Minnesota State Meet Recap

February 21, 2012
Another Minnesota State Meet is in the books, and one of the more exciting championships in recent years. While its hard to beat the raw excitement of Annie Hart and Jessie Diggins drag racing the final straightaway a few years ago, this year's race proved to be one for the underdogs.

Individuals

Ben Saxton, Minnesota State Meet, February 16, 2012
Ben Saxton stood up well to all challengers, posting the top freestyle and classical times of the meet on his way to winning by 50 seconds. But it was Jake Richards of Detroit Lakes that shocked the field by posting the second fastest skate time. In the classical pursuit, Richards was quickly joined by Jan Ketterson, Bloomington Jefferson, and Ryan Davis, Duluth East, in a race to the top of Giants Ridge. At the top, it was Ketterson and Davis in the lead heading into the long descent back to the stadium. But Richards wasn't finished, hammering downhill on some fast skis (prepped by his coach), catching and eventually passing the pair to seal his victory for second place, followed by Davis, Ketterson, and flying Harris Dirnberger, Hopkins.

Nora Gilbertson, Minnesota State Meet, February 16, 2012
The girls race provided even more drama. Top ranked Annie Harvieux, Duluth East, topped the field after the skate race. Just six seconds back, Alayna Sonnesyn sat in second after battling Rocci Wohlk, Forest Lake, and Nikki Reker, Roseville, over much of the Silver trail, including a minor pile up on one of the uphills. In the afternoon classical pursuit, Harvieux led the opening section into the woods, pursued strongly by the trio of Sonnesyn, Wohlk, and Nora Gilbertson, Stillwater. The trio eventually passed Harvieux, with the little rocket Wohlk taking the lead at the top. Much like the boys race, it was some fast descending that would decide the race and this year, it was senior Nora Gilbertson's turn to shine as she flew into the finish less than three seconds ahead of Sonnesyn, with 9th grader Wohlk left settling for third seven seconds back.

Besides the race at the top, there were a number of movers and shakers between the skate and classical races. In the boys top ten, Eric Slater, Henry-Sibley, came back from a 16th place skate to crack the top ten with a 9th place finish by posting the second fastest classic split. Anders Evenson, Osseo, and Alex Kelley, both recovered from tough skate races to leap up 12 positions in the pursuit. The biggest riser in the boys field was Mound Westonka's Scott Harrison who moved from 78th place to finish 50th, 28 places higher.

In the girls, Alison Ternes, White Bear Lake, made the largest move inside the top 20, jumping from 26th to 16th. Katie Eckstrom, Minneapolis South, topped all by moving from 83rd in the skate to 53rd after the classical pursuit, a whopping 30 places.

Teams

The team races were very close, as expected, with number one ranked Roseville boys receiving a scare from the second ranked Hopkins, and Duluth East another five points back. Top ranked rivals Duluth East and Wayzata girls were separated by a single point as Duluth won the girls title, with Hopkins a distant third.

As promised, we crunched the team scoring a couple of different ways which turned out some interesting results. The official scoring for the State Meet only issues points to the section champion teams, starting with 100 points for the top finishing section champ team skier. The top four from each team are then combined to calculate the team score.

We provide two alternate scorings...

Full Team Scoring - Score only full teams, all 7 skiers score (max points 100). This generally shows the full depth of a team. Eden Prairie boys shine big time in this format, with Duluth East and Hopkins battling for second and Roseville boys losing fourth in a tie-breaker to conference and section rival Forest Lake. Wayzata girls top Duluth East for depth with Stillwater moving ahead of Hopkins for third.

Boys

  1. Eden Prairie 562
  2. Duluth East 546
  3. Hopkins 542
  4. Forest Lake 521 (tie-breaker winner on time)
  5. Roseville 521
  6. Minnetonka 511
  7. Brainerd 388
  8. St. Paul Central 380
  9. Eagan 376

Girls

  1. Wayzata 611
  2. Duluth East 602
  3. Stillwater 566
  4. Hopkins 527
  5. Roseville 488
  6. Burnsville 435
  7. Little Falls 421
  8. Winona 410

All-Skiers Team Scoring - Every skier in the pursuit is awarded points (max 120) and then up to the top four team skiers are combined to calculate the team score (even teams with less than four skiers receive a team score). This format allows everyone to play a role in the scoring, and gives an outside chance to some teams that didn't send all four. The boys results are unchanged for the podium, but Eden Prairie pushes Forest Lake down, and both Ely and Stillwater climb into the top 8. The girls standings are most interesting, as the strong Eden Prairie squad breaks onto the podium at third place (and without the services of their star Hilary Hildahl). Interestingly enough, the extra skiers scoring jostles Hopkins and Stillwater, with Stillwater moving up. Even more, Roseville girls drop out of the top eight as Minneapolis Southwest, Forest Lake and MPA jump in, the latter two doing it with just three skiers!

Boys (top 8)

  1. Roseville 408
  2. Hopkins 392
  3. Duluth East 383
  4. Eden Prairie 380
  5. Forest Lake 352
  6. Minnetonka 327
  7. Ely 293
  8. Stillwater 286

Girls (top 8)

  1. Duluth East 424
  2. Wayzata 420
  3. Eden Prairie 389
  4. Stillwater 376
  5. Hopkins 373
  6. Minneapolis Southwest 345
  7. Forest Lake (3) 296
  8. MPA (3) 291


Find official results, loads of photos and some video recaps in our High School Results section.  We also cut our own set of results containing the pursuit results with move numbers, and all of the team scoring formats. See how we fared with our final rankings, as well as the State Meet Preview.

Finally, stay tuned in March for Junior Nationals being held at Soldier Hollow in Utah.  The Midwest team is chock full of Minnesota high school stars hoping to grab just a little more glory, this time on the national stage!