Nearly 200 enjoy Lake Creek Nordic
races
Junior National qualifiers
This week’s rainy weather hasn’t helped,
but generally the Sun Valley area has been blessed with excellent skiing this
winter—particularly when it comes to Nordic skiing.
And it was a glorious day for skiing
Saturday on the Lake Creek trails where the Sun Valley Ski Education
Foundation’s Junior Nordic ski team staged the first of three 2003 Junior
National qualifiers.
Some 164 junior skiers from Idaho,
Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and Montana joined the fun for two days of freestyle and
classical events. Add 19 citizens and seniors, and the total field of Nordic
skiers came to 183.
"It was a great weekend. The parents did
an awesome job," said Sun Valley Junior Nordic ski team coach Rick Kapala. "We
had unbelievable conditions Saturday. And we got out just before the rain
Sunday."
Kapala said that outstanding performances
were turned in by several Sun Valley juniors including Robert Slough, Alexa
Turzian, Matt DeCarufel and Morgan Arritola.
Slough, 17, won both J1 boys’ races, both
over Montana’s Seth Alt—by three seconds in Saturday’s 10-kilometer freestyle
race and nearly five seconds in Sunday’s 10k classic.
Diagonal specialist DeCarufel was the
fastest junior in classic Sunday with a 29:57 time over 10k. Turzian, 14, won J2
girls both days—by 27 seconds in freestyle and five seconds in classic.
First-year racer Arritola prevailed by nine seconds in J1 skate.
Subaru Factory team racer Kristina Joder
of Hailey clocked the fastest women’s times in both disciplines. Rossignol
Factory team racers Peter Webb (skate) and Jon Engen (classic) were the overall
men’s winners at Lake Creek.
The next two Junior National qualifiers
are Feb. 7-9 at West Yellowstone, Mont. and Feb. 21-23, planned for Boise but
possibly in McCall because of the mild weather. Junior Nationals begin March 9
in Fairbanks, Alaska.
In other junior team news:
Wood River High School senior Mike Sinnott
is in Sweden where he is a member of the 12-racer U.S. squad for the
Scandinavian Cup. Accompanying him is Sun Valley coach Ali Deines. This is
Sinnott’s second Scandinavian Cup trip. He competes Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at Torsby,
Sweden.
Results from Lake Creek follow:
Courses by age class: 10 kilometers for
JO/J1 and Senior/Masters men; 5 kilometers for J2 boys/girls and
JO/Senior/Masters women; 3 kilometers for J3 boys/girls; 2 kilometers for J4
boys/girls; and 1 kilometer for J5/J6 boys and girls.
Weekend class placings for the 50 Sun
Valley Junior nordic kids plus results for other local citizens:
OJ boys: Matt DeCarufel 3-FR, 1-CL.
OJ girls: Eva Bach 3-FR, 3-CL.
J1 boys: Robert Slough 1-FR, 1-CL;
Jack Harris 5-FR, 3-CL; Luke Pletcher 8-FR, 7-CL; David Vanderpool 7-FR, 22-CL;
Chase Cleveland 16-FR, 9-CL; George Livingston 17-FR, 8-CL; Alex Hamlin 18-FR,
17-CL; Hannes Thum 19-FR, 21-CL; Brennan Rego 27-FR; Brad Bradford 29-FR, 27-CL.
J1 girls: Morgan Arritola 1-FR,
14-CL; Erin McQueen 3-FR, 8-CL; Alissa Praggastis 8-FR, 6-CL; Lexie Praggastis
10-FR; Erin Magee 13-FR, 7-CL.
J2 boys: Reid Pletcher 4-FR, 5-CL;
Robbie Hamlin 8-FR, 11-CL; Max Danielson 10-FR, 10-CL; Artie Livingston 12-FR,
7-CL; Chris Holmquist 13-FR, 13-CL.
J2 girls: Alexa Turzian 1-FR, 1-CL;
Hayley Stommel 11-FR, 12-CL; Courtney Perry 12-FR; Margii Driscoll 20-FR, 10-CL.
J3 boys: Sam Farnham 16-FR, 15-CL.
J3 girls: Mali Noyes 6-FR, 8-CL; Jenn Tormey 10-FR, 9-CL; Amy Buchanan
12-FR, 13-CL; Chelsea Vanderpool 13-FR, 14-CL; Lindsey Mason 14-FR.
J4 boys: Scott Phelan 2-FR, 3-CL;
Travis Job 3-FR, 1-CL; Latner Straley 5-FR; Max Durtschi 11-FR, 10-CL; Liam
Donahoe 14-FR; Nicol Wheeler 15-FR, 14-CL; Daniel Henry 18-FR, 16-CL. J4
girls: Bronwen Raff 1-FR, 2-CL; Makayla Cappel 4-FR, 3-CL.
J5 boys: Zachary Lindahl 2-FR.
J5 girls: Sloan Storey 3-FR; Emily Williams 4-FR.
J6 boys: Chase Josey 1-FR; Tanner
Josey 2-FR; Jake Adicoff 3-FR, 1-CL; Calder Zarkos 4-FR. J6 girls: Maggie
Williams 1-FR; Catherine Henry 2-FR, 1-CL.
Freestyle Master/Senior men:
1—Peter Webb 24:24. 2—Jon Engen 24:54. 3—Chad Andersen 25:05. 6—Chris Williams
29:54. 7—Michael Dunham 33:17. Women: 1—Kristina Joder 14:10. 2—Muffy Roy
14:58. 3—Gabriele Andersen 16:03. 4—Rebecca Rusch 16:44. 5—Katherine Sheldon
18:12. 6—Lili Simpson 19:37. 7—Priscilla Woods 20:10.
Freestyle Novice men: 3—Mikey
Matteson 11:59.
Classic Master/Senior men: 1—Jon
Engen 29:15. Women: 1—Kristina Joder 15:52. 2—Muffy Ritz 17:10. 3—Muffy
Roy 19:43. 4—Darlene Young 21:47. 5—Katherine Sheldon 23:03.
Classic Novice men: 3—Mikey
Matteson 14:33.