Skiing: Section meets scheduled next week

Alpine championships at Buck Hill; Nordic at Hyland

Unseasonably warm weather isn’t expected to keep high school Alpine and Nordic skiers from pursuing state meet berths next week.

The Section 6 Alpine meet and Section 1 Nordic meet are scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 6. As of now they’re on for their regularly scheduled locations – Buck Hill in Burnsville (Alpine) and Hyland Recreation Area in Bloomington (Nordic). Artificial snow has been put down at those sites whenever it was feasible to do so.

The Section 6 Alpine meet will be contested over two runs, with boys and girls competing simultaneously on side-by-side courses. The first run starts at 10:30 a.m., with the second run at 1:30 p.m. An awards ceremony will be at approximately 4 p.m.

Competing teams in Section 6 include Lakeville North (girls and boys), Lakeville South (girls and boys), Burnsville/Shakopee (girls and boys), Prior Lake/Farmington (girls and boys), Eagan (girls and boys), Eastview (girls and boys), Rosemount/Apple Valley (girls only), Apple Valley (boys only) and Rosemount (boys only). The top two teams for each gender will advance to the state meet, as will the top 10 individuals who aren’t members of a qualifying team. The Eagan girls and Edina boys are defending Section 6 team champions, and Lakeville North’s boys advanced to state by placing second to Edina.

The Section 1 Nordic meet starts at 10 a.m. Feb. 6 and will consist of team sprints and an individual pursuit competition. Both events count toward team totals. The ISD 196 boys co-op team consisting of skiers from Apple Valley, Eastview and Rosemount high schools, plus the School of Environmental Studies, won last year’s boys team championship. Eastview/Rosemount was second in the 2023 girls section meet to advance to state.

Also competing in the Section 1 meet are combined Lakeville North/Lakeville South boys and girls teams, Burnsville boys and girls teams, and Eagan boys and girls teams.

The first- and second-place boys and girls teams in Nordic sections advance to the state meet. Also qualifying are the top four pursuit skiers who aren’t members of an advancing team, and the top team pursuit squad that hasn’t already qualified.

The state Alpine and Nordic meets will be held at Giants Ridge in Biwabik. The Alpine meet is a one-day event on Tuesday, Feb. 13, while the Nordic meet takes place over two days (Feb. 14-15). Team sprints will be held the first day of the Nordic meet, followed by individual pursuit races the second day.

Alpine results

Eastview won for the third time in five South Suburban Conference boys meets, finishing 15 points ahead of Lakeville South on Jan. 23 at Buck Hill. Lakeville North and Rosemount are the other two teams to win on the boys side this season.

Meanwhile, Lakeville North senior Lou Brucciani was individual medalist for the fourth time, turning a combined two-run time of 45.69 seconds. Lakeville South sophomore Jack Olson, who has one SSC victory this season, was second at last week’s meet in 45.82. Blake Stout of Prior Lake/Farmington led after the first run and went on to finish third in 45.97. Cole Peltz of Lakeville South and Ed Brookhart of Lakeville North completed the top five.

Eastview placed seven skiers in the top 30 to win the team competition, including top-10 finishers Riley Smith (seventh, 49.12) and Owen Schultz (10th, 51.26).

Courtney Bumpers of Eagan medaled for the third time in five SSC meets. Her combined time of 50.43 at the Jan. 23 conference meet was about three-tenths of a second faster than Annabel McCann of Prior Lake/Farmington, who has one victory in the SSC season. Brenna Peltz of Lakeville South (51.66), Olivia Murphy of Lakeville South (52.05) and Kovyn Rice of Prior Lake/Farmington (52.19) also placed in the top five.

Prior Lake/Farmington won the girls team competition by 59 points over runner-up Lakeville South, with Eagan placing third. Sophomore Emily Reid (seventh), eighth-grader Olivia Reid (ninth) and ninth-grader Elizabeth McCroskey (10th) also placed in the top 10 for Prior Lake/Farmington.

Nordic results

Emily Percival of Eastview/Rosemount was medalist at a South Suburban Conference freestyle race Jan. 17 at Battle Creek Park in St. Paul. The senior finished the 5-kilometer course in 15 minutes, 28.7 seconds, with Burnsville senior Kaelyn Ambuehl second in 15:42.0. Third was Lakeville sophomore Faye Braun in 16:14.5. Ellyn Engels, a senior from Lakeville, came in fifth in 16:33.7.

Winona placed four skiers in the top 10 and won the team competition by nine points over Eastview/Rosemount. Lakeville took third, Burnsville fifth and Eagan seventh.

Eagan senior Luke Poppinga (15:01.0) and Burnsville senior Quinn Hess (15:04.0) were second and third in the boys varsity race. Taking first was Prior Lake senior Tommy Simmonds, who finished in 14:48.0.

Walter Haakenson of ISD 196 placed sixth in 15:07.3.

Winona had four boys finish in the top nine to edge Prior Lake by seven points in the team competition. Eagan, Burnsville, ISD 196 and Lakeville were third through sixth.