Part of the American Birkebeiner Start, Baanerud won the 15-kilometer men’s Under-23/Senior race on Saturday in 40 minutes, 36.9 seconds, winning by more than 30 seconds.

Teammate Tobias Moosmann came in at 42:05.8 for third, while another Wildcat, Matthew Bourne, was fifth in 42:31.8 and Maurus Grond was seventh in 42:37.1, Kristoffer Karsrud ninth in 43:10.5, Xavier Mansfield 11th in 43:27.9 and Cooper Lennox 18th in 44:23.9.

On the women’s side on Saturday, NMU sophomore Malin Boerjesjoe won her U18/U20/U23/Senior 10K race in 31:37.1, again more than 30 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

Teammate Savanna Fassio was sixth in 32:58.7, while Pearl Harvey was 11th in 34:22.5 and Gretchen Haggenmiller 15th in 35:03.9.

Malin Boerjesjoe

On Sunday, Baanerud repeated his winning performance in the Under-23/Senior men’s 10K in 22:45.7, coming in just over 20 seconds ahead of teammate and runner-up Moosmann, who clocked 23:07.2.

Gront was seventh in 23:38.0 and Karsrud eighth in 23:39.2, while Lennox was 31st in 25:00.3 and Bourne 60th in 26:27.4 in a 130-man field.

Boerjesjoe again paced Northern’s women, placing third for bronze in the women’s U16/U18/U20/U23/Senior 5K in 13:15.9, about 24 seconds behind winner Caitlin Gregg of Loppet High Performance and Team Gregg.

Fassio was sixth in 13:23.7, less than two seconds out of fourth, while Harvey was 16th in 14:19.5 and Haggenmiller 33rd in 15:00.0.

The Wildcat nordic ski team returns to the course in two weeks when they host the CCSA Conference Qualifier at the Al Quaal Recreation Area in Ishpeming on Jan. 30-31.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.