Warrior skiers qualify for state

Brainerd Warriors Christina Roberts and Chris Woodard qualified for state following their performances in the Section 8 nordic skiing meet Wednesday at Sugar Hills Resort in Grand Rapids.

Roberts returns to state for the second straight year, this time in the pursuit event, a combination of the classical and freestyle disciplines.

Roberts, a sophomore, finished sixth in the pursuit with a time of 35 minutes, 42 seconds.

"Last year, Christina went to state only in classic," Warriors coach Chris Hanson said. "That's still her stronger technique but she showed her growth and improvement by qualifying as a pursuiter. She has improved in that freestyle discipline. She's become a stronger skier all-around. Now she gets to do two races at the state meet."

Woodard, a freshman, advanced to state in freestyle with a ninth-place time of 14:26.

"The pressure was on Chris," Hanson said. "Everyone knew he had the potential to advance. Sometimes that can be a lot of pressure for someone who's only a freshman.

"Chris came through in the second race (freestyle). He didn't get discouraged after his first race (classic) even though it was a sub-par performance. He came back in the second race to do what he needed to do."

Both Brainerd teams finished third in their respective races. Grand Rapids was first with 787 and Brainerd had 694.

Warrior sophomore Anna Mangan finished 10th in the freestyle, one place and one second shy of qualifying for state.

Grand Rapids also won the boys' team title with 788 points and Brainerd scored 664.

Brainerd's Chris Endreson finished 13th in the boys' pursuit and Ty Hunt was 12th in the boys' freestyle.

"Ty skied the race of the year for him," Hanson said. "He finished between Woodard and Endreson. We've been waiting for him all year to do that."

Boys team scores -- 1-Grand Rapids 788, 2-Bemidji 726, 3-Brainerd 664, 4-Mora 661.5, 5-Alexandria 613, 6-St. Cloud Apollo, 564.5 7-Little Falls 560.5, 8-Detroit Lakes 556.5, 9-Fergus Falls 555, 10-Deer River 314, Battle Lake and Greenway incomplete

Classic race -- 1-Kevin Patzold (GR) 14:54, 2-Aaron Roessler (GR) 15:17, 3-Lars Gaalaas (GR) 15:25, 4-Ben Byrne (GR) 15:26, 5-Aaron Nistler (BE) 16:04, 6-Dan Johnson (DL) 16:12, 7-David Grundy (BE) 16:13, 8-Ross Roetman (BE) 16:16, 9-Erik Newman (GR) 16:26, 10-Andy Rishavy (A) 16:30 16-Chris Woodard (BR) 16:47, 17-Chris Endreson (BR) 16:51, 22-Dustin Matson (BR) 17:31, 37-Ben Endreson (BR) 19:27

Freestyle race -- 1-Byrne (GR) 12:57, 2-Patzold (GR) 13:11, 3-Gaalaas (GR) 13:13, 4-Roessler (GR) 13:22, 5-Gerling (GR) 13:51, 6-Eric Olson (M) 14:02, 7-Johnson (DL) 14:17, 8-Wynn Roberts (BL) 14:19, 9-Woodard (BR) 14:26, 10-Nistler (BE) 14:36 12-Ty Hunt (BR) 14:41, 14-Chris Endreson (BR) 14:49, 22-Matson (BR) 15:28, 28-Brandon Towne (BR) 15:40, 33-Titus Goodew (BR) 16:03, 36-Ben Endreson (BR) 16:08,

Pursuit race -- 1-Patzold (GR) 28:05, 2-Byrne (GR) 28:23, 3-Gaalaas (GR) 28:38, 4-Roestler (GR) 28:39, 5-Gerling (GR) 30:25, 6-Johnson (DL) 30:29, 7-Olson (M) 30:35, 8-Nistler (B) 30:49, Roetman (BE) 31:08, 10-Woodard (BR) 31:13, 13-Chris Endreson (BR) 31:40, 21-Matson (BR) 32:59, 34-Ben Endreson (BR) 35:35

Girls team scores --1-Grand Rapids 787, 2-Bemidji 704, 3-Brainerd 694, 4-Mora 683, 5-Alexandria 645, 6-Little Falls 581.5, 7-Fergus Falls 527.5, 8-St. Cloud Apollo 469, 9-Detroit Lakes 456, Deer River inc. Sauk Rapids inc.

Classic race -- 1-Kari Lunemann (GR) 17:48, 2-Megan Zupan (GR) 17:53, 3-Brynden Manbeck (GR) 18:15, 4-Katie Zupan (GR) 18:50, 5-Janna Johnson (GR) 18:56, 6-Christina Roberts (BR) 19:05, 7-Andrea Smith (BE) 19:17, 8-Erin Rude (BE) 19:29, 9-Larissa Sigurdsen (M) 19:43, 10-Kati Lueth (BE) 20:00 15-Anna Mangan (BR) 20:58, 22-Kelli Jensen (BR) 22:12, 25-Greta Biersach (BR) 22:21, 36-Rebecca Mueller (BR) 24:53

Freestyle race -- 1-Manbeck (GR) 15:13, 2-Lunemann (GR) 15:23, 3-Megan Zupan (GR) 16:06, 4-Sigurdsen (M) 16:10, 5-Katie Zupan (GR) 16:15, 6-Johnson (GR) 16:19, 7-Roberts (BR) 16:37, 8-Mariah Olson (M) 17:03, 9-Erica Ahlgren (M) 17:16, 10-Mangan (BR) 17:17 14-Emily Powers (BR) 17:52, 15-Erika Dunbeck (BR) 18:04

Pursuit race -- 1-Lunemann (GR) 33:11, 2-Manbeck (GR) 33:28, 3-Megan Zupan (GR) 33:59, 4-Katie Zupan (GR) 35:05, 5-Johnson (GR) 35:15, 6-Roberts (BR) 35:42, 7-Sigurdsen (M) 35:53, 8-Smith (BE) 36:40, 9-Kate Eklin (GR) 37:53, 10-Lueth (BE) 38:05, 11-Mangan (BR) 38:15

Next meet -- State meet, Giants Ridge, Biwabik, Feb. 15.