At Giants Ridge on February 17, Sophomore Kieran Scannell finished the skate race in a quick 15:21 and followed that with an amazing time of 16:35 in the classic, earning 40th place overall. His time in the classic race was the 21st fastest of the day in the field of 250 racers.
Kieran Scannell and Shelby Ahrendt, two rising sophomore stars of the Viking Cross Country Ski team participated in the Minnesota State Nordic Ski Meet Thursday, February 17 at Giants Ridge near Biwabik. The Minnesota State meet is a single class meet (all schools together), making it the largest in the country, with nearly 250 boys and girls participating in the pursuit format, racing freestyle in the morning with the classic pursuit portion in the afternoon.
Weather played a major role in the event as temperatures soared into the low 40s with a light mist through much of the day, which made waxing especially challenging. Shelby had the additional challenge of being sick for several days prior to the grueling meet.
Girls led off the morning skate race, setting off on the 5.5-kilometer (3.2 mile) course. Shelby, still recovering from her illness, struggled and gamely finished the course in 19:46 leaving her in 118th position.
The boys were up next and the pace of skiing made it clear that Kieran would have to be on his game to be competitive at this level of skiing. He answered the challenge in fine fashion, capturing 55th place, skiing the course in a quick 15:21.
At the State Meet, Sophomore Shelby Ahrendt completed the 5-5-kilometer skate course in 19:46 and the 5.5-kilometer classic in 21:12, earning 111th position in her challenging first State Meet.
With the freestyle (skate) races complete, the racers received a break while the coaches furiously experimented with different klister waxes, trying to find the elusive correct combination that would give the racers the proper combination of grip and glide in the warm, slushy snow.
The Vikings were well equipped for this challenge as volunteer coach and wax technician Cory Berg was on site trying and testing different combinations on many different pairs of skis, making sure Kieran and Shelby had the best possible skis. As the classic results would show, Cory locked in the best possible combination.
Shelby recharged her batteries and headed off in the second race of the day, the classic pursuit, covering 5.5 kilometers of intense skiing on the World Cup trails at Giant’s Ridge. Showing great determination, Shelby caught and passed seven skiers, finishing the classic portion in 21:12 to finish her first state meet in 111th position.
The best was yet to come, however. Kieran scorched the classic course in an amazing time of 16:35, catching 15 skiers in furious action to cross the finish line in 40th position, elevating him to an elite position in the entire state. His classic time was the 21st fastest of the day—Kieran finished nearly 7 miles of racing in an impressive total time 31:56. To put the accomplishments of these sophomores in perspective, there are approximately 1,000 boys and 700 girls participating in high school Nordic skiing in Minnesota, meaning they are skiing at the highest levels in the sport.
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