News

Marquette Senior High School Takes Home State Meet Title

The Marquette Senior High School Nordic Boys and Girls Team skied to the Michigan State Combined Title at the State Championships in Houghton on February 18 with a team score of 389 points. The Copper Country Ski Tigers came in 2nd with their Combined team total of 372 followed by Traverse City Central with 195 points. The MSHS Boys easily won the Boys Division picking up 232 points followed by the Copper Country Boys with 159 points and Traverse City Central with 100. The MSHS Girls took 2nd overall with a team total of 157. The Copper Country Girls placed first scoring 213 points while Traverse City Central took 3rd with 95 points.

Pacing the MSHS Girls was Ellen Wiitala of Marquette who won the 1K Classic Sprints and the 5K Pursuit—a 5K Freestyle race followed by a 5K Classic race. Her combined time for the Pursuit was 32:15 handily defeating Evelyn Delong of the Copper Country team whose combined time was 33:42. Britta Schroeter from the Gogebic Ski Team placed 3rd place with a time of 34:07. Wiitala, a senior, has won the title four years in a row.

Blake Murray of the MSHS Boys Team took the top spot with his combined 5K Pursuit time of 28:24. Murray, a junior took his first Pursuit win at States. Eric Wagner also of MSHS skied to 2nd place in the pursuit following with a combined time of 28:56. Third place finisher was Andrew Bruning of Traverse City Central with a time of 29:06. MSHS placed four more skiers in the top 10 including 6th place finisher Ben Wright with a time of 30:12, Marty Gray in 7th skiing in 30:17, Andrew Twohey in 9th with his time of 30:32, followed by Mike Wiitala in 10th skiing the pursuit in 31:20

MSHS Nordic Team Takes Girls and Boys Sprint Titles at Michigan State Championships

The Marquette High School Nordic Boys and Girls Team skied away to the top spots in the 1K Classic Sprints during the 2012 Michigan High School Championships at the Michigan Tech Trails on Friday, February 18. Andy Twohey edged out team mate Blake Murray to take the win while Ellen Wiitala handily took the win for the girls. The Boys Team took many of the top ten finishes including: Marty Gray 4th, Mike McFadden 6th, Eric Wagner, 7th, Mike Wiitala 8th and Ben Wright 9th. For the MSHS Girls Team, Bethany Wright took 7th overall and Abby Potts followed in 8th. The 5k Freestyle Pursuit and 5K Classic Pursuit take place Saturday afternoon.

Marquette Senior High School Nordic Team Members Qualify for Junior Nationals

Two Marquette Senior High School Nordic Ski Team members qualified for the Great Lakes Division Junior National team who will compete at the Junior National Championships being held at Soldier Hollow, Utah March 5-10. Marty Gray qualified in the J1Male Division and Mike Wiitala qualified in the J2 Male Division during the February 4 and 5 Keweenaw Nordic Ski Fest in Houghton and Chassell. Gray took 3rd in the J1 Male Division 10K Classic event skiing the Chassell course in 32:08.0. He placed 5th in the J1 Male Division 10K Freestyle race skiing the Michigan Tech ski course in 29:21. Wiitala took first in the J2 Male Division 5K Classic race with a time of 16:23.84. He also placed first in the J2 Male 5K Freestyle Division skiing the Michigan Tech course in 15:42. Wiitala was also named to the Central Cross Country Ski Division J2 Eastern Championships team (Rumford Maine, March 8 – 10).
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Noquemanon and Junior Noque Summary

MSHS Nordic Ski Team Takes Top Finishes at Noquemanon and Junior Noque

Marquette, MI – The Marquette Senior High School Nordic Team members competed in this past weekend’s Junior Noque and Noquemanon Ski Marathon and skied to top spots in many races. The course conditions were perfect for Friday and Saturday’s races with temperatures in the 20’s.
Friday night’s Junior Noque saw Ellen Wiitala and Blake Murray ski to first places finishes in the 5K Freestyle Female and Male Divisions respectively. Wiitala skied the course in 14:53.4 and Murray finished in 13:26.5. The MSHS Boys swept the podium with Eric Wagner taking 2nd by skiing the course in 13:46.2 and Marty Gray in third with a time of 14:01.3.

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Polos and T-Shirts for Sale

Superiorland Ski Club has Polos and T-Shirts for sale!
Polos —- $12.00
T-Shirts –$10.00

Interested? Please contact Paul Gray
Mobile: (906) 360-3940
E-mail: pgray1960@sbcglobal.net

Mayors Challenge

Superiorland ski club racers competed at the Mayors Challenge in Minneapolis this weekend (Jan 21-22) results at www.pttiming.com

Following this event, four Superiorland skiers are now qualified to compete for the Great Lakes Division at Junior Nationals in Soldier Hollow Utah in March. Congratulations to Ellen Wiitala (J1 girls); Blake Murray, Eric Wager, and Andy Twohey (J1 Boys).

Thursday Night Relays Cancelled 1/19/12

The Thursday Night Relays have been cancelled due to low temperatures and windchill. Look for the relays to be back on at the Fit Strip next Thursday, January 26th!

Ski Cats on the Loose

The Ski Cats kicked off the year to a great start this past Sunday. There was plenty of smiles, skiing and donuts to go around. Thank you to all the coaches, ski cats, and parents we are looking forward to a great winter!

Dividing up into ski groups.

Follow the leader.

Tug of war to end the day!

MSHS and Superiorland Ski Club Compete at Masabie East Invitational

The Marquette High School and Superiorland Nordic Ski Teams participated in the27th annual Mesabi East XC Invitational on January 7, 2012 at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, MN. This race is the nation’s largest high school cross country race with over 1000 skiers from 77 schools. This year’s 5 kilometer races were held as a lap event (2 x 2.5 kilometers) for the first time in its history due to low snow conditions. The race organizers created the course utilizing the man made snow base of the Giants Ridge downhill runs

In the team competition Marquette placed 13th in the Boys Varsity Division, 25th in the Girls Varsity Division, 29th in Boys JV and 39th in Girls JV. Top individual finishers for Marquette were Ellen Wiitala who took 3rd in the Girls Varsity 5K Classic Race with a time of 17:55.6. Blake Murray skied to a 7th place in the Boys Varsity 5K Classic with a time of 15:40.1. In the Boys 5K Varsity Freestyle, Eric Wagner skied to a 20th place finish with a time of 14:50.3. And in the Boys JV 5K Classic, Mike McFadden took 13th place skiing the course in 18:35.1.

Rounding out the team finishes in the 5K Girls Varsity Classic was Abby Potts in 92nd place with a time of 22:45.3. In the 5K Girls Varsity Freestyle, Beth Wright took 59th place in 18:45.9 and Sheila Flood took 117th in 20:45.6. In the Boys 5K Varsity Classic, Andy Twohey took 45th in 17:09 while Mike Wiitala skied to a 77th place in 18:12.3. In the Boys 5K Varsity Freestyle, Ben Wright took 74th in 16:09 while Marty Gray came in 155th with a 19:39.3 time.

In the JV Division, Paul Zyburt took 46th in the Boys 5K Freestyle while Michael Mlsna placed 66th (19:05.7) followed closely by Matt Sutton in 68th with a time of 19:16.4. Josh Collins was 78th in the classic (24:54.1). In the Girls Classic Race Ingrid Lindquist came in 74th with a time of 28.48.8 while Kendra Palomaki took 43rd in the 5K Freestyle with a time of 22:13.4.

Dan Wiitala, Marquette Assistant Coach, commented, “We are really happy with our team’s improvement over last year, going from 22nd to 13th in the boys division and from 62nd to 25th in the girls group, plus achieving two top 10 individual results in this competitive field. The success of the team can really be attributed to the growth in our athlete numbers as a recognized high school sport at MSHS, plus a very dedicated core of coaches and volunteers from Superiorland Ski Club supporting the team.”

Fit-Strip Thursdays

January 5, 2012 Thursday Night Relays Results

1st Vickie’s Misfits 47:41
2nd Joeys Team 48:15
3rd On Call 48:47
4th Blonde Power 50:45
5th Karl’s Kids 53:35
6th Jim, Steve, Mike 90:38

Thanks to all who participated in tonight’s Relays, it was a great night on excellently groomed trails! We will meet next Thursday (6:00pm) at the Fit-Strip for some fun sprints, feel free to come and join in!