Minneapolis Southwest wins Boys Nordic Ski Pursuit, Team Sprint Relay and State Team Championships

With a revamped format to the Minnesota State High School League’s Nordic Skiing State Meet, Minneapolis Southwest senior Cooper Camp had plenty of time to mull over his position atop the leaderboard overnight on Wednesday. He had an eight-second lead after the 5-kilometer classic, but in the old format, he didn’t have time to think about it because the deciding 5K freestyle race quickly followed.

“You try not to dwell on things too much, but that can be a challenge,” he said more than 24 hours later. “There are some great guys in the field and you know they are coming at you. You don’t want them to catch you.”

Camp responded by making sure no one closed the gap. Instead, he built on his lead en route to a dominating finish in capturing the pursuit championship with a time of 28 minutes, 25.7 seconds on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. After compiling the fastest time in the 5K classical race in 14:33.40, he blazed to a time of 13:52 in the 5K freestyle to climb two spots from his finish in 2021 when he was third.

St. Paul Highland Park junior Davis Isom was runner-up in 28:49.9. He was in the fifth position following the classical race but had the second-fastest time during the freestyle to catch two pursuit competitors in front of him. Edina junior Andrew Defor was third in 28:50.6 and Wayzata sophomore Daniel McCollor was fourth in 38:58.9.

Camp’s finish and a dazzling performance by the Lakers’ two-man relay fueled Minneapolis Southwest’s successful defense of a state title. The Lakers finished with 389 points, 26 more than runner-up, Duluth East. Wayzata was third with 345.

Scoring in the pursuit format for Minneapolis Southwest were Camp, senior Owen Lindseth, senior Miguel Fresco-Hanlon and senior Bergen Thorson. Earlier Thursday, Southwest’s Lars Brinkema and Sam Scott. The team finish in the sprint relay earned the Lakers 159 points. Duluth East was second in the relay event and Elk River/Zimmerman was third.

“Coming into the meet, I just wanted to do my part and help us have a successful day,” Camp said. “I think we are leaving here feeling pretty good about what we accomplished. It was a great meet for the team all around.”