Local students competed and placed in the 36th annual Nordic Ski Championships for high school and middle school held Feb. 11-12 at the new American Birkiebiner trailhead facility near Cable.

The Iola Winter Sports Club high school girls team including Anna Zajakowski, Mya Zajakowski, Victoria Weier, Stephanie Pederson and Ally Jordens took third place in the two-day combined time skate and classic ski competition. They edged out Lakeland (Minocqua) by two points.

In the middle school competition, Owen Williams, a Stevens Point student, won the overall individual boys title with a combined two-day time of 23:45 over the 3.6K course.

In the middle school girls division, Erin Ross, Stevens Point, placed fourth overall with a combined time of 27:37.

In the high school girls division, Iola was led by Anna Zajakowski, Stevens Point, in seventh place with a combined time of 45:25.

For the high school boys division, Sam Williams paced the boys to 15th overall with a combined time of 39:23.

Nordic ski teams from around the state were present with more than 400 athletes competing.

Other area team members participating included Andrew Ross, Bryan Cook, Liam Belson, Trent Miller, Sawyer Eiden, Brendan Leahy, Lydia Johnsrud, Revyn Abbot-Beversdorf, Anna Meilahn, Grace Miller and Ella Miller.