Minnesota State Meet Preview

by Bruce Adelsman
February 12, 2008

The Superbowl of Minnesota High School Skiing is this Friday – the Minnesota State High School Championships at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.   As our early season poll has shown, Giants Ridge has become the Lambeau field for skiers, winning overwhelming support as the top racing venue.  And unfortunately, once again it is looking a bit brisk for the big event as forecasts are calling for temperatures well below zero in the morning and “warming” to the single digits in the afternoon.

After last season saw the elimination of the classical and freestyle individual titles in favor of the single pursuit title at the State Meet, expect no major changes this year.   The meet will feature skate in the morning with classical pursuit in the afternoon, as it has since the 2005-2006 season. 

Individual Titles

It’s been many seasons since we’ve had a wide open race for the individual title, and this year is no different.  Andover’s Joe Dubay (formerly of Coon Rapids) and Jessie Diggins, Stillwater, have been ranked number one all season and have shown no weaknesses to date.  Barring illness or equipment failure, the two reigning State champions should return to the top step of the podium on Friday afternoon.   However, don’t etch the trophy plaque yet… 

In the girls race, Libby Ellis, Minneapolis Southwest, and Lynn Duijndam, Roseville, will make sure Diggins earns the title.  Ellis has bested Duijndam in most match-ups this season, but on the hilly terrain of the State Meet last year, Duijndam finished just seven seconds behind Ellis.

For the boys,  the race for second will be between Lakeville South’s Hans Nygren and Eden Prairie’s Erik Fagerstrom.  Give the slight edge to Fagerstrom who appears to have improved upon his skating performance, but Nygren could just as well rule the battle.  Lurking just in the wings, Forest Lake’s Ben Brodin and Wayzata’s Kasey Bacso both have a history of strong performances on the Giants Ridge trails – Brodin in freestyle, Bacso in classical. 

Team Titles 

Now for the good stuff…  The team battles, on paper, appear to be some of the closest match-ups in recent history.

Forest Lake boys upended Minneapolis Southwest in the final Coaches Association rankings, and with good reason.   Forest Lake appears to be peaking just at the right time as their top five all skied within a minute and half range at sections and the top three are ranked within the top twelve skiers in the state.  That puts Forest Lake as the favorite for the team title.   The strongest competition for the boys title will come from Minneapolis Southwest and Wayzata.  Southwest will need a great race out of Colin Westcott to elevate the score to within striking range.  Wayzata is led by duo stars Anders Bowman and Kasey Basco, but will need their third and four place teammates to step it up for their shot at the title.

The final race of the day, the girls classical pursuit, should provide some major fireworks as the team competition will be decided in one epic battle.  Burnsville, Wayzata and Little Falls all bring teams with excellent scoring quartets.  Wayzata’s top four skiers all finished within seconds of each other at sections.  And if this isn’t Burnsville’s year, then book their rooms for 2009 as their top four should return even stronger next season.  The top two ranked teams, Stillwater and Minneapolis Southwest, both have super scoring pairs at the top, but they’ll need some great performances from their third and fourth place skiers for a shot at the title.  Defending champion Duluth East will need a phenomenal fourth place finish to pull out a repeat this season.  Those six teams will truly have equal chances of taking the title and will have everyone tallying all the skiers come down the final hill to the finish.  We’ll put the monkey on Wayzata’s back.
 

Pack your warm clothes and hand warmers and head up to the Iron Range Friday to catch this culmination of the Minnesota high school racing season!