Nordic skiing: Bonneson 68th at first-ever state meet

Park’s Evan Bonneson finished in the middle of the pack in his first-ever state meet.

Bonneson, a junior, took 68th place out of 119 skiers in the 2012-13 Minnesota State Nordic Skiing Meet, held Thursday, Feb. 14, at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.

With 32 seniors finishing ahead of him, Bonneson had the 36th best finish by an underclassman. He totaled a time of 33 minutes, 19 seconds in the 10-kilometer pursuit-style race.

In the pursuit-style, skiers compete in a 5K classic race in the morning and a 5K skate (or freestyle) in the afternoon, where they literally pursue the skiers that finished ahead of them in the first race.

Bonneson had a time of 16:53 in the classic and a time of 16:26 in the skate race.

Bonneson became the first Park Nordic skier to reach state since 2009, when Joey Snyder and Nicolle Westphal reached state.

Park, East Ridge and Woodbury practice together, compete in identical races (except for the section race) and are administrated by the same staff, but race as individual high schools. Bonneson was the only skier from the three schools to reach the state meet this year. He earned the trip to state after skier taking ninth place at the Section 1 championship meet.

Hopkins senior Jakob Ellingson won the boys individual state championship title with a combined time of 29:24.4 seconds – just over a second faster than Eden Prairie senior Thomas Bye, who finished second with a time of 29:25.6. Bloomington Jefferson freshman Zak Ketterson was third in 29:49.

Bye’s runner-up finish led the Eden Prairie boys to the team state title with 378 points. Ely was second with 358, and Forest Lake was third with 345.

Duluth senior Anna Kubek won the girls race with a time of 33:58.9. Burnsville junior Vivian Hett was second with a time of 34:21.0.

Wayzata won the girls team championship with 365 points, three points in front of two-time defending champion Duluth East. Roseville was third with 351.

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