FERGUS FALLS — Liliana Schaeffer scored her second straight victory and both Brainerd Warrior teams placed second Thursday, Feb. 4, at the Fergus Falls Invite.
Schaeffer won the girls’ race in 20:24.08 to lead the Warriors to 374 team points. Bemidji won with 278 points, yet Brainerd had five finishers before the Lumberjacks’ fourth girl.
“Liliana is looking sharp,” Warrior co-head coach Chris Hanson said. “She is skiing really well and technically neat and clean. She has got that competitive fire and can inspire her teammates, who are also skiing pretty well, to close the gap with Bemidji.”
Brainerd’s Emma Storbakken was eight followed by Addie Ryan in 10th and Cally Robertson in 11th. Mari Devine placed 12th in the 6-kilometer skate race.
“Normally you would think having five girls ahead of the other team’s fourth would be a win, but it was pretty tight,” Hanson said. “Maybe in a meet where you have more schools that sometimes can mix things up. If only we could count five skiers instead of four then we’d be sitting pretty.”
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Ryan Cady finished fourth individually to lead the Warrior boys to second, two points shy of first-place Bemidji.
“Bemidji has two guys that are out in front of the entire field and after that Brainerd has a really nice pack,” Hanson said. “So far this year, that pack has been enough to edge out Bemidji, but not today. It wasn’t by much though.
“Hopefully, this shows the guys that they can’t be complacent and have to be hitting it hard every day. We can’t take anything for granted. We know it’s close so hopefully, this is a good motivator.”
Nole Robertson finished seventh with Elias Knapp in eighth and Mitchell Neumann in 10th.
The Little Falls Flyers Jackson Grant finished third individually to lead Little Falls to third. Connor Grant was sixth and Ethan Yorek also scored a top 10 with his ninth-place finish.
The Flyers girls’ team landed in fifth place with Elizabeth Ahlin’s 18th-place 23:56.2 leading the way.
“The varsity course was exceptionally challenging,” Hanson said. “It was either a lot of fun or very hard depending on who you asked or how many falls someone took.”
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Boys results
Team scores: 1-Bemidji 377, 2-Brainerd 375, 3-Little Falls 362, 4-Moorhead 334, 5-Fergus Falls 262, 6-Alexandria 259
Individual winner: Nick Youso (Bem) 16:43.26
Brainerd results: 4-Ryan Cady 17:13.49, 7-Nole Robertson 17:42.63, 8-Elias Knapp 17:44.08, 10-Mitchell Neumann 17:51.38, 12-Jacob Olson 18:29.54, 15-Bennet Capelle 19;12.13, 16-Adam Cady 19:19.85, 18-Braden Capelle 19:21.08, 19-Karlton Anderson 19:31.14, 22-Zachary Schaeffer 19;42.15, 27-Noah Schaeffer 20:17.32, 29-Atticus Osborne 20:29.41, 33-Tryton Miller 21:13.72, 36-Elijah Hallgren 21:30.95
Little Falls results: 3-Jackson Grant 17:03.32, 6-Connor Grant 17:42.28, 9-Ethan Yorek 17:46.38, 24-John Stockard 19;52.36, 30-Edward Sobiech 20:35.37, 34-Aiden Hagen 21:21.41, Grant Yorek 22:14.33, 54-Alexander Oberton 23:16.03, 57-Gabe Shanoff 23:44.41, 58-Chase Olsen 23:56.14, 60-Angus Rustad 24:38.07, 63-Logan Schultz 25:14.44
Girls results
Team scores: 1-Bemidji 378, 2-Brainerd 374, 3-Alexandria 364, 4-Moorhead 341, 5-Little Falls 299, 6-Fergus Falls 244
Individual winner: Liliana Schaeffer (Brd) 20:24.08
Brainerd results: 8-Emma Storbakken 22:27.36, 10-Addie Ryan 22:45.94, 11-Cally Robertson 22:49.95, 12-Mari Devine 22:57.66, 15-Emma Balsley 23:05.73, 19-Bridget Collins 24:04.01, 23-Allison Rice 24:47.76, 29-Katelyn Kennedy 25:25.86, 32-Ashtyn Kubista 25:33.34, 34-Ellie Brown 25:35.46, 36-Isabelle Smith 25:46.24, 53-Abby Johnson 29:30.76
Little Falls results: 18-Elizabeth Ahlin 23:56.20, 20-Aliza Kresha 24:09.50, 26-Kaylee Zupko 24:55.55, 41-Abigail Borash 26:41.41, 45-Sarah Wolbeck 27:21.82, 47-Breanna Barchus 27:43.82, 49-Ainsley Kresha 28:02.95, 52-Claire Zupko 29:29.50, 56-Anika Johnson 28:58.11, 57-Violet Swisher 30:12.45, 58-Martha Berg 30:54.46, 59-Allyson Kahler 31:32.30
Next: Brainerd, Little Falls in Warrior Invite at Northland Arboretum Saturday, Feb. 13.
