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Eero Moody, seventh grade, showed steady improvement throughout the season. He finished strong in the Duluth Junior High 3K and significantly improved his pace/ kilometer in the Ely Junior High 4K. Photos courtesy of Kristen Carlsgaard
The recent Duluth East Invite at the Snowflake Nordic complex saw personal improvements for all of our Cook County skiers. The venue provided spectators with a wide-angle view of the starts as well as the skiers’ downhill return to the stadium. On a bitterly cold day with high winds, the participants were anxious to be skiing as much as possible to keep warm.
Our junior high skiers Eero Moody, MJ Wharton, Amelia Mattson, and Leah Belmore all showed significant improvements in their technique in the 3K skate race. Quincy Hurth placed 10th in a large field of competitive skiers.
With no Cook County junior varsity skiers, we moved on to the varsity pursuit races in which each participant skis two races, in this case a 5K skate followed by a 5K classic. In the second race each skier’s start is delayed by the amount of time they come in behind the leader of the first race. So, the racers are “pursuing” the leader. The skier with least accumulated time is the winner. According to assistant coach Angie Robinson, the last couple of varsity events of the regular season are designated pursuit events in order to prepare varsity skiers for the races they will encounter at the Sections competition. This was the first pursuit event for most of our skiers.
Quincy Hurth, seventh grade, finished 10th in the Junior High 3K event at the Duluth Invite. She jumped to the JV category at the Ely race, placing 11th in the 4.8K distance.
Eighth-grader Everett Hurth, in his first varsity and first pursuit race, improved his personal skate time and earned points for his team. Olya Wright, always vying for a top place among a group of tough competitors, improved her 6th place skate race to a 5th place overall after the 5K classic. She showed great finishing form in the second race, just edging her racing partner. Also skiing in her first pursuit, Martine Redshaw improved four places after the two races, finishing just ahead of Two Harbors’ teammate Lamar Gordon. Seasoned competitor Cecelia Chmelik showed perseverance and experience, improving an impressive fifteen places overall after her two skis. Emma Crook and Valerie Hurth, also first-time varsity skiers, learned important racing strategies and improved their personal times.
Ely Invite
Cook County skiers rose to the occasion at the Ely Invite at the Hidden Valley Ski Area. The event was moved up to Tuesday of last week to avoid below-zero temperatures later in the week. Although the wind was starting, this was nothing new for our skiers. The event brought new opportunities and challenges for each of the participants.
The varsity teams started and ended the day with elements of the pursuit races. The girls’ team started first in the morning with a classic 5.5K and then ended with a 5.5K skate in the afternoon. Olya Wright had a memorable day, finishing 6th after her classic ski and then blazing to 1st in the skate race for an overall 3rd place finish for the girls. Martine Redshaw maintained her position throughout the race, again edging teammate Lamar Gordon. Cece Chmelik and Valerie Hurth traded positions with Cece just edging Valerie in the overall. Everett Hurth was the lone Cook County varsity boy participant. He improved his position 3 places after the overall.
The junior high racers had good solid skate races. The dynamic duo of MJ Wharton and Amelia Mattson encouraged each other throughout the 4K distance with MJ coming in ahead of Amelia with midpack finishes of 26th and 27th.
In the junior high boys’ 4K race, Ethan Fish showed up with a 14th-place finish. Eero Moody improved his pace per kilometer by over 2:00 from his last race, and Lute Jansen shaved off 3:00 from his pace/km.
After only two junior high races under her belt, Quincy Hurth jumped to junior varsity to participate in the 4.8K skate, placing 11th against tough competitors.
There was a lot of anticipation going into the sprint events, new to Minnesota high school skiing this year. Assistant Coach Angie Robinson commented that the league “decided to include sprints to give highschool skiers the opportunity to ski events that are present at the Junior Nationals” and other Nordic ski competitions. Eighth-grader Emma Crook and Two Harbors’ teammate Jocelyn Carr were the first to represent North Shore Storm in this event. It was exciting to see them make the exchanges in the stadium in the first 4X1K heat and then in the 4X1K final.
Coach Angie, former Nordic ski coach at Roseville High School, responded to the skiers’ efforts, “during the last couple of races several skiers have stepped up and challenged themselves to do more. Seventh-graders are improving since their first races. Others have moved from junior high to junior varsity to varsity. Then we have Emma and Jocelyn willing to try out the sprints. Also, this year we are able to field a full team of girls for the upcoming Sections. During the last couple of weeks, they are learning what happens at Sections.” Congratulations team! At press time the varsity skiers will have already participated at the Sections meet at Giant’s Ridge in Biwabik. The North Shore Storm varsity girls’ team will include pursuit skiers Cece Chmelik, Autumn Smith (TH), Valerie Hurth (alternate), Lamar Gordon (TH), Olya Wright and Martine Redshaw as well as sprinters Jocelyn Carr (TH) and Emma Crook. The varsity boys’ team will field five pursuit racers including Everett Hurth. Good luck at Sections!
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