Traverse City Record-Eagle

Skiing

February 20, 2010

Centrals Gronvold wins X-C state title

MARQUETTE -- Traverse City Central's Hilde Gronvold won the girls sprint race at the state cross-country skiing finals this weekend in Marquette.

Ruth Oppliger of the CC Ski Tigers placed second.

"I'm surprised I won," said Gronvold, a foreign exchange student from Norway. "To be a Michigan state champion is kind of funny.

"After the semifinals, I was tired. I could hear (Oppliger) behind me, but I was ahead all the way. It was what I wanted."

Oppliger said she was disappointed in her runner-up finish.

"I wish I had gotten first, but second is still pretty good," Oppliger told the Marquette Mining Journal. "Last year, I was first in the sprints. But it was a good race (today).

"I just wanted to go as hard as I could from the start. But (Gronvold) was in front of me the whole way. I knew she was a really good skier."

Traverse City St. Francis' Hannah Meachum was third in the sprints, while Central's Maria Frick was fifth and Julia Otwell eighth.

In the boys sprints, TC Central's Ross Williams was fourth behind Gogebic winner Ben Noren, while Trojan teammate Evan Cover was sixth and Boyne City's Brendan Baic was seventh.

In Saturday's pursuit races, Gronvold was fifth, one spot behind Frick. Meachum was 10th, Otwell 12th and Central's Katie Perkins 14th.

Williams was the runner-up in the boys pursuit, three spots ahead of Cover. Central's Greg Brown was 10th, West's Raymond Innis placed 12th and Baic was 15th.

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