Audrey Summers crossing the finish line of the girls’ Classic race at Pincushion Mountains.
Over 300 skiers from the Arrowhead region filled the trails at the Cook County Invitational ski meet at Pincushion Mountain on Friday, January 29. Theday started very cold but the bright sun and calm winds helped make it a great day for skiing—and watching—all the action. Many volunteer hands made for light work in jobs ranging from concessions to timing and organizing. Having so many willing helpers makes an event like this fun for all.
It was the skiers who got all the attention on race day. There were over 100 boys’ varsity and nearly 100 girls’ varsity skiers in the pursuit races. Duluth and Ely dominated the top slots in most of the races with much larger and more experienced teams, but Cook County had its winners too.
For Cook County, Kieran Scannell was Mr. Consistency, finishing 18th in both skate and classic races—18th overall and wearing bib No.18.
Ben Seaton finished respectably at 68th in his first pursuit. Shelby Ahrendt showed good form and placed 28th overall in the girls’ pursuit.
The Cook County Nordic Ski team “Posse”—Ben Resek, Roman Schnobrich, Joe Rauzi, Will Seaton, Pete Summers—looked sharp at the Friday, January 29 Cook County Invitational at Pincushion Mountains.
Daniel and Alex Ditmanson and Jordan Zunker raced single events and finished well. Jordan even proved that only one pole is needed for a great finish.
Karlee Axtell finished well in the skate race and Audrey Summers finished in the middle of the pack for the girls’ classic race despite a start delay.
Thebig thrill of the day was the boys’ junior high team taking the top three spots in their classic race. Hank Bemlott smoked the rest of the racers by 27 seconds with Joe Rauzi and Lino Rauzi next across the line. Nate Carlson actually got serious for a few minutes and finished in 12th with style. Therest of the junior high boys’ team – AKA “The Posse,” Pete Summers, Will Seaton, Roman Schnobrich, and Ben Resek, raced well too.
Jr. high girls’ skiers shined with Mara McDonnell leading the way in seventh place. Katrina Axtell, Natalie Nalezny, Cheyenne Sorlie and Nu Sristtipoj were all smiling across the line as their friends and family cheered them on.
Thisweek team members will be splitting up for the junior high championship at Snowflake in Duluth; varsity section meet at Giants Ridge; and next week JV championship races in Duluth.
Thanks to the many people who helped our home meet go smoothly and to the many people who cheered on all the skiers for all the schools who attended.
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