The Men’s and Women’s ski team traveled to Tech Trails, hosted by Michigan Tech University (MTU), to compete in the U.S. National Championships on Thursday, Jan. 2 through Tuesday, Jan. 7. Both teams combined to win the college cup at the event.  

“In our freestyle sprints, many of our athletes were able to move into the quarterfinals for the event,” Fjeldheim said.

Kjetil Baanerud led the men, and Molly Miller led the women for the Wildcats. 

 “[Baanerud] was able to finish fourth place overall, and by far this was his best performance in the sprint event,” Fjeldheim said. “For Molly to win both the sprint events it was a great confidence builder for her.” 

Some other top finishes for the team included Tobias Moosaman finishing third in the men’s freestyle sprint. On the women’s side following Miller’s stellar performance was Katerina Hyncicova, who finished 19th overall. The teams overall both finished in first with a score of 538 after the first two days of competition, defeating both MTU and the University of Vermont. 

 “The win was a solid start to the season, we still have a lot of work to do and many more races to come leading up to the NCAA finals in March.” Fjeldheim said.

The ‘Cats have just started its season, so there’s a lot of work ahead before the NCAA Championships. Coming up this weekend, the team will head to Mount Itasca Ski Center in Coleraine, Minnesota to compete in CXC/CCSA qualifier on Saturday, Jan. 18 and Sunday, Jan. 19.