MTU’s Burns, Hansen earn second and third place finishes
Courtesy NMU – HOUGHTON, Mich. – The NMU women’s nordic ski team opened its conference championship weekend a few hours west in Houghton with the mass start 20k.
Victoria Dybwad made a dramatic comeback to claim gold, finishing first among conference skiers with her time of 1:03:40.0. Dybwad started in ninth after the first 5k lap, moved up to eighth after the 10k lap, moved one more spot to seventh after the 15k lap, then jumped up five spots to finish first among conference skiers and second overall, trailing only Gretta Scholz of Team Birkie. Dybwad posted lap times of 16:41.2, 15:36.2, 15:42.7, and 15:39.8.
Bridget Burns and Greta Hansen of Michigan Tech claimed silver and bronze, utilizing the home course advantage as the race was taking place on the Tech Trails. Burns finished at 1:03:41.8, and Hansen finished at 1:03:45.0.
The next Wildcat was Henriette Nilssen in fifth among conference skiers, posting lap times of 16:33.5, 15:41.4, 15:44.0, and 16:11.3 en route to her final time of 1:04:10.4.
Merle Richter and Jordan Parent rounded out the ‘Cats in the top-10, with Richter finishing ninth at 1:06:11.9 and Parent in tenth at 1:06:22.8.
Ella Niznik finished 18th at 1:09:55.3 and Pearl Harvey at 1:10:10.5 in 19th to round out the Wildcat skiers.
The Green and Gold now look ahead tomorrow to the 7.5k individual classic. The women start their race at 9:30 a.m. from Houghton.
