FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

State Nordic Ski Racing Meet

 Duluth East girls returning to defend title;
Diggins, Dubay to defend individual titles

The Duluth East girls return to defend their title at the 2008 State Nordic Ski Racing Meet this week and will find formidable competition among at least two other returning teams. If the Greyhounds win, it will be their fifth title.

A new boys' team champion will emerge because defending champion Hopkins did not qualify.

A new race format introduced in 2007 that eliminates separate individual titles in the classical and freestyle events stands for this year's meet. The meet will be a pure pursuit event with only one individual title.

Repeat champions are possible in both the boys' and girls' pursuit races. Joe Dubay, a junior at Andover, will defend his title. He skied for Coon Rapids last year and was runner-up in the pursuit event in 2006. In the girls' race, Stillwater Area sophomore Jessie Diggins will defend her title.

The state meet is scheduled Friday, Feb. 15, at Giants Ridge in Biwabik. Team scoring is determined by adding the scores of each team's top four skiers in the pursuit event. In addition to the advancing teams, each section also qualifies eight individual pursuit skiers. All skiers, who must ski both the freestyle and classical races, are eligible for individual pursuit awards.

Boys' Highlights

In the boys' team competition, five of last year's eight qualifying teams return. However, defending champion Hopkins did not qualify. Among the qualifying teams is 2007 runner-up Forest Lake (Section 4). The other returning teams and their 2007 finish are: Wayzata (Section 2), third; Bemidji (Section 8), fourth; Duluth East (Section 7), fifth; and Robbinsdale Armstrong (Section 5), eighth. The other qualified teams are: Apple Valley (Section 1), Burnsville (Section 3): and Minneapolis Southwest (Section 6).

Forest Lake returns with four veterans from last year's team, three of whom finished in the Top 50: senior Ben Brodin, who finished 16th; junior Ryan Wright, who finished 32nd; senior Travis Strike, who finished 45th; and senior Shawn Wright, who finished 70th. Sophomores Steve Coozennoy, Mike Howe, and Mitch Wohik round out the Rangers' squad.

Wayzata has three veterans of the 2007 meet returning: junior Kasey Bacso, who finished 18th; senior Anders Bowman, who finished 46th; and junior Jonathan Griwac, who finished 92nd.

Andover junior Joe Dubay is back to defend his pursuit title. Dubay, who skied for Coon Rapids last year, is just one of four qualifiers who return from last year's Top 20. The other three are: Lakeville South senior Hans Nygren, who finished eighth; Forest Lake senior Ben Brodin, who finished 16th; and Wayzata junior Kasey Bacso, who finished 18th.

Girls' Highlights

Six teams return from the 2007 girls' field, including defending champion Duluth East (Section 7). The Greyhounds return with four veterans from last year: junior Alena Tofte, who finished 17th; sophomore Marian Lund, who finished 20th; and seniors Bria Kask and Hillary Boyce, who finished 50th and 91st, respectively. The newcomers for Duluth East are: sophomore Amelia Black and juniors Sarah Allen and Teresa Moore.

If last year's individual efforts are the factors that establish the odds for this year's finish, 2007 runner-up Stillwater Area could be considered the favorite. The Ponies return with three veterans from their 2007 squad: sophomore Jessie Diggins, who finished first; senior Katie Walsh, who finished 21st; and junior Sara Cattanach, who finished 31st. This year's squad also includes: junior Caitlin Olson, and ninth-graders Katie Diedrichs, Emily Olson, and Leah Ranta.

Also returning and their 2007 finish are: Minneapolis Southwest (Section 6), fourth, and the Lakers return with two skiers who finished in the Top 20; Little Falls (Section 8), sixth; Burnsville (Section 3), seventh; and Robbinsdale Armstrong (Section 5), eighth. The other qualifying teams are: Lakeville South (Section 1); and Wayzata (Section 2).

Twelve Top 20 finishers return from last year's pursuit race. In addition to defending champion Diggins of Stillwater Area, Minneapolis Southwest junior and 2007 runner-up Libby Ellis is back. The other top returning finishers are: Roseville Area junior Lynn Duijndam, third; Bloomington Kennedy senior Danielle Berndt, eighth; Grand Rapids junior Addie Byrne, 11th; Champlin Park senior Eleanor Magnuson, 13th; Burnsville junior Sarah Daniels, 14th; Minneapolis Southwest junior Rosie Frankowski, 15th; Burnsville junior Maria Tinebra, 16th; Duluth East's Tofte, 17th; Maple Grove junior Hannah Sanborn, 19th; and Duluth East's Lund, 20th.

The Schedule

The boys' 5K freestyle race starts at 10 a.m., followed by the girls' 5K freestyle race at 11 a.m. The boys' 5K classical race will begin at 1:30 p.m., and the girls' 5K classical race will follow at 2:30 p.m. A combined awards presentation will follow the conclusion of the final race.