Northland Nordic ends season at the CCSA Region Championships
The Northland Men’s and Women’s Nordic ski teams competed in the CCSA Region Championships this past weekend at Michigan Tech University in Hougthon, MI. The Jills were led by First Year Erin Blow who finished the 5K classic race in 54th place with a time of 22:20 and the 10K freestyle race in 49th place with a time of 40:58. Blow’s final CCSA results were 54st overall with a total score of276.0. Fellow First Year Anna Rix finished 62nd in the 5K classic with a time of 24:45 and 60th in the 10K freestyle race with a time of 46:36. Rix ended the season in 66th in the CCSA with a total point value of 374.3. Points are determined by taking each skiers two best classic results and two best freestyle results from the CCSA qualifier and region meets. “The women skied hard this weekend in difficult conditions with cold temperatures and slow snow.” States head coach Dave Beeksma, “They had relatively fast skis for Saturday’s Classic race, however we were off slightly with the grip wax, so they lost time on the long challenging uphills of Michigan Tech’s course. I am proud of how they raced this year, the CCSA is a big step up from high school racing. These ladies have gained valuable experience that will help them improve over their careers here at Northland.”
Laura DeWitt of Northland Michigan won the women’s classic race with a time of 17:33 and Alaska Fairbanks’ Julia Pierson won the women’s freestyle race with a time of 33:17. Pierson also won the overall CCSA title with a total of 120 points.
On the men’s side, Junior Chris Goscinak and First Year Noel Cockney traded top spots for the Jacks. Goscinak has led the team all season and continued to do so in the 10K classic race with 58th place finish in a time of 38:02. Cockney followed by placing 60th in a time of 39:56 while Sophomores Kevin Robertson finished 62nd with a time of 43:24 and Nate Leurquin finished 63rd. In Sunday’s 15K Freestyle race, Goscinak and Cockney swapped positions with Cockney finishing in 53rd place with a time of 57:05 and Goscinak finishing in 57th place with a time of 1:00:14. Robertson finished in 58th with at time of 1:03:45 and Leurquin finished in 59th with a time of 1:08:23. “Chris has had a very bad cold all week and it caught up with him in the 15K race. He just couldn’t recover from the previous day’s race. Noel has been doing great this year. He is relatively new to the sport and needs to work on his technique to further his improvement, but he has a great motor that never quits.” Comments Coach Beeksma. Goscinak finished the season as Northland’s top male skier in 62nd place with 350.4 points, improving by over 100 points from a year ago. He was followed by Cockney in 63rd with 364.9, Robertson in 67th with 448.1, and Leurquin in 68th with 599.7. Robertson also showed tremendous improvement over last year dropping his freestyle points from 596 to 418. Leurquin improved his classic points from 710 last year to 686 this year.
Northern Michigan’s Martin Banerud won the men’s classic race with a time of 29:58 and Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Santiago Ocariz won the men’s freestyle race with a time of 42:52. Banerud also won the men’s overall title with a score of 116.4
Men's classic
Men's Freestyle
Men's overall points
Women's classic
Women's freestyle
Women's overall points