MINNEAPOLIS – Day 2 of the Central Super Tour races at Theodore Wirth Park brought a host of strong competition, but the CCSA represented itself well throughout the leaderboards on both the men’s and women’s sides. Brian Gregg and Rebecca Dussault were the overall individual winners in the 10/15k classic. Santiago Ocariz was winner of the men’s collegiate race, though, in 9th place overall. For the second straight day Alaska-Fairbanks’ Aurelia Korthauer was the strongest CCSA woman in 3rd overall.
Korthauer’s result led the Nanooks to what was a strong day for both the Fairbanks men and women. Although the UAF women couldn’t replicate Saturday’s performance of four skiers in the top 10, Korthauer was followed by Julia Pierson, who bettered her 6th-place freestyle finish by finishing 5th (31:15), as well as Theresia Schnurr (32:21) and Anna Coulter (32:35) in 12th and 14th, respectively.
Korthauer, who completed the 10-kilometer race in 29:43, put on an impressive showing by beating the rest of the field by almost a minute. Northern Michigan’s Laura Dewitt (30:42) finished second to lead NMU, who placed four skiers in the top 10 for the second consecutive day—Monica Markvardsen (31:27) was 6th, Marie Helen Soderman (31:29) two seconds behind her in 7th, and Saturday’s runner-up Christina Gillis (31:41) in 9th. The Michigan Tech women improved on their freestyle result by receiving a 3rd-place result from Henna Riikonen-Purts (31:06) and a 4th from Elizabeth Quinley (31:10). Jenna Klein’s 10th-place result (31:46) rounded out a strong day for the Huskies.
The College of St. Scholastica’s Julia Curry (31:34) cracked the top ten with a solid 8th-place showing to lead her team. For the second straight day Carolyn Freeman (31:54) led the Wisconsin-Green Bay women, this time from 11th place. The top College of St. Benedict skier, Megan Smith (32:33), was 13th, edging out the lead Gustavus Adolphus skier, Erica Hett (32:36), who came in 15th. Emma Lee (34:09) led the St. Olaf women from 26th place and Diane Vezendy was the top St. Cloud State skier in 35th.
In the men’s race, Santiago Ocariz returned to the spot at the top that he claimed at Nationals earlier this month. The Wisconsin-Green Bay senior completed the 15-kilometer course in 37:41, 30 seconds ahead of the next competitor. Behind Ocariz was Erik Soederstroem, a UAF skier who also was successful at U.S. Nationals and is an especially strong classic skier. Soederstrom headlined a strong day for the Fairbanks men, with teammate Ray Sabo (38:26) in 4th and John Parry (39:05) in 7th, as well as Henri Soom (40:09) and Alex Morris (40:17) in 11th and 12th. Sophomore Kevin Cutts (38:21) led the Northern Michigan men’s team with the final podium spot with his best career result. First-year George Cartwright (39:24) continued to solidify his place near the top with an 8th-place result, and senior Tim Cook (39:37) was just behind in 9th for NMU.
Although Michigan Tech senior Oskar Lund (38:32) could not replicate Saturday’s freestyle win, he did crack the top 5 to lead the Huskies. Jesse Smith (39:52) in 10th and Jesse Lang (40:40) in 15th rounded out the scoring for MTU. Jens Brabbit (38:43) hauled in another strong result for Gustavus Adolphus, coming in 6th, and teammate Anders Bowman (40:32) pitched in from 14th and Andrew Poffenberger (41:31) from 18th on what was a strong classic day for the Gusties.
After a strong freestyle race on Saturday, the St. Scholastica men’s team faded slightly on Sunday but still snagged top-20 results from Waylon Manske (40:47) in 16th and Mason Bacso (41:37) in 19th. Jared Sundstrom of St. John’s led the men from 20th, while Tom Jorgensen was the top St. Olaf’s skier in 27th.
The women’s team results could not have been closer Sunday. The NMU women, with 3 in the top 7, took top honors with 69 points—just 1 point ahead of Michigan Tech, who also put 3 in the top 10. Alaska-Fairbanks was just one more point back with 67 behind the performance of winner Korthauer and 5th-place Pierson. The UAF men claimed first on the men’s side with 71 points, with 3 in the top 7, and Northern Michigan was 2nd with 64. For the weekend, it was the NMU women and the UAF men in first, and appropriately the two squads tied in the overall team results for the weekend. Michigan Tech took third. Complete team results are below. For complete individual results please check pttiming.com.
Team Results are UNOFFICIAL
Saturday Women’s Freestyle
NMU 72
UAF 69
MTU 56
UWGB 44
CSS 38
CSB 32
GAC 30
SCSU 28
Olaf 11
Saturday Men’s Freestyle
MTU 66
NMU 61
UAF 59
CSS 52
UWGB 44
GAC 37
SJU 31
Olaf 22
Gog 3
Sunday Women’s Classic
NMU 69
MTU 68
UAF 67
CSS 42
CSB 38
UWGB 34
GAC 30
SCSU 15
Olaf 15
Sunday Men’s Classic
UAF 71
NMU 64
MTU 57
GAC 53
UWGB 42
CSS 39
SJU 26
Olaf 20
Gog 3
Women’s Overall Score
NMU 141
UAF 136
MTU 124
CSS 80
UWGB 78
CSB 70
GAC 60
SCSU 43
Olaf 26
Men’s Overall Score
UAF 130
MTU 123
NMU 125
CSS 91
GAC 90
UWGB 86
SJU 57
Olaf 44
Gogebic 6
Combined Overall Score
NMU 266
UAF 266
MTU 247
CSS 171
UWGB 164
GAC 150
Olaf 70
CSB 69
SJU 57
SCSU 43
Gogebic 6
