Nordic Ski: Cardinals see some success at CLC meet

At the Northland Arboretum near Brainerd on Thursday, the Alexandria nordic skiing team competed in the Central Lakes Conference meet and took home some honors.

The Alexandria placed fourth overall out of six with 362 points, while the Alexandria girls took third with 375 points. Brainerd won both team titles.

Sam Stuve / Alexandria Echo Press

Jaelyn Miller earned all-conference honors (top-six finish) with a second-place finish in the girls classic race (19:08), while Kasey Soderholm earned honorable mention honors (placing 6th-10th) with a seventh-place finish in the varsity skate (17:59).

Bobbi Nichols earned all-conference honorable mention status in the varsity classic by placing 10th (20:15), and Mackenzie Jurchenko placed 10th in the skate (18:14) and was an all-conference honorable mention.

Lauren Huber placed 11th in the skate (18:44), while Teresa Bitzan placed 15th (19:50). Madeline Hochhalter placed 14th in the classic (21:33), and Amelia Lucken placed 18th (23:34).

For the boys, Sullivan Rooney and Spenser Chinn earned all-conference honorable mention honors with 10th-place finishes. Rooney placed 10th (19:09) in the boys classic, while Chinn placed 10th (17:10) in the boys skate.

Photo contributed by Sara Englund

Cyler Coautte, Max Chinn, and Ryker Bosek all came close to earning honorable mention status in the skate as Coautte placed 11th (17:17), Chinn placed 12th (17:17), and Bosek placed 13th (17:34).

Luke Walsh placed 11th in the classic (19:11), and Sawyer Larson placed 14th (20:11).

The Alexandria JV teams competed on Thursday as well and had some success.

In the JV girls classic, Tiahna Goeke placed fifth (23:53), Mila Warzecha placed sixth (24:08), Taylor Swedberg placed seventh (25:32), and Nea Hoven placed eighth (26:09). Emma Hochhalter placed 10th (26:36), and Mattie Scholten placed 15th (29:42).

Johanna Kjolhaug led the way in the JV girls skate race with an eighth-place finish (20:52), while Elsa Lucken placed 13th (21:20), Lace Siira placed 17th (21:53), and Meredith Sundby placed 18th (21:55). Catherine Englund placed 19th (21:59), Kenna Kleven placed 23rd (22:24), and Atti Hoven placed 31st (23:33). Ava Buboltz placed 32nd (23:52), Tatum Ketelsen (24:11) and Autumn Ehlert placed 34th (24:24).

Logan Holtz led the way in the boys JV skate (17:43), while Nick Strauss placed sixth (18:01), and Jackson Dutcher placed ninth (18:33). Matty Soderholm placed 10th (18:34), Elijah Kjolhaug placed 14th (18:51), while Lars Dahl placed 16th (18:59), and Jakin Miller placed 19th (19:07).

Berg Swanson placed 25th (19:38), Owen Gilbertson placed 28th (20:14), Gabe Hoven placed 30th (20:34), and William Nichols placed 36th (21:53). Koen Medway placed 38th (22:23), Matthew Moga placed 42nd (23:00) and Camden Danielson placed 44th (24:23).

1/5: Alexandria's Kasey Soderholm holds off a Brainerd competitor during the varsity girls skate race which she placed seventh at on Feb. 2, 2023. With her seventh place finish, she finished as an all-conference honorable mention.

2/5: Alexandria's Mackenzie Jurchenko skies during varsity girls skate race at the Central Lakes Conference meet on Feb. 2, 2023, where she placed 10th and was named an all-conference honorable mention.

3/5: Alexandria's Cyler Coauette turns a corner on a path at the Central Lakes Conference meet near Brainerd on Feb. 2, 2023. Coauette placed 11th in boys skate and helped the boys team place fourth out of six.

4/5: Alexandria's Lauren Huber skies down a hill during the Central Lakes Conference meet on Feb. 2, 2023, near Brainerd. Huber placed 11th in the varsity girls skate.

5/5: Alexandria's Teresa Bitzan skies during the Central Lakes Conference meet in the girls varsity skate race where she placed 15th at on Feb. 2, 2023.

In the JV boys classic, Isaiah Anderson placed 10th (21:12), Carter Rush placed 12th (21:37), and Sawyer Filipiak placed 13th (21:51). Andrew Mayer placed 17th (23:02), Ethan Gehrke placed 21st (27:56), and Briggs Hochhalter placed 22nd (29:10).

Alexandria competes in its section meet at Maplelag Resort near Detroit Lakes at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.