Skinnyski.com High School Rankings - Round 4

January 25, 2016

Commentary: 

Some solid racing over the weekend at the Telemark JNQ races.   Telemark features some extremely tough courses with possibly the longest climb sequence in the Midwest.  The events did finally bring some direct competition between some of the best juniors from the Twin Cities and outstate.   While it can be tricky to compare times from 10K, even 15K events against 5K races, it was surprising to see that many of the top U18/U20 juniors posted faster 5K average times than the U16 counterparts.

Renae Anderson, Telemark JNQ, January 23, 2016
Margie Freed, Eastview, is definitely piling on the bricks for her defense of the number one ranking, posting the top junior times in both skate and classic at Telemark.  The big four - Freed, Michaela Keller-Miller, Wayzata, Hannah Rudd, Robbinsdale-Armstrong, and Erin Moening, Highland Park, all skied pretty close to rankings - so much so, we leave them locked in the same order.   Missing in action at Telemark was Anna Johnson, Mesabi East.  However, Johnson did face some stiff competition of her own last weekend as a surging Erin Bianco, Ely, nearly pulled off the pursuit victory in a meet last Friday at Snowflake.  In addition to Johnson and Bianco, the Northland is cranking out some tough girls with Erika Fox, C-E-C, Hannah Bettendorf, Proctor/Hermantown, and Anja Maijala, C-E-C, all posting very strong results in the last few weeks.  Hopkin's Renae Anderson earns a spot in the top 10 with a pair of strong races at Telemark, along with teammate Claire Benton.

Zak Ketterson, Bloomington Jefferson, has continue his steamrolling at the top, not only posting the top times at Telemark for the juniors, but also managing to squeeze in his high school races as well - nice work.  Xavier Mansfield, St.Anthony/SLP, collected the second best Minnesota high school results at Telemark, and moves back to the number two ranking.  Patrick Acton, Eagan, and Anders Sonnesyn, Wayzata, are in a tight heat for that third spot this week. William Kerker, Minneapolis Southwest, continues his move up the charts, as does Joe Rauzi, Duluth East.   The boys field is still pretty wide open, especially after the top 4-5, so expect more shuffling.

Team rankings?  Well that's still pretty darn hard to decypher.  We've not even seen conference results for some teams in the rankings, and not much head-to-head to provide any serious insight.  And when we do have conference results this season, many times some of the star skiers are sitting it out in recovery from/for JNQ events.  With that whining out of the way, we went ahead and tweaked the standings anyway. About the one thing we can say with certainty is the Robbinsdale Armstrong girls are still on track for the top of the State Meet podium. Check back again next week, hopefully there will be a little more stats to straighten the rest of the team mess out.

Side note:  Xavier Mansfield transferred from Minneapolis Patrick Henry mid-season last year to St.Anthony/Spring Lake Park.  The transfer for Nordic skiing took effect on January 20th, meaning Mansfield skied the first half of the season for Patrick Henry, and will be skiing for St.Anthony/Spring Lake Park the remainder. 

The road to the Minnesota State Meet turns from a bumpy backcountry ride to a four lane superhighway as we speed through conference championships this week and straight on to section meets next week!

 

Rankings

Individuals

Boys

  1. Zak Ketterson, Bloomington Jefferson
  2. Xavier Mansfield, St. Anthony/SLP
  3. Anders Sonnesyn, Wayzata
  4. Patrick Acton, Eagan
  5. Seth Prigge, Ely
  6. William Kerker, Mpls Southwest
  7. Joe Rauzi, Duluth East
  8. Shad Kraftson, Stillwater
  9. Nate Blichfeldt, Burnsville
  10. Jack Christianson, Mounds View

Cusp: Torsten Brinkema, Mpls Southwest; Samuel Myers, Minnehaha Academy; Hunter Zupko, Little Falls; Kevin Jeter, Eden Prairie; Josh Albrecht, Stillwater; Tom Woolhouse, Mora; Conlan Olson, Mpls Southwest; Ryan Steger, Eagan; Sam Hanson, Stillwater; Cole Helms, Ely; Andrew Millan, Wayzata; Davis Long, Forest Lake; Nate Bich, Proctor/Hermantown; Sam Olson, Proctor/Hermantown; Tyler Radkte, Minnehaha Academy

Girls

  1. Margie Freed, Eastview
  2. Michaela Keller-Miller, Wayzata
  3. Hannah Rudd, Robbinsdale Armstrong
  4. Erin Moening, Highland Park
  5. Amanda Kautzer, Benilde-St.Margaret’s
  6. Anna Johnson, Mesabi East
  7. Renae Anderson, Hopkins
  8. Erin Bianco, Ely
  9. Erika Fox, C-E-C
  10. Claire Benton, Hopkins

Cusp: Hannah Bettendorf, Proctor/Hermantown; Anja Maijala, C-E-C; Ingrid Thyr, Breck; Kelly Koch, Burnsville; Dottie Anderson, Robbinsdale Armstrong; Kristine Keller-Miller, Wayzata; Rana Kraftson, Stillwater; Lucy Anderson, Robbinsdale Armstrong; Regan Duffy, Forest Lake; Annika Martell, Eastview; Sophie Farrow, Duluth East; Elizabeth Tuttle, Mahtomedi; Siri Bohacek, Stillwater; Hanna Torvi, Roseville

Boys

  1. Stillwater
  2. Minneapolis Southwest
  3. Wayzata
  4. Duluth East
  5. Forest Lake
  6. Minnehaha Academy
  7. Eden Prairie
  8. Ely
  9. Irondale
  10. St. Louis Park

Cusp: Eagan, Winona/Cotter, Mesabi East, Highland Park, Brainerd, Mora

Girls

  1. Robbinsdale Armstrong
  2. Stillwater
  3. Wayzata
  4. Eastview
  5. Duluth East
  6. Burnsville
  7. Hopkins
  8. Mesabi East
  9. Ely
  10. Forest Lake

Cusp: Eden Prairie, St. Paul Highland, Roseville Area, Irondale, Mora, Lakeville North

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