Sun Valley Junior Nordic ski team racers took their second step toward qualifying for the 2007 Junior Nationals at Soldier Hollow, Utah in March when they competed last weekend on the Rendezvous Ski Trails at West Yellowstone, Mt.
Older Junior (ages 18-19) Reid Pletcher was the fastest male racer in both Saturday's 10-kilometer classic race—winning by one minute and 35 seconds—and also in Sunday's 10k skate race, in which Pletcher prevailed by 27 seconds.
Perhaps the most exciting finish of the weekend happened in the J2 boys (ages 14-15) 5k classic race Saturday. Travis Job (19:20.4) nipped teammate Max Durtschi (19:20.7) in a photo finish. Durtschi then won Sunday's 5k skate race.
National champion Alexa Turzian of Sun Valley won by 56 seconds in the Older Junior 5k women's skate race.
In all, Sun Valley's team had 33 racers in the 185-racer field from Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Utah. The final JN qualifier is Feb. 17-19 hosted by Sun Valley on the Lake Creek trail system north of Ketchum.
Results by race:
OJ/J1 women 10k classic: 1—Rosie Brennan (Park City) 41:51. 2—Alexa Turzian 42:44. 13—Tess Dahlgren (7th OJ) 48:34. 26—Marissa Dreyer (14th J1) 54:19 (30 finishers).
OJ/J1 women 5k skate: 1—Alexa Turzian 16:58. 14—Tess Dahlgren (7th OJ) 20:05. 15—Marissa Dreyer (8th J1) 20:11 (32 finishers).
OJ/J1 men 10k classic: 1—Reid Pletcher 37:22. 4—Mike Matteson 39:12. 11—Sam Farnham (5th J1) 41:00. 12—Chris Holmquist (7th OJ) 41:12. 13—Scott Krankkala (6th J1) 41:27. 20—Connor Brown (12th J1) 43:57 (32 finishers).
OJ/J1 men 10k skate: 1—Reid Pletcher 32:35. 2—Mike Matteson 33:02. 9—Scott Krankkala (3rd J1) 34:34. 10—Chris Holmquist (7th OJ) 34:37. 16—Connor Brown (8th J1) 35:51. 21—Sam Farnham (13th J1) 36:35 (33 finishers).
J2 girls 5k classic: 1—Elizabeth Guiney (Park City) 21:50. 2—Julia Bowman 22:11. 5—Makayla Cappel 22:59. 6—Courtney Hamilton 23:18. 7—Rosie Gilchrist 23:22. 20—Lina Klumpp 26:06. 21—Keller Gibson 26:13 (25 finishers).
J2 girls 5k skate: 1—Elizabeth Guiney (Park City) 18:06. 3—Courtney Hamilton 19:27. 4—Julia Bowman 19:32. 13—Rosie Gilchrist 20:57. 22—Lina Klumpp 22:43. 23—Keller Gibson 23:07 (24 finishers).
J2 boys 5k classic: 1—Travis Job 19:20.4. 2—Max Durtschi 19:20.7. 7—Scotty Phelan 20:10. 15—Sean Dumke 21:23. 20—Daniel Sundali 22:16. 27—Will Spiller 23:56. 33—Nicol Wheeler 27:19. 34—Lucas Poster 27:33 (35 finishers).
J2 boys 5k skate: 1—Max Durtschi 16:22. 4—Scotty Phelan 16:55. 5—Travis Job 16:57. 9—Sean Dumke 17:22. 16—Daniel Sundali 18:17. 27—Will Spiller 19:57. 33—Nicol Wheeler 22:09 (35 finishers).
J3 boys (ages 12-13) 3k classic: 9—Andrew Pfeiffer 15:27. 11—Brandon Barry 16:09. 13—Jackson Long 16:51. 20—Ketchum Wilt 19:34 (22 finishers).
J3 boys 3k skate: 7—Andrew Pfeiffer 12:03. 13—Jackson Long 13:27. 14—Brandon Barry 13:29. 21—Ketchum Wilt 14:52 (22 finishers).
J3 girls 3k classic: 3—Maggie Williams 16:10. 8—Michelle Krankkala 17:28. 9—Mateja Heinrich 17:58. 10—Ali Levy 18:09. 11—Haley Cooper 19:01 (14 finishers).
J3 girls 3k skate: 2—Maggie Williams 12:32. 6—Michelle Krankkala 13:17. 7—Mateja Heinrich 13:37. 8—Ali Levy 14:12. 10—Haley Cooper 15:03 (12 finishers).
Novice boys 3k classic: 1—Jake Anderson 15:18.
Novice boys 3k skate: 2—Jake Anderson 12:47.
J4 boys (ages 10-11) 2k classic: 6—Ty Reinemann 13:06. 12—Jake Adicoff 19:30.
J4 boys 2k skate: 7—Jake Adicoff 9:59. 9—Ty Reinemann 10:12.
