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Keeping Up on the Trails

By Tom Schardin, 01/14/18, 11:45AM CST

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The Prior Lake Nordic ski teams hit the trails twice in a span of four days.

The Lakers competed in the Loppet Invitational at Wirth Parkway Jan. 6 and followed with a 5,000-meter South Suburban Conference classical race Jan. 9 at Hyland Hills in Bloomington.

The Prior Lake girls were sixth out of 17 teams at the Loppet invite with 266 points. St. Paul Highland Park won the crown (343), followed by Eastview (310). The Laker boys were eighth (248) with Highland Park winning (332), followed by Robbinsdale Armstrong (322).

At the SSC meet, the Laker boys ended up third out of seven teams with 111.5 points. Burnsville won (132), followed by Eagan (118.5). Independent School Distrct 196 was fourth (98), followed by Winona (94), Northfield (51.5) and Lakeville (24.5).

On the girls side, Prior Lake was fourth (86). Eastview won (121), followed by Lakeville () and Winona (98). Independent School District 196 and Northfield were fifth (92), followed by Burnsville (51).

Olivia Jacobson led all skiers in the girls race. The Prior Lake junior won with a time of 18:12. Junior Maddie Clemensen was the team's next-best finisher in 19th (20:59), followed by junior Ingrid O'Connor in 22nd (21:43).

Other finishes for the girls: senior Jessie McElwain (29th, 22:32), ninth-grader Laura Murr (31st, 23:06), seventh-grader Sophia Jacobson (33rd, 23:18), sophomore Bryanne Pinkowski (42nd, 25:59) and ninth-grader Maia Johnson (43rd, 26:03).

For the Laker boys, ninth-grader Tom Beyer led the way taking sixth overall (16:56), while junior Henry Trajano was 12th (17:39) and ninth-grader Magnus O'Connor was 15th (17:50).

Others: junior Ben Jansen (17th, 17:56), senior Gus Schatzlein (19th, 17:57), sophomore Liam Schatzlein (20th, 18:05) and senior Alex Kampen (45th, 20:57).

At the Loppet invite, Jacobson led the way for the girls in the classical race, taking third (15:54.52), while Clemensen was 19th (18:25.4) and McElwain was 31st (20:08.2).

In freestyle, Murr led the girls squad taking 19th on the 5,000-meter course (17:23.4), while Pinkowski was 27th (18:48.11) and senior Alex Pinkowski was 38th (20:52.82).

In the boys freestyle race, Beyer led the Lakers taking 12th (12:52.88), followed by Kampen in 31st (15:01.4) and sophomore Marco Valdivia in 40th (16:14.43). In classical, Trajano was 16th (14:54.9), while Liam Schatzlein was 23rd (15:43.67) and ninth-grader Eric Orham was 48th (20:28.43).

In the relays, the Laker girls' best finish was 11th, while was boys were 12th.

Both Laker teams will race in a conference freestyle race at Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve in Savage Jan. 16 at 3:45 p.m.

The SSC Championships are Jan. 30 at Hyland Hills at 9:30 a.m.