HOUGHTON, Mich. –The Northern Michigan Nordic Ski team got off to a hot start at the Husky Challenge on the campus of Michigan Technological University. The NMU men had four skiers place in the top 10 in the college 10K event and the women had six in the top 10 in the college 5K freestyle. Both teams combined to lead the Challenge with a score of 61, heading into the second day of events.

Martin Stuge Banerud was the top finisher in the men’s college 10K with a time of 0:26:53.9. Andy Liebner wasn’t far behind in second place with at time of 0:27:44.3. Kevin Cutts was fifth (0:28:58.1), Erik Soderman was sixth (0:29:12.7) and Chris Bowler was seventh (0:29:22.6).

The women’s team had six skiers place in the top 10 in the college 5k freestyle race. Christina Turman (0:15:53.1), Ingrid Fjeldheim (0:15:58.0) and Marie Helen Sodererman (0:16:01.1) finished two, three, four. Libby Ellis (0:16:13.1) was fifth, Jordyn Ross (0:16:39.1) was seventh and Monica Markvardsen (0:16:42.1) was eighth. Karmen Whitham (0:17:16.4) was finished in the top 15, coming in fourteenth.

Other teams competing in the challenge are Michigan Tech, the College of Saint Scholastica and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Scholastica is second with a combined team score of 48, MTU has 29 and UW-GB has 18.

On Sunday both the men and women will compete in a classic race using a mass start. The men will race a ten kilometer event with the women following in a five kilometer event.

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