Phill Violett Leads Wildcats To Sweep
Sat, Dec 13, 2008 - By NMU
MARQUETTE, Mich. - Northern Michigan University hosted the Wildcat Open over the weekend. The men competed in the 10K freestyle on Saturday (Dec. 6) and the 10K classic on Sunday (Dec. 7). The Wildcat men took home team honors both days. NMU tallied 30 points in the freestyle race. UW-Green Bay was second with 21 points, the College of St. Scholastica was third (15) and Michigan Tech fourth (12). NMU scored 33 team points in the classic race. UW-Green Bay was second with 21 points, Michigan Tech third (14) and the College of St. Scholastica (10) fourth. In the overall scoring for both days, NMU tallied 63 points, UW-Green Bay 42, Michigan Tech 26 and the College of St. Scholastica 25.
Phill Violett crossed the finish line with a time of 27:34 in the freestyle race for a second-place finish. Sindre Stokke was the next ‘Cat to skate across the finish line with a time of 28:04 for third. Tim Cook was fifth (28:42) as he was followed by Kevin Cutts (29:24) who tied for ninth and Justin Singleton (29:48) who was 11th.
Violett again led the ‘Cats in the classic race with a time of 25:00 as he won the race by 14 seconds. After an open skier was second the ‘Cats had the next three spots. Singleton (25:28) was third, Cutts (25:29) fourth and Stokke (25:30) fifth. Cook placed 10th in the race with a time of 26:45.
Women
The women competed in the 10K freestyle on Saturday (Dec. 6) and the 5K classic on Sunday (Dec. 7). NMU was third in the freestyle race with nine points. Michigan Tech was first with 21.5 points and then it was UW-Green Bay with 14.5. NMU won the classic competition with 20 points, Michigan Tech and UW-Green Bay tied for second (12.5). In the overall combined scoring the Wildcats were second with 29 points. Michigan Tech was first with 34 points and UW-Green Bay third (27).
Randi Vermelid was the top placing ‘Cat in the freestyle race as she covered the course in a time of 35:01 which was good for fifth place. Caitlin Cassidy was 14th for NMU with a time of 36:45. Anna Berglund rounded out the competitors for NMU with a time of 39:58 for a 23rd place finish.
Christina Gillis covered the classic course in a time of 14:28 which placed her second in the event. Three other ‘Cats were in the top 10 as Berglund was sixth (14:49), Cassidy seventh (15:01) and Vermelid eighth (15:05).
The ‘Cats will skate again next weekend (Dec. 13-14) at the Holiday Invitational in Ironwood, Mich.