rapid City	11
6	55	0:32:42	233	Brumbaugh	Ernie	Rockford	11
7	64	0:36:27	93	Johnson	Max	Brutus	11
8	65	0:36:35	85	Irish	David	Harbor Springs	11
9	67	0:37:07	130	Tikka	Tenho	Sault Ste. Marie	11
10	72	0:40:05	178	Sturtevant	John	Salida	11
11	75	0:45:18	147	Wells	Richard	Hamtrakick	11