Skiers wrap up season at NCAA Championship

Michigan Tech skier Tryg Solberg races during the NCAA Championship Saturday in Hanover, New Hampshire.
HANOVER, New Hampshire — The Michigan Tech Huskies Nordic ski teams wrapped up their season at the NCAA Championship on Saturday. The Huskies placed 13th in the Nordic standings at Oak Hill Outdoor Center.
In Thursday’s 7.5k individual start classic, Colin Freed led the Huskies in 20th place. Tryg Solberg was 36th in the men’s race. Marie Sølverud Wangen led the women in 28th with Bridget Burns (39th) and Greta Hansen (40th) also competing for the Huskies.
Solberg finished 20th in the 20k mass start skate race on Saturday to lead Tech. Freed finished 36th. Hansen led the women, crossing the line in 25th with Burns (30th) and Marie Sølverud Wangen (38th) also racing.
“Unfortunately, the team came down with a sickness and wasn’t able to ski to its full potential,” Tech coach Tom Monahan Smith said. “We are so darn proud of them because they still stepped up to the plate and just competed as absolutely hard as they possibly could and really represented us with a lot of pride and courage.
“Tryg was able to get a top 20 finish today, and I think to be honest, it really just shows the caliber of athletes our guys are. They really truly are All-American caliber athletes when they are healthy, and they did prove that by competing as well as they did while not being 100 percent.”
Monahan Smith was also proud of the effort of his female skiers.
“Greta and Bridget took right into the pack that they were skiing in and just threw down an awesome last lap to beat a couple of their competitors and move them up into the standings,” he said. “Marie had a tough day today but man she really came out swinging in that classic race, and we were really psyched to see her score NCAA points as well. She faded a bit in the final lap but really went for it and you can never be disappointed with really taking your risk and absolutely going for it. It was awesome to see all three women scoring NCAA points in their first time competing here.”