Wisconsin High School Nordic Skiing Pre-Championship Report
By Ken Schoville
February 8, 2005
When the 24th edition of the Wisconsin State High School
championships are held at the Schwan Center in Spooner Friday,
February 11 and Saturday, February 12 the competition will
be hot and heavy as 13 teams from across the state bring their
best game to town. With over 240 registered skiers this year's
event promises to be the most high powered look at the skiers
in the state.
Action begins at 10:00 Friday as the girl's leadoff freestyle
with two skiers out of the gates every 30 seconds. Skiers
have been ranked by coaches and results with the "Gold"
group from the top 20 last year through the A, B, and C group.
The boys follow at 11:00 using the same format.
Conditions at the Schwan Center have survived the latest
meltdown and will produce fast granular snow under predicted
mild temperatures. The 6 kilometer course has been modified
from the last time the HS Champs visited the Schwan in 2003
to include more vertical and slightly more distance.
The Team Outlook has the host name of Hayward stamped all
over it. As last year's boy's and girl's champions at Iola,
they have to be considered repeats and with good reason. On
the boy's side they return senior Alex Ostrander who placed
third last year and has been showing promise in the JO Qualifiers.
Sophmore Kyle Fredrickson also has performed well in the qualifiers
and will join the Midwest Team in California with his teammate
Ostrander. Closely following (and sometimes leading) the front
pair is junior Jesrin Gaier. Several others look to get in
on the action which gives Hayward both depth and quality;
a hard combination to beat.
The race for second is up for grabs. Ashwaubenon leads the
list of possibles with senior Ryan Krueger, eighth last year
and a strong cast of characters wanting to support and move
up. Rhinelander has the Cook brothers with a strong family
racing heritage and sophomore Steve Teclaw adding to the scoring
points. Waukesha West, from the iffy snowland in the southern
part of the state continues to impress with athletes who step
up every year to continue their winning traditions. With state
runnnerup Tom Stuber moving on, several returning skiers,
Danny Sonnetag and Andrew Wallhauser, will be picking up the
slack. Spooner has last year's number four skier, Santiago
Ocariz, on track and freshman Ole Odden looks cut from the
same cloth as his older brothers, tough and fast. Bloomer
has a couple of quick skiers in senior Carl Gladitsch and
junior Cole Landgraf. With the right support they could be
a surprise element in the standings. Lakeland is in a rebuilding
year with the loss of all three of their top skiers from last
year. The development of last year's number 19 skier sophmore,
Zeke Fashingbauer, along with Doug Kozeluh, and junior Lars
Olsen will tell the tale as they are challendged to step up.
The girls side features the return of senior Karlye Wisdom,
last years state champion. Supporting her quite ably will
be seniors Becca Morales and Ara Wittwer, both top ten finishers
last year. Thats not the end of the Hayward girls story as
they are also able to produce top ten potential for this year
with sophomore Mandi LaCoy and junior Megan Pierce. Lakeland
is considered the next in line of succession with their bragging
rights of the first Wisconsin Relay Championship title at
the Capital City Sprints. Junior Heather Bassett and sophomore
Joanna Pace both qualified for the Midwest Team to JOs and
have been skiing up a storm recently. Bassett in particular
finished the qualifiers with an impressive second place at
the Minneapolis sprints. For their third they have the steadily
improving talent of sophomore Alice Fehlandt who scored number
15 last year and is looking to move up. Waukesha West perennially
brings out the best in their skiers and with the return of
number eight from last year, Marisa Coleman, all theyll need
is some strong support from their underclassmen and theyll
be in the hunt for a championship rock. Other surprises and
strong individuals can be found in Rhinelander, Bloomer, Wausau
West, Wausau Newman and Madison. With almost 150 girls registered
for the weekend you can be sure best efforts will be in store
for all with hard skiing and tight competition.
With a pursuit start the second day can be a decider for
the overall team trophies as classical technique is used to
defend positions or track down prey. Predicted mild temperature
will also place a premium on experienced waxers and technical
skiing further complicating and clouding the crystal ball
for the event. With one of the largest fields ever for the
championship, it promises to have all the excitement and drama
ski fans could hope for.
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