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Eagan/Eastview’s Liza Kerndt during the girls sprint at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Hopkins’ Sydney Drevlow crosses the finish line for the win with a time of in the girls 5K freestyle pursuit at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Highland Park’s Molly Moening, left, embraces Hopkins’ Sydney Drevlow following the girls 5K freestyle pursuit during the Nordic Skiing State Meet at Giants Ridge near Biwabik, Minn. on Thursday, . Moening was not able to win her third consecutive title in the event, finishing third behind winner Drevlow and Edina’s Maggie Wagner. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
High School Sports
St. Paul Highland Park’s Molly Moening sets off in the 5K freestyle pursuit at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Edina’s Maggie Wagner dances to keep warm at the starting line before the during the girls 5K freestyle pursuit at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Forest’s Lakes Ella Niznik and Chloe Erickson wait to hear their time girls sprint race at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . The pair would finish in second as their time was a quarter of a second shy of first place. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Highland Park’s Rayna Axelson looks relieved as she crosses the finish line in the girls sprint pursuit at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, mate Silja Earl-Torniainen would finish with a time of . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Forest Lake’s Ella Niznik digs in as she nears the finish line. Niznik and teammate Chloe Erickson would finish in second as their time was a quarter of a second shy of first place in the girls sprint at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Forest Lake’s Ella Niznik looks back as she waits for teammate Chloe Erickson and the tag in the relay of the girls sprint at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
St. Paul Highland Park’s Rayna Axelson during the girls sprint at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Skiers, including St. Paul Highland Park’s Silja Earl-Torniainen, near right, and Forest Lake’s Chloe Erickson, near left, start the second heat of the girls sprint at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Duluth East’s Rowan Bixler takes a breather after finishing as she and teammate Liesl Cope-Schaeffer posted the winning time of in the girls sprint at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Duluth East’s Rowan Bixler crosses the finish line to give her and teammae Liesl Cope-Schaeffer a winning time of in the girls sprint at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Forest Lake’s Jordan Parent set off in the girls 5K freestyle pursuit at the Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik on Thursday, . Parent would finish with a time of . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Molly Moening said it was “carnage” at the finish line, so it was tough for for Highland Park team to know if it had gotten the job done. The Scots were aware they had ground to make up in the Nordic team title race heading into the final race of the pursuit.
“It was definitely stressful knowing that we were going to have make time up in order to win,” Moening said.
But they did it. As they crossed the finish line, Scots coaches were quickly adding up the math. Highland Park edged Duluth East by three points, earning the Scots their second team title in three years.
Brad Moening came into the meeting knowing it would likely come down to the Scots, Duluth East and Forest Lake. He said his team felt “underdoggy.” Yet everyone showed up Thursday in Biwabik and performed. Hanna and Chloe Koch came up big in the second race, and that proved to be the difference.
This state title comes just three months after the Highland Park girls won a cross country state championship with a very similar cast of characters. So Thursday marked a special double dip.
“It’s pretty neat,” said Brad, who is also the cross country coach. “I don’t know that they grasp the significance of it as much as I might, but we were just trying to remind them of how lucky they are and all the work they’ve done.”
Molly Moening finished third in the individual pursuit competition, her third straight top-three finish after winning state in the previous two trips. Hopkins’ Sydney Drevlow won the title with a dominant freestyle race to overtake Edina’s Maddie Wagner, who finished second. Drevlow’s two-race time was 33 minutes, 40.7 seconds.
Drevlow’s freestyle race of was fastest in the field by 22 seconds. Math and Science Academy’s Greta Hansen used the second-fastest freestyle time to power a fourth-place overall finish. Forest Lake’s Jordan Parent was seventh.
Duluth East’s Liesl Cope-Schaeffer and Rowan Bixler won the relay title, edging the Forest Lake duo of Chloe Erickson and Ella Niznik by just a quarter of a second.
“I think it’s a stunning high school career,” Brad said. “Two state titles, two individual titles, then all the running stuff. Pretty amazing athlete, all around.”
Moening said winning state as a team Thursday was “the cherry on top” of her six years with the team, which included six section titles.
“I think everyone just dedicates themselves to the team, and we all know that we’re doing it for each other, and that’s always in the back of your mind when you’re racing,” she said. “So it kind of allows you to push a little bit harder than you might if you’re doing it for yourself, because there’s a bigger cause behind it.”
“It feels pretty special,” she said. “I don’t think I would’ve thought about that when I was younger, when I first joined the team, but looking back now, I feel really lucky.”