IRONWOOD, Mich. â€Â“ The Northern Michigan University menâ€Â™s cross country ski team closed out 2004 by competing at the Grand View XCChallenge Wolverine Nordic event before the Christmas break.

The first day was the classic race as the â€Â˜Cats had five ofthe top seven finishers.  Adriaan Ostrander was the first â€Â˜Cat to cross thefinish line in second place with a time of 28:34.3.  Third and fourth went toBryan Cook (28:35.1) and Ben Cline (28:48.8).  The next two NMU skiers to crossthe finish line were Gus Kaeding (29:24.7) and Bill Bowler (29:39.6) in sixthand seventh place respectively.  Bret Bedard was 13^th (30:31.1) ashe was followed by Mike New (30:47.9) in 17^th place and JustinSingleton in 27^th (31:53.2).

Cook and Bedard were one-two in the freestyle race on thesecond day of competition.  Cookâ€Â™s time was 26:23.0 as Bedard covered thecourse in 26:44.3.  Singleton in sixth place (27:47.5) was followed by Kaedingin seventh (27:58.3).  Ostrander was 12^th (28:44.7), New was next inthe 14^th spot (29:03.7) and Bowler was 16^th (29:09.5).

To begin 2005 the skiers will be at the U.S. SeniorNationals/Junior World Trials in Heber, Utah, Jan. 3-10.