Kirk, Grzalek dominate the weekend
DULUTH, Minn. – The NMU alpine ski team ended its weekend with another decisive victory, with both teams sweeping the podium in the slalom and handily winning the day.
On the women’s side, the team swept the podium, claimed the top six finishes, and eight of the top ten spots. The women finished first as a team with their combined time of 3:34.99, followed by STO in second at 3:53.42, and UWMAD in third at 4:05.84.
Ainsley Kirk (A) finished atop the podium with her combined run time of 1:11.10. Kirk posted the fastest run one time (33.84) and second fastest run two time (37.26) en route to the victory.
Reagan Olli (A) was just .11 seconds slower than her teammate, finishing second with her total time of 1:11.21. Opposite of Kirk, Olli posted the second-fastest first run time (34.35) and the fastest run two time (36.86).
Rounding out the podium and team scoring was Ella Wichert (A), who posted run times of 35.21 and 37.37 on her way to claiming a bronze medal at Spirit Mountain.
Tommie Springer (A), Maddy Stern (B), and Marisa Witte (A) claimed spots four through six, and Emily Creek (B) and Jacey Johnson (B) finished 8th and 9th to round out the ‘Cats in the top ten.
Full women’s results from today can be found here.
On the men’s side, the ‘Cats swept the podium and took home the top four spots. The men finished first with a combined time of 3:19.05, followed by UWMAD at 3:34.34, and STO at 3:35.75.
Aaron Grzelak (A) claimed first with a total time of 1:05.81. Grzelak posted the second-fastest run one time (33.65) and second-fastest run two time (32.16) on his way to victory.
Next on the podium was Reed Heathman (A), who sat in seventh after his run one time of 34.40. Heathman responded with a run time of 31.93 in his second attempt, posting the fastest second-run finish time and jumping up five spots to claim silver.
Andrew Truman (A) rounded out the podium and team scoring with his combined time of 1:06.91. Anthony Petkov (A) rounded out the ‘Cats in the top ten with his fourh place finish at 1:07.70.
The men saw a couple of unfortunate second runs that came from top skiers. Kayan Hopke, who was in the lead after his first run (33.42), DNF in run two. Similarily, Connor Abraham sat in fourth after his first run time of 33.95, and he also DNF in his second run.
The full men’s results from today can be found here.
The Wildcats now look ahead to two weekends from now, when Marquette Mountain hosts the USCSA Regionals on Saturday, February 15 and Sunday, February 16.
