Fjeldheim retired in March after 35 years leading the Wildcats, but he picked up two more honors on Tuesday.

That’s when he earned the Overall Development Coach of the Year and the Cross Country Development Coach of the Year from U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

It’s the third time Fjeldheim has won the overall

award and the fourth time he’s won the cross country award. He also won the first award in 2000 and 2005 and the latter award in 1991, 2005 and 2016.

This season, the Wildcats finished fourth at the NCAA Championships and won both the men’s and women’s Central Collegiate Ski Association Championships and the NCAA Central Regional title.

NMU skiing coach Sten Fjeldheim of Marquette rests after coming in second in the men's 5-kilometer classical event of the Noquemanon Ski Marathon in February 1999. (Journal file photo)

Four NMU skiers earned a total of five All-American honors with Molly Miller winning two as Malin Boerjesjoe, Zak Ketterson and Kjetil Baanerud picked up one apiece.

During his career with Northern, Fjeldheim coached 102 All-American skiers and 11 Olympians, won two NCAA women’s Nordic Skiing national titles and one combined NCAA Nordic national championship.

He also coached seven Northern skiers to individual national titles.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard also noted that Fjeldheim was a significant contributor to U.S. development efforts and had served as a national development coordinator and coach at the Olympics, world championships and junior worlds.

He was a collegiate skier himself for the Wildcats and member of the U.S. Ski Team from 1980-86.

Sten Fjeldheim

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

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