Blust makes it three in a row

With her third win in as many weeks, Sisters sophomore Molly Blust has emerged as one of the skiers to beat among female Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association Nordic competitors.

Her teammates are shaping into a threesome that will be a definite factor when the state meet rolls around.

Blust was once again the fastest girl of the day, recording a time of 16:27 in the five-kilometer freestyle race at Mount Bachelor on Saturday, February 3. Her victory, along with second and third place finishes by Jena Rickards (17:40) and Audrey Tehan (18:06) gave the girls another sweep of their Northern Division rivals St. Mary's, ACMA and Cleveland.

The Outlaws earned a perfect score of 12 with the sweep and a victory in the 3-by-1,000-meter relay. Cameron Rolle of Ashland won the Southern League portion of the meet in 16:47. Rolle and Blust will not ski head-to-head until the state meet later this month.

"Molly has taken a huge step up in her aggressiveness the past two weeks," said coach Lee Fischer, "and Jena and Audrey give the team an incredibly strong front three."

Erin Kanzig was the fourth skier for the team, finishing in a tie for tenth place in 20:36. The boys repeated their weekly routine of sweeping their Northern League opponents from Cleveland as Kelly Crowther cruised to the individual win in a time of 13:56.

"It's been tough for the boys to not have any other teams in the Northern Division this season, so I know they look forward to the state meet when they can go up against Mountain View, South Eugene and the other Southern League schools," said Fischer.

Kevin Brown of Mountain View scored the fastest time of the day in winning the Southern Division race in an impressive 12:48. Jeremy Evan finished second to Crowther in 15:10, and Lucas Glick glided in at 15:19 for third. Jacob Evan (15:36) and Kyle Rickards (15:38) battled it out for fourth and fifth places respectively.

The team heads to the trails of Mount Hood next Saturday for the annual Teacup Hot Pursuit which includes a four-kilometer classic race followed immediately by a four-kilometer freestyle race. Teacup concludes the regular season, and the teams will get a week off to prepare for the state meet which is slated for February 23-24 at Mt. Bachelor.