Ruth Oppliger Assistant Coach | Northern Michigan University Athletics
Ruth Oppliger Assistant Coach | Northern Michigan University Athletics
The Northern Michigan University Women's Nordic Ski team is preparing for the NCAA Central Regional Skiing Championships, scheduled to take place this weekend at the Tech Trails in Houghton. The competition will feature a 7.5km Skate Interval Start on Saturday, February 24, and a 20km Classic Mass Start on Sunday, February 25.
The regional event is part of the qualification process for the 2024 NCAA skiing championships, which begin with regional qualifiers from February 22-25. Participants from the Central, East, and West regions will be announced on February 27 at 1 p.m. ET via a press release on NCAA.com.
The NCAA championships are set to commence on March 6 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, continuing through March 9. Nordic events will be held at Howelsen Hills and all four days of competition will be live-streamed on NCAA.com.
Reflecting on past performances at regionals, Merle Richter secured gold in the previous year's 20km freestyle event. Lauren McCollor and Kolibri Drobish finished fourth and fifth respectively. Richter's accomplishments earned her spots on both the All-CCSA First Team and All-Region First Team for the 20K Classic Mass Start and 5K Freestyle categories. Drobish was named to the All-CCSA Second Team and All-Region First Team for her performance in the same categories. Pearl Harvey received recognition as part of the All-CCSA Second Team and All-Region Second Team.
In their most recent outing at the CCSA Conference Championships held on February 10 and 11, Henriette Nilssen claimed gold medals in consecutive events. Merle Richter achieved podium finishes with second place in the 7.5km race and third in the 20km race, while Victoria Dybwad mirrored these results with third place in the 7.5km race and second in the 20km race.
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