CABLE – The 37th Wisconsin State Nordic Distance Championships attracted more than 270 high school skiers from all over the state Feb. 9-10 in Cable.
Skiers contested Saturday’s individual start 6.5-kilometer skate race in the bitter cold.
In Sunday’s snowy, classic round, they reprised the course in head-to-head pursuit, with each athlete starting at the time back position posted the previous day.
On Saturday, Ashwaubenon Nordic Ski Team’s (ANST) trio of Jackson Adler (Green Bay East), Ryan Thieme (Bay Port) and Daniel Huhtala (Ashwaubenon) were tied with a Milwaukee area team, Peak Nordic.
The team answered convincingly on Sunday by skiing the first, second and third fastest classic legs in the race.
Adler improved from second to first and was crowned the 2019 state boys pursuit champion after finishing second in 2018.
Thieme moved up from third to second and Huhtala powered from 16th to seventh in the final standings to help Ashwaubenon win its first boys’ state championship as a team.
Teammate Joe Stumpf (Pulaski) took the sixth spot in the boys’ middle school 3.8 km pursuit in a field of 100 skiers.
Every member of the squad improved their position from last year.
From Ashwaubenon High School, Kevin Johnson finished 16th, Alex Lukens 17th, Sam Calaway 46th and Mason Vinoski came across in 53rd.
Bay Port freshman Grant Rocheleau posted a 41st place and Wrightstown freshman Nick Swanson finished in 129th.
The ANST fielded two high school girls: Veteran Kaitlyn Behm finished 22nd in the pursuit, moving up 36 places from her 2018 result, and new skier, Grace Hubbard, finished 120th.
Blake Thieme (Bay View Middle School) improved 20 places to 30th in the middle school pursuit competition.