Forest Lake defends State Nordic championship

As it was in 2008, so it was this season in the boys State Nordic Ski Meet as Forest Lake successfully defended its title by out-distancing Hopkins at the championship meet at Giant's Ridge in Biwabik on Feb. 13. However, a new victor emerged in the girls meet as Burnsville earned its first-ever State title. Rangers yet again Ryan Wright helped pace the Rangers to their fourth overall state crown with a third-place finish in a combined time of 31 minutes 3.2 seconds in the classical and freestyle races. The only two skiers to defeat the Forest Lake senior were Eden Prairie's Erik Fagerstrom who won the state individual title with the lone sub-30 minute time of the afternoon, and Cloquet-Esko-Carlton junior Raleigh Goessling, who took second with a total time of 30:29.2. Fagerstrom won both the classical and freestyle portions of the competition with respective times of 15:48 and 14:03.8 to earn top honors with a total result of 29:51.8. The Eagles senior finished sixth at State last season. Wayzata's Kasey Bacso placed fourth with a total time of 31:06.3, with Battle Lake's Conrad Roberts (31:15.4) in fifth and Wright's teammate Steve Coozennoy (31:16.7) in sixth. Rounding out the medalists were Hopkins' Ian Wilson (31:18.7) in seventh and Duluth East's Gus Downs (31:20.5) in eighth. Team-wise, Forest Lake reorded 380 points to take the title, with Hopkins scoring 362 for second and Duluth East logging 355 for third. Wayzata, Andover, Grand Rapids, Lakeville South and St. Paul Central finished fourth through eighth, respectively. Blaze come up big Three top-eight finishers propelled Burnsville to its inaugural State Nordic title as sophomore Sharmila Ahmed, along with seniors Sarah Daniels and Maria Tinebra all medalled for the Blaze to help clinch the championship. Ahmed placed third in a complete result of 35:21.7, with Daniels taking fifth in 36:01.8 and Tinebra in eighth at 36:03. St. Paul Academy junior Annie Hart won the overall individual title in a time of 34:51.6 after taking both the classical (18:48) and freestyle (16:03.6) events to take first place by just over 19 seconds on runner-up Lynn Duijndam, a junior form Roseville, who logged a time of 35:10.8. Libby Ellis from Minneapolis Southwest placed fourth overall with a time of 5:56.7, with Duluth East's Marian Lund earning a fifth-place tie with Daniels and Edina's Jen Rolfes (36:01.9) coming in seventh. Behind Burnsville, who recorded 378.5 points in its team triumph, was Southwest, whose 360 points was one better than Roseville in a fight for second place. After the third-place Raiders were, in order: Duluth East, Little Falls, Wayzata, Lakeville South and Osseo.