The group, once teammates and classmates at Michigan Tech, was having a reunion of sorts on the fresh-powdered course. Kendrick, of Minneapolis, edged friends David Joda (1:02:52, runner up), Sam Holmes (1:03:17, third), Kyle Hanson (1:03:25, fifth) and Jay Woodbeck (1:04:50, seventh) — in addition to the rest of the field — with a time of 1 hour, 2 minutes, 51 seconds in the 20-kilometer freestyle.