GLD's Gesior and Wiitala finish in top 14 in JO Classic

2010 Junior Olympics

Thu, Mar  11, 2010 - By Mike Muha

Two Great Lakes District skiers raced into the top 14 in yesterday's 2010 Junior Olympics Classic races. Michigan Tech's Luke Gesior took 12 overall in the Men's JO 15km classic yesterday while Superiorland's Ellen Wiitala placed 14th in the Women's J2 5km classic.

Yesterday's mass start format was changed to an interval start. After some crashes on a downhill corner during the sprints on Monday morning resulted in two knee injuries to Midwest girls, the jury made a decision to change to an individual start.

Results for Great Lakes Distrcit skiers are below; full results are here (PDF).

RANK BIB NAME                CLUB/TEAM            TIME      BEHIND
FJ2 - Junior Women Age 14-15 (Born 1994-1995) 5 km
  14  43 WIITALA, Ellen      Superiorland       18:53.5   +1:52.1
  53  53 SCHROETER, Britta   Gogebic Ski Club   23:02.1   +6:00.7

FJ1 - Junior Women Age 16-17 (Born 1992-1993) 10 km
  66 263 GRONVOLD, Hilde    Vasa Ski Club       39:13.8   +5:36.3
  71 253 FRICK, Maria       Vasa Ski Club       40:02.2   +6:24.7
  74 261 OPPLIGER, Ruth     Copper Country      40:55.5   +7:18.0

FOJ - Older Junior Women Age 18-19 (Born 1990-1991) 10 k
  23 222 WHITHAM, Karmen    Northern Michigan   37:35.2   +3:38.7
  28 241 FRANKOWSKI, Rosie  Northern Michigan   38:14.2   +4:17.7
  33 251 ALLEN, Sarah       Superiorland        41:06.6   +7:10.1
  34 236 WESTPHAL, Nicole   Houghton, MI        42:16.4   +8:19.9
  35 238 MUELLER, Sonja     Houghton, MI        43:37.4   +9:40.9

MJ2 - Junior Men Age 14-15 (Born 1994-1995) 5 km
  39 102 MURRAY, Blake      Superiorland        18:05.7   +2:13.0
  47 112 WAGNER, Eric       Superiorland        18:48.6   +2:55.9

MJ1 - Junior Men Age 16-17 (Born 1992-1993) 15 km
  43 384 SHARP, Kai         Copper Country      48:16.8   +5:22.1
  68 421 FEATHERLY, Elias   Copper Country      51:48.2   +8:53.5
  71 410 WILLIAMS, Ross     Vasa Ski Club       52:46.9   +9:52.2
  77 407 BROWN, Greg        Vasa Ski Club       55:30.7  +12:36.0
  78 417 TOCZYDLOWSKI, Alan Copper Country      56:18.7  +13:24.0

MOJ - Older Junior Men Age 18-19 (Born 1990-1991) 15 km
  12 313 GESIOR, Luke       Michigan Tech Univ  44:49.6   +2:33.3
  24 317 WOODBECK, Jay      Copper Country      46:17.6   +4:01.3
  31 309 BRENNAN, Mac       Michigan Tech Univ  47:21.7   +5:05.4
  40 374 BOYER, Kelsey      Copper Country      49:19.8   +7:03.5
  43 403 WONG, Matt         Copper Country      49:58.0   +7:41.7
  44 398 NOREN, Ben         Gogebic Ski Club    50:11.1   +7:54.8