PHOTOS: Westonka Nordic Skiers Earn All-Conference Honors

Mound Westonka's varsity Nordic ski team concluded the Twin Cities Nordic Ski Conference season on Jan. 27. Due to the lack of snow, the meet was held at Elm Creek Park Reserve, which is equipped with snowmakers.

"Conference isn't generally held on a two-loop course and that caused errors with the time keepers," said head coach Sue Harrison. "It was a long and crazy day."  

The meet was a grueling 10K pursuit, with combined 5K classic and 5K skate times.  

The boy's team moved up three places since last year, finishing third of 11 schools with 438 points, behind 1st place Nordic powerhouse Irondale (467 points) and only four points behind St. Louis Park.  

"These are both strong teams," said Harrison. "Our guys did a great job."

The boys were led by sophomore Scott Harrison, whose combined 10K time of 28:30 earned a 6th place finish out of 94 skiers. Senior captain Jack Inglis finished in 7th place at 28:39. Senior captain Bjorn Larson, who was in 18th place at the classic race, moved up to 14th after the skate race, finishing with a combined time of 29:29.  

Harrison, Inglis and Larson all earned All-Conference recognition.  

Junior Grant Piepkorn finished in 18th place at 30:03. Sophomore Kole Retterath had been in 33rd place after the classic race, and an outstanding skate performance brought him up to finish in 22nd place.  

Piepkorn and Retterath both earned All-Conference Honorable Mention.

Contributing to the varsity boys success were juniors Tommy Tully and Danny Humbert and seniors Victor Brenk, Anders Skodje and James Woods.

The varsity girls, missing last year's conference champion Julia Harrison and state qualifier Krista Humbert, were able to maintain their 6th place conference standing.  

Their goal was to edge out a strong St. Paul Central team, and they succeeded by two points.  

In her first year on the team, senior Shawna Heilman had a remarkable season, finishing the 10K pursuit with a 25th place finish and an All-Conference Honorable Mention award. At her heels was sophomore Mackenzie Strehle, who finished in 26th place, also earning All-Conference Honorable Mention.

Sophomore Maddy Kalgren finished the classic race in 41st and moved up to finish 36th after the skate event. Notable point earners were senior captains Karly Boll and Heidi Dotzenroth; sophomores Rose Inglis, Katie Linder, Gabby Smerillo and Sari Mailey; and eighth grader Meghan Matt.

The junior varsity Nordic ski team will compete in the JV Conference Championship meet at Green Acres on Feb. 2.  

The varsity team continues on to their section meet on Feb. 9 at Theodore Wirth Park and will face Nordic behemoth Eden Prairie for the first time. The state meet will be skied at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, MN, on Feb. 16.