It doesn’t take a lot of snow to bring a smile to Linnea Ousdigian’s face. This winter served as a testament.
“Every opportunity Linnea can get, regardless of weather or snow conditions, she wants to be out skiing,” Mounds View coach Ian O’Neill said. “She loves to ski, looking for every opportunity to push herself and improve.”
Ousdigian did just that from the outset of the season and became the first girls Nordic skiing state champion in program history. She has since won the under-16 mass start classic event at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Cross Country Junior Nationals in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Now she’s the Star Tribune’s Metro Girls Nordic Skier of the Year.
“What I find most impressive about Linnea is her poise under pressure,” O’Neill said. “She gets excited by the opportunity to compete against the best, and no moment seems too big for her.”
A freshman, Ousdigian won the pursuit individual state championship with a time of 27 minutes, 43.8 seconds over the 5K classic and 5K freestyle courses at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.
“With her level of technique and fitness, even at her young age, nothing Linnea does shocks me,” O’Neill said. “For a long time I’ve known she’s been capable of success like this.”
Ousdigian sat in fourth place with a time of 14:55.3 after the 5K classic race in the morning. She trailed the leader by more than 17 seconds but won by nearly five seconds.
