“Roger beats me sometimes and I beat him other times,” said Freed, who entered the state meet ranked No. 1 while Anderson was ranked second.

Anderson got off to a fast start, posting a time of 10:38 on the initial 4K classic-style race. Freed was in sixth place, only 12 seconds back despite falling on a turn near the end of the race.

“It caught me off guard a little bit,” Freed said. “I lost my balance and fell over.”

On the 4K freestyle second leg of the race, Freed posted the fastest time of 9:25.2.

“I had to go all out,” Freed said. “I had time to make up. I felt really strong.”

Anderson went out nearly as fast. It almost caught up with him.

“I had to go out fast. I had to hold off the other guys,” Anderson said. “At the 2K mark I started slowing down. I had to try and keep it up if I wanted to win.”

He knew a strong group of seniors, headed by Freed, was giving chase. The only non-senior in the top seven finishers was Camp.

“Colin is a phenom in the skate race,” said Anderson, who posted a time of 9:33.1 in the freestyle leg. “I knew he was coming after me. I had to let it all out at the end.”

The biggest change for the skiers was not having a pursuit race for the second leg. Instead of starting the second race based on finishing times from the first run, all of the participants went out for the freestyle in the same order they did for the classic race.

“I don’t know that it really mattered today,” Freed said. “But the pursuit is a lot more fun, exciting.”

Anderson said the shortened course, from to 5K to 4K for each leg, did play in his favor.

“Colin is usually better on longer races,” Anderson said. “The little shorter course really helped me. Today, was a great day.”

Only Star Tribune photographer Alex Kormann attended the boys’ Nordic skiing state meet. This article was written based on telephone interviews after the competition.