Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

The consistently warm weather has caused the Nordic ski teams to adjust their schedules, but it hasn't changed their solid performances.

The lack of snow eliminated plans to compete in Duluth on Saturday, Jan. 13, so instead, head coach Deno Johnson shuffled his skiers and had the varsity girls and junior varsity boys taking part in the ABC Relays at Trollhollow in Dresser, WI. The boys varsity went to Giant's Ridge and trained.

For the ABC Relays, skiers were split into A and B teams, with the Ranger girls' A team coming in fourth place with a time of 29:07.

"The girls picked up the fourth place plaque, which was great," Johnson said. "That's exactly the confidence booster they need."

Junior Annie Dehmlow was exceptional in the Classic race, coming in at 7:06, which landed her in second place on the man-made snow.

"The training's starting to pay off," Johnson said of Dehmlow.

Amber Anderson was the other member of the A pairing and she finished in 16th place with a time of 8:04.

The B squad of Julia Hipp and Jen Scott were in good shape with Hipp coming in at 8:25 and Scott at 8:37.

In the Freestyle competition, Megan Gooley paced the A's with an eighth place finish and a time of 6:52. Kate Babbitt's time of 7:05 earned her 12th place. Bridget Holmes led the B's at 7:29, while Lauren Marosok ended with a time of 8:06.

On the boys side, the junior varsity battled its way against varsity rosters and had times of 32.50 for the A pairing, and the B -- which did not have a complete team -- finished with a time of 49.00.

"For our young bucks, Michael Howe had a great finish and so did Mitch Woehlk," Johnson said.

Howe was the top Ranger in the Classic race, earning 10th place with a time of 6:42. Leading the B team was Wohlk, who had a time of 6:57, which put him in 15th place. Alex Kelley pulled in at 8:40 for the A's.

The Freestyle division had Danny Lundell finishing with a time of 8:00, and Scott Wambold getting a time of 9:28.

Before the ABC Relays, the Nordic teams were in the Suburban East Conference 5K Classical last on Thursday. The girls ended the evening in fourth place, behind Stillwater, Roseville and Woodbury, while the boys laid it down for a first place finish.

The boys welcomed the return of Leif Nordgren, after he was busy earning a spot on the U.S. Junior Biathlon Team, and he sailed away with first in a time of 12:29, which was 31 seconds faster than the second place competitor.

"He's skiing well," Johnson said on Friday morning. "He lit it up yesterday."

The remaining nine Ranger skiers all wound up in the top 35, with Travis Strike, Ben Brodin and Ryan Wright piling into the top 10.

Dave Kasl grabbed the 13th position, Shawn Wright finished in 15th, Roman Morris was 16th, jv skier Steve Coozennoy was 26th, with fellow junior varsity skiers Wohlk (28th) and Howe (31st) behind him.

For the girls, Dehmlow led the Forest Lake team with a seventh place finish. Liz Peterson took 17th, Anderson 23rd, Marosok 26th, Gooley 27th, Babbitt 33rd, Holmes 35th and Hipp rounding it out for the Rangers with a top 40 finish.

The boys jv was the dominant team, with Joe Jackson, Adam Marosok and Sven Schauerhammer going one, two, three.

"The newer guys are really, really impressing," Johnson said.

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