BIWABIK -- Esko senior Raleigh Goessling said he would've been disappointed to not win the Minnesota high school boys Nordic ski title after finishing second last year. He wasn't disappointed Thursday afternoon at Giants Ridge.
Ely senior Peter Schurke said his team considered third place as a reasonable goal in its first state meet. He and the Timberwolves, from the smallest qualifying school, were overjoyed in stunning the rest of the boys field by placing first.
A perfect, sunny, 20-degree afternoon provided Northeastern Minnesota with some notable highlights on the most-
challenging state-meet course set up by race officials since 1987.
Goessling, 18, capped his fifth state meet with his best performance, finishing the 10-kilometer, two-race pursuit in 28 minutes, 41.4 seconds. The Cloquet-Esko-Carlton skier led by three seconds after the morning 5K freestyle race and held his position during the 5K classical race, winning by
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22 seconds over Lakeville North sophomore Ben Saxton in 29:03.4.
"I focused on skiing relaxed and being smooth and powerful," said the No. 4-ranked Goessling, who is 5-foot-6 and
140 pounds. "Sometimes you can get too specific about time goals, or where you want to finish, instead of paying attention to your performance. Today, I just took care of myself."
Two weeks ago, at the World Youth-Junior World Biathlon Championships in Torsby, Sweden, combining rifle marksmanship and Nordic skiing, Goessling said his three results were sub-par. He returned home less than nine hours before the Section 7 meet Feb. 4 at Giants Ridge, fought off jet lag, and won the boys title.
The state championship was the first by a Northland boy since Duluth East's Anders Osthus in 2001 and the first by a CEC skier since Matt Fischer tied for the 1990 title.
"I just hoped my training would give me a chance to improve on what I did last year. I'm proud to be among so many other great skiers who have won this," Goessling said.
Goessling may take a year off to concentrate on biathlon or attend college this fall.
Schurke and three teammates had been to the state meet individually, but winning Section 7 (breaking East's 12-year streak) earned Ely a team position for the first time since Nordic skiing was first conducted as a single sport in 1978 (Ely won the combined Nordic skiing, ski jumping title in 1961 and 1962). No. 7-ranked Ely, with an enrollment of 174, finished with 364 points among eight teams. Two-time defending champion Forest Lake, with an enrollment of 2,123, was second with 356 points, and No. 3 Wayzata, with an enrollment of 3,091, was third.
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Schurke was 11th, junior Jake Dalberg was 12th and junior Isaac Olson 36th to lead the Timberwolves.
"Our goal was to win the section meet and we didn't think about the state meet," said Schurke, who is diabetic, and plans to accept a ski scholarship from Wisconsin-Green Bay. "When we were on the course Wednesday, we said third place would be a good goal, and then we realized that, really, we could finish second or first.
"We have an amazing coach [Paula Anderson] and we have a determined group of skiers, like a band of brothers."
The state's two best girl skiers battled down the final straightaway before Stillwater Area senior Jessie Diggins pulled away to win by 1.5 seconds in 31:28.5 for 10K. It was her third title following wins in 2007 and 2008. Defending champion Annie Hart, a St. Paul Academy and Summit School senior, was runner up in 31:30. Third-place Jordyn Ross of Lakeville South was more than two minutes back.
"I still had some kick at the end, which was lucky for me," said Diggins.
She led No. 2-ranked Stillwater to the team title. No. 5 Ely placed third, cementing the best combined state-meet performance by one school. Ely senior Kathryn Van Every was sixth in 34:21.9 and sophomore Berit Schurke, Peter's sister, was 22nd in 36:19.4.
"We have a youth ski league in Ely to get kids interested and we have skiers at the high school level who are super dedicated," said Van Every. "To finish ahead of schools that are so much bigger than we are, says so much for our program."
Anderson has been with Ely's program the past 12 years of existence, the last six as head coach. On Wednesday she was named the state's coach of the year.
