The Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys and girls Nordic ski teams are enjoying a season with plenty of snow which translates into a lot of practice time. Last Saturday, the Jacks were able to take their practice into the Ely Timberwolves Classic Invitational and CEC's Raleigh Goessling came away with the win in the boys race.
"Raleigh is just a sophomore and he finished ahead of two Duluth East skiers to win the boys race," said CEC coach Shaleen Christianson. "Our next top finisher for the boys was Matt Palmquist, who came in fifth place, and he had a solid race."
East took the boys team title with 372 points, Ely was second with 355, CEC took third with 349 points followed by Anoka, Mesabi East, Proctor, Duluth Marshall, Duluth Denfeld, Duluth Central and Two Harbors.
"Another sophomore, Sam Cook, had an excellent race, he looked very strong and came in 11th," stated Christianson. "For the boys, we are sitting in a very comfortable spot at this point of the season and we are feeling optimistic in looking at how the season will unfold. Our plan is to keep our top three skiers where they are and get our four, five and six skiers improving at every meet."
CEC brought only six girls to race due to conflicts. Neysa Granholm was the top CEC girls skier with a 13th place finish. Alyssa Michaelson placed 39th and Sara Gleason took 43rd for the Jacks.
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"I am very happy with how our skiers are doing," commented Christianson. "We have been on snow for two weeks now and there has already been so much improvement, especially with the beginner skiers. It is really neat to see the technique starting to click for most of them."
East won the girls event with 388 points, Ely was second followed by Anoka, Two Harbors, Marshall, Proctor, CEC, Central, Denfeld and Mesabi East.
