Duluth East sweeps State Nordic Sprints

Duluth East swept the State Nordic Sprint Finals Wednesday claiming both the girl’s and boy’s crowns at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.

Defending sprint state champion Liesl Cope-Schaeffer of Duluth East, and her new relay partner Greta Hendrickson, pulled away from St. Paul Academy and Summit School by 18 seconds to keep their state crown.

The Greyhounds finished in first place with a final time of 16:01.87, 35 seconds faster than their qualifying heat.

“After the qualifier race we finished and we were like, that was so much fun but it should have hurt a little bit more,” Hendrickson laughed, a junior at Duluth East.

“I think we both just felt like we want to win this, we’re going to give it everything,” Cope-Schaeffer, also a junior.

Next up were the boys. Duluth East’s Colin Willemsen and James Kyes, who took second last season, claimed a commanding first place finish with a time of 14:05.22, 22 seconds faster than second place Bemidji.

“The head wind going up the hill was definitely a unique part of this course and something that we had to contend with,” Kyes said, a junior at Duluth East.

“Doing the relay for the first time I was kind of not knowing what to expect, a little bit of nerves, but we were talking during our cool down like this is our time to do it. It’s awesome and I’m so happy to go out on a win like this,” senior Willemsen said.

The State Nordic meet continues Thursday at Giants Ridge with the Classic and Freestyle Pursuit races.

For full results, Click Here.