St. Paul has a golden day in Nordic Skiing Team Relay Championships

It was a banner day for Nordic Skiers in the City of St. Paul during Day 1 of the Minnesota State High School League’s Nordic Skiing State Meet on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at Giants Ridge near Biwabik. The first of two days of Nordic Skiing competition features the Team Sprint Relay and Minnesota’s Capitol City was well represented. 

On a hard-packed, fast course, St. Paul Central’s Edward Brandt and William Poppleton set the tone by winning the Boys Team Sprint Relay in a thrilling finish with a time of 13 minutes, 40.32 seconds. That was a heartbeat faster than runner-up Ely, who was second in 13:40.54. Shortly after, another state championship is heading to St. Paul after St. Paul Academy’s Maren Overgaard and Inga Wing cruised to the Girls Team Sprint Relay. 

“I’ve never felt better than right now,” Brandt said. “To win it for St. Paul is an amazing thing.”

Wing echoed the same shortly afterward.

“It is so powerful to do this for St. Paul,” she said. “We’ve got plenty of support and we ski with so many of these others outside of high school. It was so great to see skiers in the City of St. Paul to be doing so well.”

The St. Paul skiing run wasn’t limited to Nordic Skiing. On Tuesday during the Alpine Skiing State meet on the opposite end of Giants Ridge, St. Paul Academy’s Caden Burns captured the Boys Individual State Championship. On the girls side, Taylor Voigt of Hill-Murray, located in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, won her second championship in the past three seasons. 

Winning a Team Sprint Relay state championship, admittedly, came as a shock to Brandt and Poppleton. Earlier in the day, the duo was the fourth fastest qualifiers behind Orono/Delano, Ely and Wayzata, respectively.

“After that qualifying heat, I felt like throwing up,” Poppleton said. “We were really moving out there.” 

Said Brandt: “To be honest, I didn’t think we could, or would, win.”

In the Team Sprint Relay, Brandt skied the first and third laps. Poppleton followed with the second and fourth laps, respectively. The Spartans’ duo was in contention from the start and needed a strong finishing surge in the final meters by Poppleton, who gained the necessary separation from Ely’s Eli Olson. 

“It was my last ever high school race and what a great way to go out,” Poppleton said.

Orono/Delano was third in 13:58.08 followed by Wayzata in 14:06.46. Minneapolis Washburn rounded the top five in 14:16.33. 

While no drama existed in the girls’ race, the storyline was the convincing finish. 

Overgaard and Wing compiled a winning time of 16:16.23. That was more than 28 seconds faster than Procter/Hermantown, which had a time of 16:44.59. When Wing entered the stadium and powered her way to the finishing line, no other competitors were in sight. In the qualifying, Overgaard and Wing were 45 seconds faster than the rest of the field. 

“I knew we’d leave it all on the course,” Overgaard said. 

“I think during our handoffs was the best points in our race,” Wing said. “It is when we are truly together.”

St. Paul Highland Park was third in 16:51.06 and Minneapolis Southwest was fourth at 16:57.09. Coon Rapids rounded out the top five in 17:00.74.