By Journal Sports Staff

DULUTH, Minn. — The Northern Michigan University men’s nordic ski team started off strong on the first day and got even better on day 2 to easily clinch the team championship at the Salomon CXC Cup that finished on Sunday in Duluth, Minnesota.

The Wildcats collected 69 points on Saturday and 72 more on Sunday for 141, well ahead of runner-up Michigan Tech, which had 65 and 60 for 125. Event host St. Scholastica was third with 41 and 46 for 87.

NMU also won the combined overall standings that totaled the men’s and women’s competition together. Northern had 283 points as Tech had 245 and St. Scholastica 187.

On Saturday in the men’s sprint races, where a series of heats whittled the field down to a final six, NMU qualified four of its skiers for the finals, and while they didn’t win the individual title, did finish 2-3-4-6.

Tech’s Alex Aflodal won in the finals in 2 minutes, 50.55 seconds, less than 1 1/4 seconds ahead of runner-up Kristoffer Alm Karsrud of the Wildcats in 2:51.79.

Northern’s Mathias Indrelid Haugen was third in 2:53.36, teammate Adrik Kraftson fourth in 3:00.14 and NMU’s Luke Fricker sixth in 3:01.06. Tech’s Wes Campbell rounded out the finals in fifth.

In the five quarterfinal heats, the top two from each heat advanced to the semifinals along with the next two fastest times.

The Wildcats had three heat winners there. Fricker won his heat in 2:54.45, Kraftson his in 2:59.94 and Haugen his in 2:59.86. Karsrud qualified from Kraftson’s heat in second in 3:00.07.

Also competing for NMU was Jonathan Clarke, who was fourth in his heat in 2:59.46, and Cooper Lennox, who was fourth in another heat in 2:58.14.

All four Northern semifinalists advanced to the finals as the top two finishers in each of two heats advanced along with the other two fastest times.

Karsrud in 2:55.81 and Fricker in 2:56.53 won each of the two semifinal heats. Haugen was second in Fricker’s heat in 2:56.61, while Kraftson was the final qualifier, finishing fourth in Karsrud’s heat in 2:56.97.

Sunday’s 7.5-kilometer classic interval start was beyond a clean sweep on the podium for the Wildcats. Not only did they take all three podium positions, they also had fourth place.

Kraftson won the five-lap classic-style race in 17:13.4, with Haugen just four-tenths of a second back in 17:13.7. Fricker was less than five seconds back in third in 17:17.8, while Karsrud came in fourth in 17:23.8.

In a competition that included 141 racers who started and 138 who finished, Clarke was 10th in 18:12.0 and Lennox 13th in 18:32.4.

Interestingly, among the top three from Northern, Kraftson spent each of the first four laps in third place before making a big move at the end to win.

After one lap, Haugen was fastest in 3:11.5, Fricker next in 3:14.8 and Kraftson 3:20.9. It was the same order after two laps, with Haugen at 6:42.1, Fricker 6:42.9 and Kraftson 6:48.7.

Then Fricker actually moved in front after three laps in 10:13.2 with Haugen close behind in 10:13.8. But Kraftson lagged six seconds back in 10:19.9. Then after lap four, Kraftson moved closer within two seconds, but still in third as Haugen timed 13:46.8, Fricker 13:46.9 and Kraftson 13:48.9.

The Wildcats are back in action this weekend at the Cable CXC Cup classic sprint races in Cable, Wisconsin, on Saturday and Sunday. This is also NMU’s second Central Collegiate Ski Association meet of the winter.

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