Although there hasn’t been much snow to train on, the Viking girls’ and boys’ cross country ski teams have been able to find enough white stuff to get in two ski races. Above, wearing bib No. 7, junior Joey Chmelik led the boys’ team with a 26th place finish at the Ely Nordic Wolves Invite that had to be held in Duluth because of a lack of snow in Ely.
To date the Cook County Nordic Vikings have competed in two races. On December 15, the team traveled to Snowflake Nordic in Duluth for the Ely Nordic Wolves Invite. The race course in Ely did not have adequate snow coverage so the race was moved to Duluth. The weather created a challenge there as well, with rain falling and the snow on the course melting away as the skiers raced.
Top finisher for the varsity boys’ 5K freestyle race was junior Joey Chmelik with a time of 16:20 which earned him 26th place. Rounding out the varsity boys’ 5K were Levi Axtell, 29th at16:30; Will Seaton, 40th at17:24; and Nate Carlson 43rd at 18:10.
Audrey Summers was the top Viking girl coming in 21st with a time of 18:52. Mara MacDonell was 33rd with a time of 20:59.
The junior high race covered a 2.5k lap and freshman Sean MacDonell finished 7th with a time of 9:40. Next was Pete Summers in 10th at 10:00.
In the girls’ race, we had Sarah Larsen 26th at 13:26; Matea Acero 38th at 16:12 and Brenna Hay 39th at 16:48.
Because Ely received some muchneeded snow, the Duluth East Relays were held at the Hidden Valley Ski Center in Ely on December 20. Like the Cook County Vikings ski team, the Ely team is supported by the local Nordic ski club and it benefits from having a race at its facility.
Unfortunately the Vikings had less than half of the team there to compete, but those who were there enjoyed being on the race course.
The varsity relay is made up of three skiers each skiing a 5K lap. Our boys’ team was comprised of Joey, Levi, and Nate. The boys’ combined time was 54:50 earning them 14th place out of 22 teams.
The girls’ team recruited a Procter Skier to round out the team of three. Audrey, Mara, and Madeline placed 13th out of 19 teams.
In the junior high relay two racers each skied a 3.2k lap. Our girls’ team was made up of two first-year skiers, Matea Acero and Brenna Hay. They had a time of 46:92 and were in 23rd place.
The boys’ junior high team which included Pete Summers and Sean MacDonell had the best results of the day with a total time of 28:43 finishing 4th place out of 17 teams.
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