Boys’ Nordic wins sections
Team looks forward to state again
February 9, 2015
When senior captain Liam Schmelzle found out his team was going to state, he was excited to go to state again and hopefully this time claim the title.
“The whole team was pretty happy,” he said. “We’ve been working towards (state) for a while and it was nice to see some of our hard work pay off.”
The boys’ nordic team placed first in sections on Feb. 2 with 389 points. Senior Sean Cork came in first while Schmelzle placed third. Junior Conrad Phelan was eighth, sophomore Jackson Sokolowski was tenth, junior Jackson Eilers was 16th, junior Ben Chong was 26th, and junior Jens Albright placed 36th.
According to head coach Doug Peterson, this year, two teams from each section qualify for the state meet.
“There’s going to be an extra 60 skiers in there, so the scoring will be a little different,” Peterson said. “Right now I think we’re the team to beat and if they ski as well as they did at sections, they will be right in there to win the whole thing.”
Schmelzle said he looks forward to skiing at state one more time before he graduates and he hopes to beat the team that won state last year, Forest Lake.
“I’m looking forward to enjoying my last state meet and hopefully bringing home some championship hardware,” Schmelzle said. “We’re the favorite for the title going on so hopefully we will reach our expectations.”
While the girls’ team did not qualify for state, they placed seventh in sections with 273 points. They did win the conference title the week before on Jan. 28.
The state meet will take place on Feb. 12 at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.
