CALLAWAY – Maplelag Resort hosted the 2022 Section 8A Nordic skiing championships on Tuesday and Wednesday. A pair of Laker girls came close to clinching a spot at state while showing just how far both Detroit Lakes Nordic teams have come throughout the season.
The top two scoring teams clinched spots at the state meet, while the next four individuals not on the top two teams also qualified. Detroit Lakes junior Kira Wolf turned in an impressive freestyle time of 16:52.9, but her combined time of 35:30.0 was just over four seconds short. Violet Steil claimed the final individual spot with a combined time of 35:25.9, despite being 23 seconds slower on Wednesday afternoon. The combined times between Tuesday’s classic race and Wednesday’s freestyle race determined who went to state.
While Wolf finished in 10th-place overall, sophomore Anna Askelson wasn’t too far behind in 19th. She clocked in a combined time of 36:23.5 (18:42.7, 17:40.8). Askelson and Wolf carried the Detroit Lakes girls to a seventh-place finish with a team score of 315. Brainerd (384) and Bemidji (382) claimed the top two spots. The Lakers were one of seven teams to finish with at least 300 team points.
Junior Julia Steffl clocked in a combined time of 42:26.6 (21:16.6, 211:0.0), which was good enough for 37th. Maddie Blahut (23:33.0, 21:07.3) and Maria Foltz (24:25.1, 22:45.7) finished 40th and 44th to round out the individual competitors.
On Tuesday, Madi and Lexi Gerdes competed in the preliminary round of the relay competition. They finished with a time of 23:56.4.
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The Detroit Lakes boys relay team of Zac Carlson and Casey Parks recorded a top-six finish on Wednesday. After a preliminary time of 19:30.7, Parks and Carlson clocked in at 18:44.6 in the finals on Wednesday. They helped notch a team score of 218 for the Laker boys team, which was good enough for 10th place.
Evan Thomas paced the Laker boys in the individual race. The junior clocked in a combined time of 39:42.4. Freshman Bjorn Moors wasn’t far behind with a 41:34.9.
Little Falls (381) edged out Brainerd (375) for the top team spot. Moorhead (365), Bemidji (350) and Fergus Fall (340) rounded out the top five.
SECTION 8A GIRLS TEAM SCORES- 1st- Brainerd 384, 2nd- Bemidji 382, 3rd- Sartell-Cathedral 362, 4th- Moorhead 361, 5th- Alexandria 351, 6th- Little Falls 325, 7th- Detroit Lakes 315, 8th- Fergus Falls 286, 9th- Willmar 245, T-10th- TrekNorth 238, T-10th St. John’s Prep 238, Wadena-Deer Creek 135
SECTION 8A BOYS TEAM SCORES- 1st- Little Falls 381, 2nd- Brainerd 375, 3rd- Moorhead 365, 4th- Bemidji 350, 5th- Fergus Falls 340, 6th- Sartell-Cathedral 327, 7th- Alexandria 312, 8th- St. John’s Prep 310, 9th- TrekNorth 261, 10th- Detroit Lakes 218, 11th- Wadena-Deer Creek 209, 12th- Willmar 65
