ccsa_nordic

Next up, Green Bay!

With the addition of 9 new freshman, the Green Bay Ski Team once again has a full squad! Their fall included lots of quality training and team bonding with highlights such as skiing on the new rollerski track, bounding in pouring rain, and a team barbecue!!

Green Bay is hoping to consistently score as a top 3 team this year!

The next team we are showcasing is Michigan Tech!

MTU looks to build on their previous season’s historic success with both returning and new faces! The team had some fall highlights that included a Copper Harbor Camp, testing standards like Mt. Baldy Hill Climb, hosting Alumni and Olympian and inducting Roger Pekuri into the MTU Hall of Fall.

This season they have goals for all student athletes to improve throughout the season while supporting each other in all aspects and to be the top academic college nordic team! They look forward to hosting this January!

Our first fall recap with the Northern Michigan University Wildcats!

As teams get on snow and start the final prep before the season begins, we want to recap some fall highlights from each team! In today's highlight, we will start with Nothern Michigan University! With the departure of four men and one woman, the team has lots of new faces. Keller says "it has been a pretty successful fall of training with a lot of good indicators of fitness in where we are at with the team so we are feeling pretty confident with the team." The team looks forward to the winter with exciting goals for this season like qualifying a full team for NCAA championships while hopefully earning a few All-American honors and finishing in the top 3 colleges at US Nationals in January!

Another weekend of racing, another CCSA recap! This time, the coverage of the CCSA Conference Championships in Ishpeming, Michigan.
https://www.ccsaski.com/2022/02/ccsa-conference-championship-2022/

The CCSA Wax Call has been decided for the upcoming MTU CCSA Invite this weekend in Houghton, MI.

The Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) has been standardizing glide wax with various products at standalone events for the past three years. Coaches feel this approach gives them a distinct advantage in resource management and keeps their programs focused on the student-athlete experience. We know from the 2021 Spring CXC Congress wax proposal vote that there is tremendous support from coaches in this region to standardize the glide waxing process for strong reasons that include health, budget, sport accessibility, and the athlete experience. CCSA Coaches hope that our standardized policy will de-mystify the glide wax process a little and give other Central Region programs looking to shift their time and resources to a more athlete-centric approach the confidence that they can be competitive in doing so.

CCSA Performance of the week

Emil Book Bratbak had a fantastic weekend in Mt Itasca, taking advantage of some quality training after he was sick at US Nationals in Utah. Bratbak had a solid day on Saturday, placing 5th in the Individual Skate race. “Skate individual races are normally not my strong suit and I tried to ski technically well and pace the race without blowing up. On Sunday my strategy was to stay with the front pack for as long as possible without spending too much energy.” The pace went out fast, and Bratbak hung on to clip the win right at the finish. “It turned out to be a really hard race and I’m very happy I could take down Kjetil and Kristoffer in the finish lanes”

Merle Richter had a breakthrough weekend in Northern Minnesota, with her first CCSA podium in 3rd place in the Individual Start on Saturday, and following that success on Sunday with a 3rd place in the mass start. “My preparation for the races was definitely not perfect. I was sick the whole December and could never train continuously which is also the reason I had no expectations at all for my first race weekend.” After a couple of weeks of solid training, Richter felt she gained her fitness back pretty fast. “At the race on Saturday, I felt pretty strong on the course and when I got the splits that I was on third and forth the whole time I had a feeling that this will be a good day. After getting the last split that it could be a podium I think I did a pretty strong finish. After having such a good race on Saturday I was really nervous about Sunday. I love mass start and 7.5 k is definitely one of my favorites in classic. My goal was to stay with the lead group the whole time and see what the last meters can bring. On all the uphills I had a really hard time catching up with Henriette and Anabel. They were definitely stronger than me but racing was a lot of fun that whole weekend.”

The CCSA was back on the trails and you can read all about it! https://www.ccsaski.com/2022/01/ccsa-mt-itasca-weekend/

The CCSA Wax Call has been decided for the upcoming CCSA Mt Itasca CXC Cup this weekend in Coleraine, MN.

The Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) has been standardizing glide wax with various products at standalone events for the past three years. Coaches feel this approach gives them a distinct advantage in resource management and keeps their programs focused on the student-athlete experience. We know from the 2021 Spring CXC Congress wax proposal vote that there is tremendous support from coaches in this region to standardize the glide waxing process for strong reasons that include health, budget, sport accessibility, and the athlete experience. CCSA Coaches hope that our standardized policy will de-mystify the glide wax process a little and give other Central Region programs looking to shift their time and resources to a more athlete-centric approach the confidence that they can be competitive in doing so.

CCSA Performancs of the Week

Adam Witkowski
Witkowski had a strong season last year, finishing 15th in the end-of-season points, and 6th on the deep MTU men’s team. So when, last Saturday, he led the CCSA men in 3rd and tied for 2nd on Sunday in the CCSA, it definitely made some heads turn. “Coming into the weekend I was just hoping to have two solid races to start the season and get back to racing well again.” said Witowski, “In the sprint, I knew I could race with the top guys and I had confidence in my tactical approach to the heats. I didn’t have my best top gear but I was still feeling very good on Saturday. On Sunday I just focused I skiing smooth and consistent throughout the race. The way I approached the weekend allowed me to race well on both Saturday and Sunday.”

Cheresa Bouley
Last year, the St Cloud State University Ski team did not compete during COVID but in 2020, Bouley finished 24th overall at the end of season CCSA points list. This past weekend in Duluth, Bouley first qualified in the skate sprint as the 3rd CCSA woman, finished 5th in her competitive SuperTour quarterfinal heat with eventual winner Becca Rorabaugh, and finished as the 6th CCSA woman in the skate distance race on Sunday. Posting the best results that SCSU has seen in years, Bouley will definitely be an athlete to watch this winter.

It was a big weekend in Duluth as our Central Collegiate athletes held their own against the best of the US. Check out our recap!
https://www.ccsaski.com/2021/12/duluth-supertour-review/

Super Tour team results after the first day!
The CCSA showed some strong individual results today at the Duluth Super Tour in the skate sprints leading to some very close team results! Overall, Tech leads with 129 points and NMU and CSS are tied for second

It's two weeks before the Season Opener in Duluth, MN, so catch up with all of our CCSA teams in our season preview!
https://www.ccsaski.com/2021/11/ccsa-2021-22-season-preview/