Second, third and fourth place finishers
BRILLION, Wisc. — The NMU men’s nordic ski team claimed three of the top four finishes at the first CCSA conference event of the season.
In temperatures dipping close to negative figures at the Ariens Nordic Center, the ‘Cats earned silver, bronze, and a fourth-place finish in the 15k skate interval start.
The ‘Cats were led by senior Luke Fricker (Canmore, Alberta), who earned a silver medal finish with his time of 28:41.9, six seconds behind Wes Campbell of Michigan Tech for gold. Aside from his first lap time of 7:01.1, Ficker’s lap times of 7:09.9, 7:12.9, and 7:17.9 were all first or second-fastest, respectively.
Reigning CCSA Male Skier of the Year, redshirt junior Adrik Kraftson (Stillwater, Minnesota) earned a bronze-medal finish with his time of 28:58.9. Kraftson came out of the gate with a blistering first-lap time of 6:55.3, and would go on to post lap times of 7:18.2, 7:21.7, and 7:23.5.
Senior Jonathan Clarke (Bloomington, Minnesota) rounded out the ‘Cats in the top-10 with his time of 29:15.4, good enough to earn a fourth-place finish. Fricker posted lap times of 7:05.9, 7:17.6, 7:25.7, and 7:26.0 en route to crossing the finish line.
Finishing 10th among conference skiers and sixth among U23 racers was sophomore transfer Caden Albrecht (Stillwater, Minnesota), who posted a time of 30:15.8 after posting lap times of 7:10.4, 7:46.3, 7:40.0, and 7:38.9.
Hendrik Peterson finished 14th among CCSA conference skiers with his time of 30:45.5, and freshman Jack Dahlby finished 28th among CCSA skiers with a time of 33:20.7. Dahlby also competed in the junior 7.5km on Saturday, where he finished seventh among 58 skiers in the 7.5km, posting a time of 16:21.5. He posted the second-fastest lap one time of 7:51.3 before recording a second lap time of 8:30.1.
