Nordic skiers second, fourth in CLC competition

• Melissa Gromatka

Echo Press photo by Arlan Anderson Melissa Gromatka was seventh for the girls in the 5K Skate last week as she and her Csrdinal teammates earned a second place finish.
• Mike Erickson

Echo Press photo by Arlan Anderson Mike Erickson finshed 14th in the 5K Skate event in last Thursday’s Nordic ski meet. The Card boys finished fourth as a team.

Talk about it

The Cardinal girls’ Nordic ski team put together its best race of the season at an important time last Thursday at the conference meet.

The girls used three top-10 finishes to finish second as a team, behind only perennial power Little Falls. Sarah Peper and Amanda Schmitz led the way with fifth and sixth-place finishes in the classic race, respectively. Melissa Gromatka and Lauren Allen came in seventh and 11th, respectively, in the skate to help secure the second-place finish.

“The girls’ varsity had a real breakout at this meet,” head coach Steve Devereaux said. “All these girls, along with Annie Trebelhorn, have each steadily improved throughout the season, and I’m very proud of their performance at this meet.”

Peper, Schmitz and Gromatka all earned all-conference honors for their performances.

The Cardinal boys all finished in the top 10 individually on their way to a fourth-place team finish.

Aaron Frederick and Mitch Evink finished right behind each other in eighth and ninth place, respectively, in the classic race. Austin McCoy and Jeremy Rapp also finished within 30 seconds of each other in ninth and 10th place in the skate race.

“I’ve got to be happy with the boys’ team performance as well,” Devereaux said. “Our top four skiers each earned all-conference honorable mention honors at this meet. Unfortunately, making the top 10 for each race wasn’t enough to crack into the top three teams. They were incredibly consistent and close as a team again, about 30 seconds apart total.”

Devereaux said both teams are progressing well at this point in the season. The hope is that the Cardinals will be able to take that next step at the section meet on February 4 at Camp Ripley.

“We’re about where we hoped to be,” Devereaux said. “The girls are really getting strong, and the boys are steadily maintaining their position. I think both teams are hoping to bust it open a little more at sections.”

CLC MEET RESULTS

BOYS’ TEAM RESULTS – 1. Little Falls – 392; 2. St. Cloud Tech – 391; 3. St. Cloud Apollo – 376; 4. Alexandria – 368; 5. Willmar – 350

GIRLS’ TEAM RESULTS – 1. Little Falls – 398; 2. Alexandria – 375; 3. St. Cloud Apollo – 373; 4. Willmar – 367

ALEXANDRIA INDIVIDUAL BOYS’ RESULTS – 5K SKATE – 9. Austin McCoy – 17:29.3; 10. Jeremy Rapp – 17:51.6; 14. Mike Erickson – 18:01.0; 5K CLASSIC – 8. Aaron Frederick – 18:49.8; 9. Mitch Evink – 18:51.0; 15. Peter Olson – 21:54.1

ALEXANDRIA INDIVIDUAL GIRLS’ RESULTS – 5K SKATE – 7. Melissa Gromatka – 22:00.5; 11. Lauren Allen – 22:51.6; 13. Annie Trebelhorn – 24:01.0; 5K CLASSIC – 5. Sarah Peper – 21:29.1; 6. Amanda Schmitz – 22:46.4

Tags: nordic, ski, alexandria, cardinals