Last weekend was the ND High School Boys State Swim Meet up at UND in Grand Forks, ND.  As posted last week, Fargo North had won the EDC championship and was going into the state meet with high goals and a tough team.  Minot ND had won the WDA championship meet in Bismarck and were by far the favorite team to win the overall title since they have done so 13 of the last 14 years.  Must be something in the water up in Minot because they sure are good swimmers.

After two days of intense competition, FN ended up taking second place overall behind Minot.  I was sitting high in the bleachers and not able to take any cool photos, but Kriston and I enjoyed the meet totally.    Click HERE to see all of the results.
The high school season is now over and both Matt and Ben have moved onto club swimming with the FMY Gators.  Two more weekends in the pool and then they are done for a couple months.
Bitter sweet in some ways as the senior swimmers are moving on.  Matt has swam with them for 5 years and has developed some great friendships.

Sunday Kriston and I made our way over to Maplelag for the Lotvolla Cup Ski Race.  The state swim meet has kept me away from this event a couple times but this year I was able to race.  I had not skied since the Minnesota Finlandia two weeks earlier and was not expecting a big result but none the less I was there to race and enjoy the day.

 Karen Skoyles photo.
A stick of dynamite starts the race which is always cool to experience the concussion.  The race is a classic style 12k event in which I have skied the course a dozen times this year alone.  There was a fresh dusting of snow at the start which kept things a bit slower but as usual Jay had the tracks in perfect shape.  Talk about max heart rate.  My average for the race was 149 which is very high for me.  In comparison for the Finlandia two weeks earlier I averaged 138.  I was not in any trouble, but was pushing the gas pedal wide open and hoping for the best.  Lars Ellefson won overall.  Check out all of the results HERE. Of all the races I do a year, the Lotvolla is on the top of the list.  Always a great workout and well run event.

Jake Richards of Maplelag is racing in the Junior Olympics down at Theo Wirth Park in Minneapolis this week.  What a good deal!  Check out all of the results and race day information on www.skinnyski.com
Races run through Saturday.  I am trying to work the deal to get down and bang some cowbell.  Good luck Jake!