Jessie Smith and Maria Frick win Holiday Classic

Treacherous corners is how one classic skier described the Holiday Classic course. The previous day's freezing rain left the tracks hard and fast. A light dusting of snow caused waxes to ice as racers stepped out of the tracks to negotiate fast corners. No-wax skiers and double-polers had the advantage as abrasive snow scrapped kick wax off skis making climbs a frustrating experience for many on the second loop of the race.

Michigan Tech's Jessie Smith, back from training and racing in Norway, skied away from Milan Baic to win the 9.6K race in 24:20 to Milan's 24:44, after Milan had his pole stepped on at the start and his grip came off. Milan waited for the masses to pass then went back for his pole and started with a 90 second handicap. Denny Paul skied into third in 25:04.

In the women's 9.6K event, Maria Frick easily skied into first place in 35:39. Second place was Hilary Aubrun in 40:40, with recent MSU grad and future med student Catarina Gulledge in third in 41:19.

Only one junior completed the 5.3km course; Lauren Pflughoeft finished in 23:52.

AGE PLACE	BIB	LAST	FIRST	CITY	DIST	TIME	RANK
J2 Female 14-15 - 5.3 Km
1	126	Pflughoeft	Lauren	Traverse City	5.3	0:23:52	1
Female 17-40 - 9.6 Km
1	125	Frick	Maria	Williamsburg	9.6	0:35:39	20
2	106	Witbrodt	Hilary	Auburn	9.6	0:40:40	29
3	113	Gulledge	Catarina	Roscommon	9.6	0:41:19	30
Female 41-60 - 9.6 Km
1	130	Mueller-Brumbaugh	Carole	Rockford	9.6	0:44:31	34
2	135	Stevenson	Gwenn	Oxford	9.6	0:58:13	38
3	140	Joslin	Susan	Troy	9.6	0:59:35	40
4	108	Bullock	Kris	Bellaire	9.6
5	133	Wagar	Ann	Gaylord	9.6
Female 61 & Over - 9.6 Km
1	119	Murray	Jean	Mt. Pleasant	9.6	0:56:39	37
2	141	Caldwell	Beth	Ann Arbor	9.6	1:16:01	42
J1 Male 16-17 - 9.6 Km
1	111	Williams	Ross	Williamsburg	9.6	0:28:43	9
OJ Male 18-19 - 9.6 Km
1	123	Brennan	Mac	East Jordan	9.6	0:29:35	12
Male 20 To 40 - 9.6 Km
1	112	Smith	Jesse	Traverse City	9.6	0:24:20	1
2	110	Vigland	Todd	Interlochen	9.6	0:30:16	13
3	139	Smith	Robert	Roscommon	9.6	0:35:37	19
4	147	Paul	John	Traverse City	9.6	0:37:22	25
5	120	Koch	Jeff	Elk Rapids	9.6
Male 41 To 45 - 9.6 Km
1	145	Paull	Denny	Cheboygan	9.6	0:25:04	3
2	105	Smigiel	Stephen	Cedar Springs	9.6	0:26:02	5
3	136	Foltz	Jon	Boyne City	9.6	0:27:54	7
4	115	Goodman	Glenn	Bellaire	9.6	0:28:57	10
5	114	Seaman	Michael	Mt. Pleasant	9.6	0:31:03	14
Male 46 To 49 - 9.6 Km
1	109	Dufour	Yvon	Brighton	9.6	0:27:14	6
2	104	Kanaby	Larry	Bad Axe	9.6	0:31:56	15
3	117	Britton	John	Zanesfield	9.6	0:33:40	18
4	122	Temkin	Mike	Troy	9.6	0:38:59	27
5	103	Ernst	Dale	Sandusky	9.6	0:42:33	31
6	146	Mills	Greg	Bellaire	9.6	1:08:50	41
Male 50 To 55 - 9.6 Km
1	129	Baic	Milan	Williamsburg	9.6	0:24:44	2
2	131	Gravlin	John	Linwood	9.6	0:28:18	8
3	118	Weingartz	Chris	Petoskey	9.6	0:29:15	11
4	107	Cornell	Doug	Corunna	9.6	0:33:26	17
5	144	Wright	Hap	Boyne City	9.6	0:37:08	24
6	102	Rynalski	Frank	Bay City	9.6	0:38:16	26
Male 56 To 60 - 9.6 Km
1	128	Onthank	Clifford	Traverse City	9.6	0:25:17	4
2	116	Luce	Robin	Central Lake	9.6	0:35:47	21
3	143	Ahrenberg	Bill	Cheboygan	9.6	0:39:07	28
4	138	Nolan	Dan	Holland	9.6	0:42:54	32
5	137	Abbe	Mark	Saginaw	9.6	0:53:33	36
Male 61 To 69 - 9.6 Km
1	101	Smigiel	Steve Sr	Ada	9.6	0:33:22	16
2	132	Jones	Cris	Roscommon	9.6	0:36:09	22
3	121	Brumbaugh	Ernie	Rockford	9.6	0:36:41	23
4	124	Gambert	George	Bellaire	9.6	0:43:47	33
5	134	May	Richard	Charlevoix	9.6	0:44:52	35
Male 70 & Over - 9.6 Km
1	142	Caldwell	John	Ann Arbor	9.6	0:58:21	39
2	127	Stevenson	Marvin	Rochester Hills	9.6	1:23:59	43

Jessie Smith and Maria Frick win Holiday Classic

Michigan Cup

Sun, Dec 27, 2009 - By Mike Muha