Meets are coming fast and furious in this short but intense Nordic ski season. Tuesday, January 10 was the annual classic ski meet at the Korkki Nordic center in Clover Valley, hosted by the Storm. Temperatures hovered around freezing and the air felt uncharacteristically moist, but over 300 skiers completed the 4 or 6 kilometer (K) classic race with only a few crashes to make the tracks interesting. On Saturday, January 14 in Duluth, the Marshall Sprints meet included a 1.5K sprint qualifier for the 3K quarter-final, semi-final, and final freestyle race. Cyrus Myers and Ben Wermter qualified for the quarterfinals; neither made it to the semi-finals. No Girl Varsity skiers made it past the qualifier. Skiers to watch: Senior Cyrus Myers and Junior Olya Wright are consistently placing in the top 20 and could qualify for the state meet. Ben Wermter has been dropping his times and placing closer to the front in every race this season. Emma Crook has been a serious JV competitor all year, with Quincy Hurth close behind her. Amongst the younger skiers, Maddie Linn finished 4th in the Pine Valley 2.5 K which was her first skate race ever. Gunny Skadberg is showing more speed with every race, and the Oswald-Swenson sisters are racing each other to see who improves more quickly. Erik Gischia, Steiner Anderson, and Mason Linn are neck-and-neck in the junior high races and it will be exciting to see them advance, probably as a pack since they seem to have a great time together.
