After clinching a state berth with a second-place finish in the Section 7 tournament, the Forest Lake girls Nordic ski team placed 11th at the state tournament, held at Giants Ridge in Biwabik over a two-day stretch on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 14-15. The squad had roughly a week’s worth of time to rest and prepare for the state tournament, where Forest Lake’s girls Nordic, along with and boys’ team sophomore Jonas Hebert, compete in the final stages of what has been a strange 2023-24 season due to the weather.
“It was totally different conditions and courses than what we’ve been used to in the past,” head coach Jenna Parent said. “So, I think for everybody, their expectation was to just go out on this new course and have a great day and put together good performances. It’s been such a unique experience and year for us, I’m just glad they had the chance to be there and represent the Rangers.”
Junior captain Norah Hushagen would ultimately place the best out of her group, finishing at 27th overall out of 112 total skiers at the state meet, with her skate time in the pursuit being the 10th-fastest finish of the afternoon. Hushagen accumulated a combined time of 29:45.1, just a millisecond behind the next-highest finisher from Minneapolis Washburn and just ahead of the next following skier from Alexandria. Senior captain Chloe Erickson and Madelein Bonnett each placed at the 44 and 52 slots, respectively, finalizing times of 30:38.9 and 31:14.9 through the classic and freestyle intervals.
On the second day of the state meet, Elsa Swenson and Clara Zak placed 22nd overall in the classic sprint relays, bringing the girls to an 11th-place finish out of 16 total teams with 278 points. Forest Lake finished ahead of the co-op unit Proctor/Hermantown (271), while trailing the 10th-place team in Winona/Cotter/HL by just 3 points (281).
“The girls, when they finished the race, seemed pretty content on where they were at and where they placed as a team overall,” Parent said, noting the tough state competition. “I was extremely proud of Norah. In her first race in the morning, we all knew it didn’t go in her favor as much as she had hoped. But she totally found a way to rearrange her mind going into the afternoon and she gave it her best shot. She made up like 10 places, which in a skate pursuit on a course like that, it’s extremely hard to do. It’s fun to watch her ski when her mind is in the right spot.”
The lone Ranger
In the boys pursuit, Hebert made a name for himself by placing 41st overall out of 111 boys in his respective category.
“He’s only a sophomore, so it will be very exciting to see what he does and what he can do within the next couple of years he has left,” Parent stated.
Hebert wound up with a total result time of 26:40.2, .05 seconds ahead of his rival from Mounds View and just over half a second behind his opponent from Duluth East. Between the two racing categories, Hebert put together a time of 14:07 in the classic interval, good for 37th overall, while scoring a time of 12:32 in the freestyle to round out his overall placement of 41.
Parent gave some thought into the overall experiences that her team endured during the action-packed weekend at Giants Ridge.
“It was awesome. It’s the day that finally comes in the season where every single school and athlete is just excited to be there. This tension builds up before the sections meet because you have that one day to prepare and qualify for state. But after that, it’s like it releases and you get into this whole community where everyone is excited to be there and we’re all wishing good luck to everybody,” Parent said. “Even the other Suburban East athletes and section athletes, we are all congratulating them all on their performances. It’s a wholesome environment and it’s super great to be there. I really hope we can get there again in the future.”
Alpine
Three Forest Lake Alpine ski team members also hit the slopes at Giants Ridge for some state tournament action in Biwabik, Minnesota, on Tuesday, Feb. 13, following their successful outings in the Section 7 Alpine ski tournament the week prior. The Rangers saw three skiers qualify for the 2024 Minnesota State Alpine Ski tournament: seniors Mathias Peterson and Maja Henslin, and sophomore Sam Andreski, all of whom competed in the individual runs in the early morning hours.
Peterson finished 15th out of 88 at the meet on an official result time of 1:19.18. The senior put together a pair of solid runs, recording times of 38.28 and 40.90 on his first and second runs, respectively. His finish put him just a half second behind the next highest finisher from Benilde St. Margaret’s, while finishing milliseconds ahead of the 16th place skier from Orono.
Andreski came in at 51st overall with an official result time of 1:26.50, over a second behind the next highest skier from St. Francis and over a second and a half ahead of a skier from Hopkins at 52.
“I’m sure he will be eager to get back to the state meet and perform even better next time around,” head coach Trevor Pinewski said.
Henslin was the lone girl participating in the state meet for Forest Lake. Henslin ultimately placed 30th out of 87 other skiers at the meet. She completed the race on an official result time of 1:28.58, .02 seconds behind a skier from Minneapolis Washburn and just a half second under the next highest racer from Brainerd.
“The overall experience was great. We had good weather and an exceptional showing of support from team members of those who did not qualify to cheer on our athletes,” Pinewski said. “It was a great experience for us all to be a part of [it] together.”
LILA skier Julia Pfingsten posted run times of 46.17 (65), and 47.98 (59), for a total of 1:34.15 for a placement of 54.
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