LUTSEN-Juniors Maddie Kalenberg and Max Darkow and eighth-grader Gavin Hoelzel made the podium leading the Brainerd Warrior girls to first and boys to second in their season-opening meet Friday, Dec. 14 at the Cook County Invite at Lutzen.
"On the girls' side, we had a podium finisher (top three) in Maddie Kalenberg who was second," said Brainerd head coach Jim Ruttger. "It was her first time on the podium and all four of our (scoring) skiers were in the top nine."
Following Kalenberg were Emma Hiebert (4th), Erin Hoelzel (5th) and Alli Krantz (9th).
On the boys' side, Brainerd and Duluth East tied for first with 174 points, but the Warriors placed second by tiebreaker, which goes to the fifth skier. Hoelzel had the second fastest time for the two combined runs and Darkow was third followed by Cal Madison (9th) and Ethan Johnson.
"That was the first time either Gavin or Max have been on the podium for us," Ruttger said. "Both have been coming on strong and we expect that Max might have a breakout season for us.
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"We had five guys in the top eight after the first run. A couple fell apart on their second run, but it was still a pretty good showing for our first meet."
Boys team scores: 1-Duluth East 174, 2-Brainerd 174, 3-Hibbing 166, 4-Virginia 156, 5-Duluth Marshall 90, 6-Hermantown 82, 7-Cloquet-Esko-Carlton 72, inc-Cook County
Individual winner: Blaine Walli (Hibbing) 54.22
Brainerd results: 2-Gavin Hoelzel 57.30, 3-Max Darkow 57.73, 9-Cal Madison 1:00.08, 20-Ethan Johnson 1:08.20, 23-Brandon Neifert 1:10.93, 24-Trevor Hutchison 1:11.94, 28-Anthony Elsenpeter 1:16.61, 32-Esten Hiebert 1:19.90
Girls team scores: 1-Brainerd 168, 2-Cook County 158, 3-Hibbing 127, 4-Duluth East 121, 5-Virginia 99, 6-Hermantown 51, inc-Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, Duluth Denfeld
Individual winner: Reilly Wahlers (CC) 56.33
Brainerd results: 2-Maddie Kalenberg 59.90, 4-Emma Hiebert 1:00.47, 5-Erin Hoelzel 1:02.62, 9-Alli Krantz 1:03.58, 13-Madeline Sherman 1:06.18, 16-Maddie Pederson 1:07.11, 18-Anna Krieger 1:07.36, 21-Linsey Proctor 1:09.53, 28-Cassidy Chaney 1:18/21
Next: at Wild Mountain Meet, Taylor Falls, Friday, Dec. 22 9 a.m.
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