2026 Muffin Results, Recap, and Pictures

Mon, Feb  23, 2026 - By Cross Country Ski Headquarters

We had 42 young skiers compete at the 33rd Annual Junior Muffin races this year! Cooler temps a bit of bit of new snow over the past few days made for great conditions, with even a bit of gentle snow falling at the start of the race. It is always inspiring seeing the enthusiasm and passion for this great sport on full display with the up-and-coming generation of speedsters. Some truly fast skiers out there, and everyone competed with Heart!!

In the Senior Muffin Race (ages 13-19), the race format was a 2-person freestyle relay with three legs per skier, each leg approximately 1.5km. The co-ed winner was team '6/7 Squared': Lindsay Smith and Bode Dykstra. First place for the girls division was team 'Crystal Nordic': Avery Kelly and Ava Higley. The boys winner and first overall was team 'Frame Moggers': Finn Grayson and Liam Wierzba.

Costume contest winners were team ‘Dos Amigos’ of Adrien Wierzba and Asher Schwartz dressed up as a hunter and a turkey, and every time the turkey crossed the exchange zone, all the spectators gobbled!!

We had some great competitors in the Mini-Muffin category, with the youngest racer at 3 years old! We thank everyone who came out to the Cross Country Ski Headquarters and made this day a wonderful time for the XC ski community.

Overall Muffin Race Relay Team Results

Cross Country Ski Headquarters
Sunday February 22, 2026

Place	Time	Finishing Bib	Team Name	Club Name	Individual Name	Individual Name	Boys	Girls	Coed
1	42:55	223	Frame Moggers	Vasa	Finn Grayson	Liam Wierzba	X
2	43:38	219	6 7 Squared	Vasa	Lindsay Smith	Bode Dykstra			X
3	43:50	218	Jurassic Raptors	Vasa	Nate Gorman	Harrison Jeffries	X
4	45:39	233	Crystal Nordic	Crystal Nordic	Avery Kelly	Ava Higley		X
5	45:52	230	Fraternity of Finlandia in our Mesozoic Era	Vasa	Jack Mazurek	Ava Zeratsky			X
6	47:27	232	Jail Break	Vasa	Emma Dykstra	Salomon			X
7	50:27	229	Nub's Nob Nordic Racing	Nub's Nob	Henry Burris	Toby Dawson	X
8	52:56	222	Sylvia & Wheezy	Vasa	Wheezy Cliff	Sylvia Coulter		X
9	53:36	226	The Hellfire Club	none	Noah Doornbos	Finn Petersen	X
10	53:40	221	Dos Amigos **COSTUME WINNER	Vasa	Adrien Wierzba	Asher Schwartz	X
11	57:29	228	Wick's Dogs	none	Maxmillian Froelich	Ames MacCarthy	X
12	61:00	216	Monster Mash	1/2 Vasa 1/2 none	Ophelia Tomey	Thalia Springborn		X

Relay Individual Splits

Individual relay splits are used to award Michigan Cup Points.

Place	Name	Club Name	Boy	Girl	Time
1	Liam Wierzba	Vasa	X		20:56
2	Bode Dykstra	Vasa	X		21:09
3	Jack Mazurek	Vasa	X		21:13
4	Salomon DeBruyn	Vasa	X		21:15
5	Harrison Jeffries	Vasa	X		21:42
6	Finn Grayson	Vasa	X		21:59
7	Nate Gorman	Vasa	X		22:08
8	Lindsay Smith	Vasa		X	22:29
9	Avery Kelly	Crystal Nordic		X	22:33
10	Ava Higley	Crystal Nordic		X	23:06
11	Toby Dawson	Nub's Nob	X		23:35
12	Ava Zeratsky	Vasa		X	24:39
13	Anabelle Sketch	Vasa		X	24:51
14	Asher Schwartz	Vasa	X		25:48
15	Emma Dykstra	Vasa		X	26:12
16	Sylvia Coulter	Vasa		X	26:12
17	Wheezy Cliff	Vasa		X	26:44
18	Noah Doornbos	none	X		26:46
19	Finn Peterson	none	X		26:50
20	Henry Burris	Nub's Nob	X		26:52
21	Thalia Springborn	none		X	27:40
22	Ames MacCarthy	none	X		27:50
23	Adrien Wierzba	Vasa	X		27:52
24	Maxmillian Froelich	none	X		29:39
25	Ophelia Tomey	Vasa		X	33:20

Min-Muffin Results

Mini-Muffin Ages 10-12
Place	Name
1	Anna Higley
2	Aaron Greenberg
3	Lily Tomczak
4	Jacob Dornbos
5	Sonny Spiecer
6	George Kusku
7	Emelia Kemp
8	Nina Petersen
9	Theo Neils
Mini-Muffin Ages 7-9
Place	Name
1	Flora Kemp
2	Boyd Barker
3	Sayla Colie
Mini-Muffin Ages 5-6
Place	Name
1	Henry Colie
2	Ewen Kemp
3	Ford Barker
Mini-Muffin Ages 3-4
Place	Name
1	Lila Barker
2	Juniper Tyran