Card Nordic skiing: Sieling, Gromatka, Flynn All-CLC

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The Cardinal Nordic ski teams’ persistence paid off on Tuesday as the girls finished second and the boys third at the Central Lakes Conference meet.

Julia Sieling and Melissa Gromatka represented the Alexandria girls at the state meet last season and both have carried over that success into 2012. Sieling led the Cardinals with a first-place finish in the skate race, earning all-conference honors and becoming the first of her six teammates to be named either all conference or honorable mention all conference.

Gromatka led the Cardinal girls in the Classic event. She finished second individually to take all-conference honors. Lauren Hagstrom (8th), Adrianne Wensman (9th) and Natalie Watkins (10th) were all honorable-mention selections in the classic, while Becca Mateer finished sixth in the skate to secure her place on the honorable-mention team.

Pat Flynn led the Cardinal boys as the lone all conference skier after finishing fifth in the skate race. Carl Branch was right behind him in seventh place. Cody Call was eighth in the classic and Eric Branch 10th. All three earned honorable-mention status with those finishes.

“Assistant coach Jeremy Rapp and I are really proud of how hard the kids have worked this year,” head coach Luke Erickson said. “With less than ideal snow conditions, it would have been easy to stand around, but our skiers have continued to get themselves prepared for these end-of-the-season races, and we feel their hard work and great attitudes are paying off.”

Brainerd took home the CLC titles for both the boys and girls. The Warrior girls finished with 42 points, five ahead of Alexandria’s 37. The boys won with a team score of 45. St. Cloud Tech was second at 38 and the Cardinals finished with 28 team points.

CLC NORDIC SKIING

CHAMPIONSHIPS

BOYS’ TEAM SCORES – 1. Brainerd, 45; 2. St. Cloud Tech, 38; 3. Alexandria, 28; 4. St. Cloud Apollo, 20; 5. Fergus Falls, 16; 6. Willmar, 11

ALEXANDRIA BOYS – CLASSIC – Cody Call – eighth place, (HM); Eric Branch – 10th place, (HM); Dan Finazzo – 15th place; Sitka Corage – 18th place

SKATE – Pat Flynn – fifth place, all conference; Carl Branch – seventh place, (HM); Chase Redmond – 16th place

GIRLS TEAM SCORES – 1. Brainerd, 42; 2. Alexandria, 37; 3. Apollo, 28; 4. Tech, 23; 5. Willmar, 17; 6. Fergus Falls, 3

ALEXANDRIA GIRLS – CLASSIC – Melissa Gromatka – second place, all conference; Lauren Hagstrom – eighth place, (HM); Adrianna Wensman – ninth place, (HM); Natalie Watkins – 10th place, (HM)

SKATE – Julia Sieling – first place, all conference; Becca Mateer – sixth place, (HM); Hailey Haugen – 15th; Emmy Bear – 17th

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, cardinals, nordic, skiing