The Michigan Tech Nordic Ski team put in a good overall performance at the 2019 CCSA Conference Championships. Several Huskies finished on the podium in their respective events, highlighted by Amanda Kautzer and Sarah Goble taking third place in the 15k Classic and the 5k Skate, respectively. Across the two days of competition, the Huskies took second place in the team standings, behind Northern Michigan and ahead of St. Scholastica.
In Saturday’s Classic, Kautzer took third place with a time of 53:27.1, her best time of the season in the 15k Classic. The junior from Plymouth, Michigan also placed fifth in Sunday’s 5k Skate race with a time of 15:38.9. As for Goble, the Harbor Springs, Michigan-native took third place in the 5k Skate with a time of 15:09.4. Oda Hovland also scored a ninth-place finish in the Classic with a time of 57:49.7.
On the men’s side of competition, Patrick Acton finished fourth in Sunday’s 10k Freestyle Skate with a time of 24:37.1, just missing out on a spot on the podium by 18.3 seconds. Joining Acton in the top 10 for Michigan Tech was Gaspard Cuenot (5th, 24:40.9), Reid Goble (7th, 24:47.4), Tom Bye (9th, 25:00.3), and Dan Wood (10th, 25:18.1). Kristoffer Vollset crossed the finish line at 25:18.7 to finish just outside the top 10.
The MTU men also had two skiers finish in the top 10 in Saturday’s race. Goble came in fifth with a time of 55:43.4 as the highest-placing Husky in the 20k Classic. Joining Goble in Saturday’s top 10 was Bye in eighth with a time of 57:42.9. Acton (58:09.2) and Mark Ousdigian (58:34.2) both finished outside the top 10 for the Huskies.
“The team had a solid performance on Sunday,” said head coach Thomas Smith. “They had a few struggles on Saturday, and I believe many of them came in with a chip on their shoulders. We definitely had a much stronger Sunday as a team.”
The Huskies will return to competition on February 23-24 when they host the 2019 NCAA Central Region Championships from the Michigan Tech Recreation Trails. This marks the first time since 2014 that Michigan Tech will host an NCAA Regional skiing event.
“We’re really looking forward to hosting Regionals,” said Smith. “We feel that nobody knows our course better than us. We really want to try and solidify our chance to qualify as many men and women for the National Championships as possible. We know our very best is yet to come.”
Michigan Tech sent five Huskies to the NCAA Skiing National Championships last season. Gaspard Cuenot, Tom Bye, Reid Goble, Amanda Kautzer, and Sarah Goble all represented the Black and Gold in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in 2018.
