Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan University (NMU) men's Nordic ski team concluded the NCAA Regionals with notable performances, highlighted by Luke Fricker's back-to-back gold medal victories. In a close 20k race, Fricker edged out Michigan Tech's Tryg Solberg and Colin Freed, finishing first with a time of 54:35.3. Solberg followed closely at 54:35.6, while Freed secured bronze at 54:37.3.

Fricker's consistent lap times were recorded as 12:48.08, 13:29.2, 13:33.1, and 14:45.0. NMU teammates Kristoffer Karsrud and Jonathan Clarke also performed well, finishing sixth and seventh respectively with times of 55:46.0 and 55:46.4.

Additional NMU participants included Hendrik Peterson in 21st place with a time of 59:35.9 and Mathias Haugen in 29th at 1:03:20.7; Adrik Kraftson did not start the race.

Attention now turns to the NCAA Skiing Championships on March 6 and 8 in Hanover, New Hampshire, where NMU will compete in similar events.

Earlier in the weekend during the Saturday's 7.5k race, Fricker claimed another gold on his home track with a finish time of 21:06.6 after opening with a second-best lap time of 6:42.1 and subsequently posting fastest laps among competitors at 6:41.0 and 7:43.4.

Karsrud earned silver following an impressive start with the day's fastest first lap time of 6:35.1 before completing his race at 21:08.4.

Chase High from the College of St. Scholastica took third place with a time of 21:35.0 while Jonathan Clarke narrowly missed the podium finishing fourth at 21:41.2.

Other notable finishes included Hendrik Peterson in nineteenth place clocking in at 22:38.5, Mathias Haugen twenty-seventh at 23:29.4; Adrik Kraftson was unable to start this event as well.