Jesse Lang starting out strong, Minnesota State Meet, February 18, 2005

40 photos
Classical Relay

Junior Olympics: Classical

March 11, 2005
Junior Olympics featured the classical events on Friday. The top Midwest results came in the boys OJ race where Bill Bowler was 2nd and Tim Damrow 8th.

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38 photos
5K, 10K Classical

Junior Olympics: Freestyle

March 9, 2005
Another warm day in Truckee for the Junior Olympics competition. Day 2 featured the freestyle races, with distances varying from 5K to 15K. The Midwest skiers had a tough go, with no podium finishers today. Some of the better results included: Girls - Katie Bono 6th J1; Larissa Sigurdsen 12th OJ; Boys - Tyler Kjordstad 7th OJ; Bill Bowler 10th OJ; Chris Harvey 11th OJ; Tim Damrow 12th OJ.

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85 photos
5K, 10K, 15K Freestyle

Junior Olympics: Sprints

March 7, 2005
Day 1 of the Junior Olympic Nationals in Truckee, California, featured the 1km freestyle sprints. Topping the OJ boys field was Roseville's own Tim Damrow, now skiing for the University of Colorado. St. Louis Park's Audrey Weber made it to the OJ girls final were she finished fourth.

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64 photos
33 photos
Sprints

City of Lakes Loppet JOQ Sprints Coverage

February 5, 2005
Taking the course in the final event of the morning at Theodore Wirth, the JOQ skiers raced against Mother Nature to complete the event before the snow melted off. The organizers, with some quick thinking, implemented a rapid event turnover and were able to just beat out the snow to the completion of the JOQ events. Over 120 photos online now, results linked in.

Minnesota State CC Meet Coverage

November 6, 2004
The Minnesota State HS Cross-Country Meet was contested under beautiful weather on Saturday morning at St. Olaf College in Northfield. In Class A, Mike Torchia, Rochester Lourdes, broke away in the final kilometer to win by a comfortable margin. Five runners battled it out over the final 500 meters of the girls Class A race with Nicole Calabrese, Kingsland/Spring Valley, pulling ahead for the victory. Lakeville's Elizabeth Yetzer won the girls AA title, just 8 seconds ahead of Detroit Lakes Hannah Grinaker. Marshall boys had the most dominating results of the day, placing four in the top 16 including overall champion Yahya Iman. Team titles went to: Boys A - Eveleth-Gilbert, Girls A - Glencoe-Silver Lake, Boys AA - Marshall, Girls AA - Minnetonka. We've posted over 100 photos from the Class A races.

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Class A Girls - 49 photos, Class A Boys - 57 photos
Boys A, Boys AA, Girls A, Girls AA

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Junior Olympics: Relays

March 12, 2005
Junior Olympics completed on Saturday with the three-person classical relays. No podium places for the Midwest teams, but there were a number of top ten results: Damrow-Harvey-Bowler 6th boys OJ, Kask-Cheesebro-Lang 9th boys OJ, Fick-Fredrickson-Nygren 9th boys J1, Wright-Bono-Luby 8th girls J1.

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Photoset from Paul Damrow: Results: Photoset from Paul Damrow: Results: Photoset from Paul Damrow: Results: Photoset from Paul Damrow: Photoset from Ron & Susie Harvey: Results: Photoset: Results:

CXC High School Raffle

April 26, 2005
CXC Skiing will be holding three open raffles for Midwest high school skiers this spring/summer. Prizes have been donated by Rossignol and Atomic. The raffle is free -- just send in your email registration.

Victor C. Dunder Award Program

March 13, 2005
Last year 13 skiers from around the state were awarded equipment under the Victor C. Dunder award program. The due date for this years application is the last Saturday in March -- March 26th.

Summer Programs

March 1, 2005
We've started updating our Training Calendar with information on the summer junior nordic training programs.

Skinnyski.com Membership

February 22, 2005
If you enjoy this service, and would like to see it continue, please consider purchasing a Skinnyski.com membership today. Memberships are a vital part of supporting this website.

Charlie Banks Coaches Association Relay Results

February 20, 2005
Held the day before the State Meet, the Charlie Banks Coaches Association Relays have been very popular season-ending event for many high school teams not qualifying for the big game. Thursday's relay championships were the Stillwater boys and Moundsview girls (in a photo finish with Duluth East).

Minnesota State High School Championships Coverage

February 18, 2005
The Minnesota State High School Meet was delayed by an hour this morning as early morning temperatures dipped into the -15F to -20F range, but had warmed to around 0F by the start at 11 am. Favorite Jesse Lang, St. Louis Park, powered to victory in the boys freestyle race, with Katie Bono, Visitation, pulling off the surprise win for the girls. The afternoon classic pursuit featured some exciting battles. Spotted with only a nine second lead, Jesse Lang was caught by Karl Nygrun, Lakeville, and Ben Fick, Forest Lake, and the trio dualed to the finish with Ben Fick taking the overall pursuit title, as well as the classic crown. Katie Bono took a comfortable margin over her main competitiors into the classical pursuit and held off Grand Rapid's Brynden Manbeck to take the pursuit title. Manbeck's time easily won her the classic victory. The team titles went to the Forest Lake boys and defending champion Grand Rapids girls. Results linked in, classical photos and freestyle online now.

Minnesota State Meet Preview

February 16, 2005
The Minnesota State High School Champions will be crowned this Friday at Giants Ridge in Biwabik. This year's meet is shaping up to be one of the most hotly contested events in years.

Wisconsin High School Championships: Freestyle

February 12, 2005
The Wisconsin State High School Championships wrapped up on Saturday with the freestyle events in pursuit format. Friday's surprise, Ashwaubenon's Melanie Hoffman, continued her run today, posting the third fastest skate time and securing the overall girls pursuit title. The boys race was again a tight event. Alex Ostrander, Hayward, broke to the lead and won by five seconds. Second place was a pure photo finish between Kyle Fredrickson, Hayward, and Friday's classical champion, Santiago Ocariz of Spooner, with nod going to Fredrickson. In the team pursuit titles, Lakeland girls scored ahead of the Hayward girls team by just four points as the Hayward boys easily won the team title.

Wisconsin High School Championships: Classical

February 11, 2005
Day one of the Wisconsin State High School Championships at Schwan Center was the classical races. Favorite Hayward swept the boys and girls team titles, with the Lakeland girls applying some pressure. The girls individual race posted the big surprise as freshman Melanie Hoffman, Ashwaubenon, pulled out a shocking 30 second victory over the pre-race favorites including last year's state champion, Karlye Wisdom of Hayward. Spooner's Santiago Ocariz took the boys title, just four seconds ahead from Hayward's Alex Ostrander. Saturday features freestyle technique in an exciting pursuit format.

Section 4 Results

February 10, 2005
Camp Ripley sported fast trails for the Section 4 meet on Thursday. Osseo boys team continued their upward track, holding off Elk River for the boys team title by 6.5 points. The Wayzata girls are State Meet bound with their victory. Beth Tacl, St. Cloud Cathedral, and Allison Bohn, Wayzata, had the closest battle of the sectionals. Tacl won the freestyle by 9 seconds over Bohn, then Bohn returned the favor in the classical race, but was edged out at the line by Tacl for the pursuit title. Elk River's Zach Varty won the freestyle race, but it was his teammate Jesse Bullis that roared back to take the classical and pursuit titles.

Section 2 Results

February 10, 2005
Section 2 raced on fast trails at Giants Ridge Wednesday to decide the State Meet contenders. Forest Lake's Sarah Wright may be making a run for the podium at State as she strung together some of her best races of the season to sweep the girls titles, winning the pursuit by a full 1:30. Junior Ben Fick, also of Forest Lake, used a strong classical leg to ensure his own sweep of the boys events. Forest Lake won both of the team titles.

Section 7 Results

February 10, 2005
Section 7 prepped their State Meet qualifiers on Thursday with the sectional racing action on the trails of Giants Ridge. The Ely girls and Duluth East's made fairly easy work of securing the team titles. Jenne Klein, Ely, took a huge minute margin from her classical victory and then added a little extra while sweeping the freestyle and pursuit titles. Duluth East's Jason Kask performed the clean sweep for the boys.

Section 1 Results

February 10, 2005
Reid Lutter reports: Lakeville's Karl Nygren and Elizabeth Yetzer threw their names into the hat of potential state champions with dominating performances in today's section one championships held at Telemark Resort in Cable, WI. Nygren led the Lakeville boys team to it's second consecutive section one title with an easy two minute win over Winona's Erik Mundahl for the pursuit title. Nygren's Lakeville teammate Dylan Peterson helped stake the Panthers to a big lead in the opening skate race with a second place finish. Lakeville's Dan Johnson's third in the classic (behind Nygren and Mundahl) cemented the Panther win.
In the girls race Lakeville unseated defending Section One champion Winona with a team effort led by junior Elizabeth Yetzer. Yetzer won all three titles over Eastview's Natalie Yarbrough. Winona's Julia Chapman helped keep her team close with a third place in the skate, but they couldn't handle to depth of the Panthers, who had all seven varsity skiers in the top thirteen after the pursuit race.

Section 6 Results

February 10, 2005
Reid Lutter reports: Kennedy's Chris Sasse stunned everyone, including himself, when he won the section 6 title on March 9th. Sasse is the first Bloomington Kennedy skier to win a section title. Second after the skate, he passed Eden Prairie's Zach Cory and held off Hopkin's Sam Newcomer for the win. Eden Prairie won the boys title with help from senior skate champion Zach Corey. EP built a slight lead in the skate race and held on by the skin of their teeth in the classic race. Hopkins made a late charge on the backs of Sophomores Doug Debold and Sam Newcomer, who went 1-2 in the classic race.
The girls race was as tightly contested as you can get. Half a point separated Champion Eden Prairie from runner-up Edina. Visitations Katie Bono skied away to an easy section title, Eden Prairie senior Jessica Lewis nailed down a trio of second places to lead her team to the title. Edina was led by seniors Kristen Stortz and Jenna Carlson, but the team came up just a half point shy of the tie. The Hopkins girls thirteen year win streak in Section 6 was snapped by Eden Prairie. Photos added from Kevin Crystal.

Section 8 Results

February 9, 2005
Section 8 is home to central/northern Minnesota schools and the defending State Champions, the Grand Rapids girls team. Racing on fast conditions at Camp Ripley, the Grand Rapids girls easily locked in their ticket to the State Meet. Grand Rapid's Brynden Manbeck swept the girls events, winning the pursuit title more than a minute. Brainerd boys are going to State with an impressive win today. The boys individual races arguably held the most excitement as Battle Lake's Wynn Roberts won the freestyle and had just enough margin to hold off the classic winner, Chris Ziegler of Detroit Lakes. Photos from Jay Richards.

Section 3 Results

February 9, 2005
Section 3 held their meet on the freshly tilled trails at Snowflake in Duluth Tuesday. The highlight of the day was an exciting battle for the boys pursuit title. St. Paul Central's Aaron DeWahl won the freestyle race but had only four seconds on Roseville's Erick Anderson and 12 over Mahtomedi's Henry Reich. Anderson held off Reich to win the pursuit title as DeWahl finished just two seconds back. Claire Luby, St. Paul Central, swept the girls titles. Roseville won both the boys and girls team titles.

Section 5 Results

February 9, 2005
The road to the Minnesota State High School Meet narrowed on Tuesday as the sectional competitions kicked off. Section 5 featured one of the favorites, St. Louis Park, and the boys team showed they are on track as they handly won the title. St. Louis Park's Jeese Lang had a strong performance, sweeping the classic and skate events. Armstrong girls won a very close battle over St. Louis Park, taking the section title by just six points. Audrey Weber, St. Louis Park, won the skate race then expanded her lead as she crushed the classic field by more than a minute.

Wisconsin High School Championships Preview

February 8, 2005
Ken Schoville highlights this weekend's Wisconsin State High School Champions and provides an in-depth look at the challengers for the boys and girls titles.

Minnesota HS Rankings Released

January 26, 2005
The Minnesota High School Nordic Ski Coaches Association issued their first rankings of the season on Wednesday. Duluth East boys and Grand Rapid girls teams are at the top of the list. Jesse Lang and Bryden Manbeck start as the number one ranked skiers.

ABC Relays Results

January 22, 2005
After being delayed a week, the ABC Relays went off on Saturday morning at Troll Hollow. The Lakeville boys and Roseville girls were the champions.

Marshall Sprints Results

January 21, 2005
With snow falling, the Marshall Sprints were held in Duluth on Friday afternoon. Duluth East's Jason Kask posted the only sub 2 minute qualifying time and went out to win the boys title. Sarah Wright, Forest Lake, was the fastest qualifier but it was Ely's Ellen Anderson edging out Wright for the girls title. Photos from Dave Johnson.

Mesabi East Invitational

January 8, 2005
Over 1000 high school entrants representing more than 50 teams toed the line at the 2005 Mesabi East Invitational at Giants Ridge. St. Louis Park's Jesse Lang strode away from the field in the boys classic race while Brynden Manbeck of Grand Rapids grabbed the top girls position. Mike Mommsen of St. Louis Park notched the top boys freestyle event with Kelly Chaudoin of Ely edging out Ingrid Fjeldheim (Superiorland) by 1 second in the girls freestyle race. Duluth East boys and Grand Rapids girls took took home overall team trophies.

Related:

Results: Boys Varsity, Girls Varsity, Team

Duluth News: Kask, Manbeck Featured

January 5, 2005
Jason Kask and the boys Duluth East, along with Brynden Manbeck and the Grand Rapids girls team were highlighted in this recent Duluth News feature.

Spotlight: Grand Rapids

November 16, 2004
We hit the road on Tuesday and traveled north to see the Grand Rapids program in action. The weather was a bit crummy with fog and drizzle, but the full team was out on the area trails. With at least four coaches, the team frequently breaks into subgroups to give the skiers more specific workout sessions. We captured photos of the rollerski group on the nearby Mesabi Trail and a rest of the groups doing dryland drills out on the beautful Legion Trails located just behind the high school.

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Photoset: 33 photos

Minnesota High School Season Preview

November 15, 2004
We preview the Minnesota State High School XC season with a look at the favorites, both individuals and teams, along with a couple of possible twists for the State Meet.

Spotlight: Visitation

November 15, 2004
With the opening day of the Minnesota HS XC season, we caught up with the Visitation team for dryland drills in Mendota Heights. Visitation has roughly 20 girls on their team this year, including state title contender Katie Bono. The team is under the guidance this season of Ben Popp and Jayme Schricker.

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Photoset: 35 photos

2003-2004 Season

The 2003-2004 season coverage, including results, photos and video clips.