BIWABIK, MINN. - Duluth East's Nordic skiing teams swept the sprint races Wednesday at Giants Ridge, with Liesl Cope-Schaeffer defending her title with new teammate Greta Hendrickson and the Greyhounds boys battling through a messy finish.
"It's awesome," champion Colin Willemsen said of the double victories for Duluth East. "We knew we had two strong teams."
The Greyhounds girls team made winning the Minnesota State High School League title in the 5K race look easy on a 20-degree day with biting winds. The duo, wearing swatches of red glitter on their cheeks, finished in 16 minutes, 1.87 seconds, nearly 18 seconds ahead of runner-up St. Paul Academy.
Duluth East's boys finished in 14 minutes, 5.22 seconds, and Bemidji made a last-minute surge for second place.
The skiing state meet started Tuesday with Alpine races, and the final Nordic races of the event will be Thursday morning at the Iron Range hill.
Hendrickson raised her poles in jubilation after crossing the finish line, then did a little celebratory leap.
"It was such a good day," said Cope-Schaeffer, who watched her teammate finish the final stretch of the four-lap race from inside the track. "We felt great."
Cope-Schaeffer won the state title last year with teammate Rowan Bixler, who is competing in Thursday's individual pursuit. That was the first year for the two-skier team sprint.
