Northern Michigan University’s Lauren McCollor, right, stands in the third-place spot after finishing there in the five-kilometer classic individual start race at the Michigan Tech Invitational college nordic ski meet held in Houghton on Saturday. At left is runner-up Bridget Burns of Michigan Tech and at center is race winner Della Bettendorf of the College of St. Scholastica. (Photo courtesy of NMU)

MARQUETTE — The men’s and women’s nordic skiing teams at Northern Michigan University had plenty of high finishes over two days at the Michigan Tech Invitational held on the MTU Trails in Houghton over the weekend.

The NMU men’s team on Sunday had the single most dominating performance, sweeping all three podium spots — gold, silver and bronze medals — in the 20-kilometer mass start.

In this final race before the Central Collegiate Ski Association Conference Championships, NMU racer and CCSA reigning Skier of the Year Adrik Kraftson won the men’s 20K race in 52 minutes, 33.0 seconds, with teammate Luke Fricker runner-up right behind him in 52:37.4.

Then the Wildcats just barely pulled off the podium sweep as NMU’s Caden Albrecht and Tech’s Wes Campbell finished together in 53:26.2, but Albrecht was ruled to have finished fastest to clinch third place.

The CCSA championship meet is two weeks away on Friday and Sunday, Feb. 13 and 15, in Minneapolis.

Here are details from the MTU meet:

Men’s meet

Kraftson and Fricker dueled each other for the lead throughout their 20K race, Fricker leading by a half-second after 5K, 0.7 of a second after 10K, and back to a half-second at 15K before Kraftson skied the final 5K about 3 1/2 seconds faster to win that title.

They were almost 50 seconds ahead of Albrecht and Campbell, with Albrecht having to come back from being in sixth place after 5K and 10K and in fifth place even at 15K.

The only other NMU racer with a posted time in the field of 33 skiers was Hendrik Peterson in 18th in 57:20.9 as teammates Jack Dahlby and Jonathan Clarke didn’t finish.

On Saturday’s first day of this meet, the 5K classic individual start, Fricker was again runner-up, this time to MTU’s Campbell. Fricker clocked 14:30.5, about 14 seconds behind the winner as Kraftson was third in 14:34.5.

Clarke was sixth in 14:57.4, Albrecht ninth in 15:09.5, Peterson 24th in 15:56.1 and Dahlby 30th in 16:16.5.

Women’s meet

Lauren McCollor had NMU’s highest women’s finish of the weekend, third place in the 5K classic individual start on Saturday. She clocked 17:06.9, a shade more than four seconds behind winner Della Bettendorf of St. Scholastica in 17:02.8. Bridget Burns of MTU was runner-up in 17:05.6.

The Wildcats’ Henriette Nilssen was fourth in 17:24.3 and Greta Leitheiser fifth in 17:33.0. In addition, teammate Jordan Parent was ninth in 17:50.5 and Emma Klevenberg 10th in 18:05.8.

Northern’s Lena Kjelstrup was 14th in 18:15.5, Marquette Senior High School graduate Monet Argeropoulos 25th in 19:21.4 and Riley Grossklaus 28th in 19:53.1. Teammate Meija Peterson didn’t post a time.

In Sunday’s 20K mass start, McCollor again paced NMU in fifth in 1:02:35.2, staying up with the leaders throughout — she was fifth at 5K, ahead in first place at 10K and eighth at 15K.

Tech’s Julia Junkkala, Burns and Hannah Smart swept the podium.

Leitheiser was seventh in 1:02:46.4 after being in second place at the 5K, 10K and 15K stanchions.

Klevenberg came in ninth in 1:04:07.8 after moving up from 12th at 5K, while Argeropoulos was 21st in 1:07:59.8.

Not finishing were Parent, Grossklaus, Kjelstrup and Nilssen.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.