HOUGHTON – Junior Fredrik Schwencke of Northern Michigan University placed fourth overall in the men’s freestyle sprint at the U.S. Cross Country Championships on Monday that is being hosted by Michigan Tech University.

On the women’s side, Wildcats freshman Sarah Bezdicek and sophomore teammate Vivian Hett took second and third, respectively, in the freestyle sprint’s junior division.

“This was a super day for our team,” NMU head coach Sten Fjeldheim said. “Freddy had a great race in an event that traditionally isn’t his strength, and I’m proud of Sarah and Vivian for taking two and three in juniors.”

Schwencke, the defending NCAA national champion in the 20-kilometer classic, was one of only two collegians to reach the semifinals and the only men’s college skier to qualify for the finals.

In the women’s preliminaries, Bezdicek clocked in at 3 minutes, 59.90 seconds, the seventh-fastest time. She and Hett were two of six junior-division skiers who qualified for the senior quarterfinals. Bezdicek ultimately reached the semis.

“Sarah’s time in the preliminaries was so fast,” Fjeldheim said. “She was the first junior to finish by a mile. I’m excited to see what she’s going to do in the future.”

Junior Sophie Schimpl and senior Felicia Gesior were the other Wildcats who qualified for the quarterfinals in the senior freestyle sprint by finishing in the top 30 in the preliminaries.

Three Wildcats qualified for the junior finals, which were held after the senior event. Freshman Leo Hipp took third in the men’s in 3:28.37. Freshmen Sophie McDonald (4:04.39) and Nicole Schneider (4:09.11) were fifth and sixth, respectively, for the women.

“Our team has shown they’re really fit through the first two days of nationals,” Fjeldheim said. “This is a really tough course, and our team is a really tough team, so we’ve owned it. They were excited to race after not having snow for so long.”

In other results posted at the Superior Timing website, www.superiortiming.com, NMU junior Krystof Kopal was listed as 41st in the men’s sprints in 3:29.46, while Hipp was 50th in 3:31.33, sophomore Ian Torchia 57th in 3:31.66, senior Samuel Elfstrom 61st in 3:32.34 and junior Adam Martin 85th in 3:35.39 in a field that included 192 racers.

In the women’s sprints on that website, sophomore Caroline Brisbois was listed at 45th overall in 4:14.56, freshman Leah Bunter 58th in 4:19.36, junior Megan Edic 71st in 4:22.16 and sophomore Vera Gruber 106th in 4:33.33 on a list that included 153 names.

Northern Michigan continues competition at this event on Thursday with competition scheduled to wrap up on Saturday.

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