The Gustavus men’s nordic ski team finished the season with a sixth place finish with 77 points at the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) Regional Championships in Biwabik, Minn. on February 16-17. Gustavus finished in sixth place for the sixth time in seven years. Northern Michigan took the team title with 161 points, just past University of Alaska in Fairbanks, which finished with 155 points. The championships consisted of a 10K freestyle race on Saturday and a 15K classic race on Sunday.
Jens Brabbit (Fy., Winona, Minn.) was the top Gustie skier in Saturday’s 10K freestyle race with a 23rd place finished with a 31:07.6 mark. Kevin Patzoldt (Sr., Grand Rapids, Minn.) also finished in the top 25 for Gustavus as he crossed the finish line in 31:23.3. The four remaining male skiers finished within 20 seconds of each other as Eli Anoszko (Jr., Dousman, Wis.) earned 48th place (33:34.0), Logan Smestad (Fy., Northfield, Minn.) turned in a 49th place finish (33:45.5), and Andrew Poffenberger (Fy., Stillwater, Minn.) 50th place in 33:53.1. Andrew Tilman (Fy., St. Louis Park, Minn.) rounded out the results for the Gusties with 51st place in a time of 33:54.5. Marius Korthauer from UAF won the event in 28:06.9, nearly 28 seconds ahead of the next competitor. The Gusties compiled 37 points for seventh place, while UAF earned 79 points to take first place in the team competition.
Brabbit also was the first Gustavus skier to cross the finish line in the classic race in 47:07.6 for 15th place. Patzoldt earned 31st place with a time of 49:27.8, while Poffenberger finished 39th in 50:06.2 Tilman and Smestad finished in the top 50 with 41st (50:40.9) and 47th (52:20.8) place finishes, respectively. Phil Violett of Northern Michigan edged out Korthauer for first place in the event with a time of 43:36.7 by :00.04. Gustavus scored 40 points in the team standings, while Northern Michigan took top honors with 83 points.