This year, the Orono boys Nordic team qualified for State for the first time in program history. The team didn’t just compete, they finished second! The state meet was hosted at Giant’s Ridge in Biwabik, with two events spread out across two days. The first day was a sprint relay, with another being a pursuit race.
The first event was a two-person classic sprint relay where each skier skied two laps of a 1.4-kilometer course. The course started with a long uphill into a downhill finish. This event was on Wednesday, February 11th, and Henry Masica and Will Beck represented Orono.
They skied a qualifier in the morning that was split into 3 heats. They finished fourth in their heat and were the last qualifiers for the final, where they finished 7th, ultimately putting the team in fifth place, behind teams like Stillwater and Duluth East, who were ranked 1st and 3rd in the state.
They skied a phenomenal race and gave the team a shot at the podium.
For the pursuit race, the skiers raced a 5-kilometer skate race in the morning. The skate course started flat, with multiple short but steep hills throughout the rest of the course. Each skier’s finishing time determined their starting position for the classic race.
The winner of the skate race went out first, and each skier started at their time back from the leader. The 5-kilometer classic course had a similar layout to the sprint course, but in this case, the hill was about 3 km long.
The overall winner, Logan Drevlow from Hopkins, had the fastest combined time of 27:02. Senior Wells Huotari finished 10th, while Connor Loop and Fritz Beck rounded out the scorers for the pursuit, placing 25th and 38th. These performances were enough for the team to move from 5th place to 2nd, narrowly beating Ely by 1 point.
The other skiers, Kenz Healy and Grant Liebsch, also had great races. The team did well because everyone had a great race and contributed to the team. Coaches Brian “Speedy” McCollor, John Ohman, and Drew Huotari nailed the glide wax, so everyone had fast skis, which was crucial to the team’s success. Fast skis may not win a race, but slow skis can certainly lose one.
“Accomplishing something as a team is better than any individual accomplishment,” remarked senior Grant Liebsch. The team placed well because everyone did their part, and that is something the team will be proud of for a long time.
