The Gustavus men’s and women’s nordic skiing teams competed in the Battle Creek Super Tour on Saturday and Sunday in Lake Elmo, Minn. The men came away with a third place finish with 84 combined points, while the women took fourth with 66 points.
Michigan Tech University took the podium in both the men’s and women’s competition. It’s men’s squad collected 113 points and the women tallied 118. The College of St. Scholastica placed second in both competitions with its men’s team claiming 109 points and the women 98. Taking third ahead of the Gustie women was St. Olaf College with 77 points.
On Saturday, Erica Hett paced the Gustie women with a 22nd place finish in the 5K Classic in 16:48.9. Danielle Burgmerier took 30th in 17:40.1 and Annika Ferber 38th in 18:28.6. The men’s team was led by Gabe Hanson in the 10K Classic as he finished 37th in 29:20.8. The Gustie men skied in a pack as Peter Larsen took 38th in 29:25.2, Jon Kasprisin 39th in 29:27.2 and Zach Wagner 40th in 29:37.9.
Hett led the women’s team once again in Sunday’s 15K Freestyle with a 24th place finish in 49:08.6. Burgmeier took 28th for the Gusties in 51:17.2 and Meredith Bache-Wiig placed 34th in 53:22.7. In the men’s 20K Freestyle, Anders Bowman bounced back from an illness and led the Gustie men with a 33rd place finish in 59:06.9. The rest of the Black and Gold men’s skiers continued their pack mentality and crossed the finish line in 35th through 38th place – Hanson in 1:00:12.3, Wagner 1:00:16.4, Larsen 1:00:23.0 and Kasprisin 1:00:29.8.
“Erica Hett led the charge in the women’s college race,” head coach Jed Friedrich said. “Marian Lund and Megan Allen raced in the Junior race. Marian crashed on the first day really hard, but bounced back to finish second in her age category. Danielle Burgemeier was our second skier in the college race. It was a solid weekend for the women.
“Anders Bowman was still a little sick going into the weekend, so he didn’t have any snap yet on Saturday. But he came back and raced really well on Sunday and moved back up the rankings. Our next four guys skied really well and worked together as a pack. That was the best race weekend yet for all four of those guys.”
The nordic skiers have this weekend off and will use that time to prepare for the conference and regional championships. The CCSA Championships are held in Houghton, Mich. on Feb. 11-12.