Dominant in the Older Junior (ages 18-19) category, Alaska ran away with the Alaska Cup team prize as the USSA Marriott Junior National cross-country ski competition ended Saturday at Birch Hill in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Alaska amassed 637 of its winning 1,439 points from its OJ skiers to get past runner-up New England, which showed promise for the future with 532 of its 1,221 points in the J2 (14-15) divisions. Not surprisingly the Alaska-APU Nordic Ski Center won the club point race with 989.
Intermountain Division including Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation skiers finished fifth of 10 teams in the Alaska Cup with 825 points. By far Intermountain’s most productive class was J1 (16-17) women, with 243 points to finish a close second to Midwest (247) among the 10 teams.
The SVSEF was the 12th-ranked club overall with 278.
Saturday’s classic mass start races over 15 kilometer, 10k and 5 distances completed the week of racing for 360 racers. Best SVSEF efforts were: Jesse Knori ninth place in OJ women 10k; Laurel Fiddler 10th place in J1 women 10k; and Zach Williams 8th place in J2 men 5k.
In Thursday’s skate sprints, McCall’s Annika Miller won J1 women’s “A Final” and Knori placed fifth in OJ women’s “B Final,” 11th overall.
Skate sprint quarterfinalists from SVSEF were, in OJ, Knori, Maranda Stopol and Luke Costley; J1, Cole Greenberg, Laurel Fiddler and Maggie Williams; and J2, Zach Williams and Tom Gillespie.
Certainly the week’s highlight for Intermountain was the J1 women’s gold medal in the 3x3.3-kilometer classic relay Tuesday, March 12.
The Intermountain team of Fiddler and Maggie Williams (3rd fastest of 24 skiers in her leg) along with Annika Miller of McCall’s Payette Lake Sports team clocked a final time of 34 minutes and 11 seconds.
That put Intermountain just four seconds behind the top time of the Norwegian guest team (33:07) that included 16-year-old twins Tiril Weng and Lotta Weng from Lillehammer, Norway. Because the Norwegian guest teams were ineligible for Junior National medals and team points, the Intermountain girls won the gold in the 24-team class.
Here are Saturday’s classic mass start results for SVSEF:
- OJ women, 10k: 9—Jesse Knori 35:57 (1:31 back). 12—Maranda Stopol 36:23 (31 finishers). OJ men, 15k: 26—Zach Lindahl 47:57 (3:44 back). 27—Nicholas Lovett 47:59. 37—Luke Costley 49:14 (51 finishers).
- J1 women, 10k: 10—Laurel Fiddler 35:26 (1:39 back). 24—Maggie Williams 36:46). 61—Katie Feldman 40:41 (75 finishers). J1 men, 10k: 31—Cole Greenberg 32:04 (2:46 back). 66—Jake Adicoff 35:22 (74 finishers).
- J2 women, 5k: 43—Annika Landis 19:20 (2:43 back) (63 finishers). J2 men, 5k: 8—Zach Williams 15:21 (0:31 back). 32—Tom Gillespie 16:19. 34—Peter Wolter 16:22. 38—Eli Jensen 16:28 (55 finishers).
Nordic Devo teams have a fun triathlon
Capping a fun winter season, 55 youngsters from the Lake Creek and Croy Creek Development Teams of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Nordic program took part in a Devo Triathlon over the weekend of March 9-10. A barbecue and awards followed the races.
Here are the results by age class for the Flying Downhill, Obstacle Course and Skate races staged at the Devo Triathlon, according to SVSEF assistant cross-country ski director Kelley Sinnott:
Flying Downhill
- J4 (ages 10-11) girls: 1—Anja Jensen 1:23. 2—Eva Grover 1:31. 3—Laine Allison 1:32. 4—Chloe Tanous 1:33. 5—Kate Horowitz 1:35. 6—Abigail Kirk 1:38. 7—Sascha Leidecker 1:43. 8—Maya Lutz 1:48. 9—Quinn Closser 2:03. 10—Azia Mathieu 2:48.
- J4 boys: 1—Cash Dart 1:25. 2—Cole Reeves 1:34. 3—Jack Horowitz 1:37. 4—Sebi Radl-Jones 1:38. 5—Aiden Burchmore 1:42. 7—Kai Nelson 1:51.
- J5 (ages 8-9) girls: 1—Logan Smith 1:31. 2—Lucy Ludwig 1:36. 3—Anja Grover 1:42. 4—Svea Leidecker 1:48. 5—Meg Keating 1:50. 6—Willa Laski 1:55. 7—Lily Hogan 1:59. 8—Gina Greenberg 2:00. 9—Gretel Huss 2:01. 10—Marcella Fisher 2:02. 11—Priya Merchant 2:12. 12—Liv Nelson 2:13. 13—Cadence Campbell 2:17. 14—Anneka Thompson 2:25. 15—Kaia Wolfrom 2:28. 16—Agnes Kind 2:30.
- J5 boys: 1—Oliver Wiedemann 1:31. 2—Alex Shafer 1:32. 3—Ridge Dirksmeier 1:36. 4—Adam Kind 1:47. 5—Kye Harned 1:50. 6—Skylar Goepfert-Maguire 1:54. 7—Ryan Carnes 1:56 and Alexander Guylay 1:56. 9—Luca Mathieu 2:02. 10—James Carlin 2:14. 11—Blake DeHart 2:17. 12—Jack Seibly 2:50.
- J6 (ages 6-7) girls: 1—Sam Smith 1:38. 2—Paige DeHart 1:48. 3—Anika Vandenbergh 2:05. 4—Josephine Gilman 2:06. 5—Goldie Kirk 2:21.
- J6 boys: 1—Alec Wiedemann 1:56. 2—Enzo Lutz 2:04. 3—Mats Radl-Jones 2:09. 4—Holden Archie 2:17.
Obstacle Course
- J4 girls: 1—Anja Jensen 1:23. 2—Chloe Tanous 1:27. 3—Laine Allison 1:31. 4—Abigail Kirk 1:36. 5—Eva Grover 1:39. 6—Kate Horowitz 1:43. 7—Quinn Closser 1:46. 8—Maya Lutz 1:54. 9—Sasha Leidecker 1:58. 10—Azia Mathieu 2:04.
- J4 boys: 1—Jake Gorham 1:25. 2—Cash Dart 1:29. 3—Kai Nelson 1:43. 4—Sebi Radl-Jones 1:46. 5—Cole Reeves 1:47. 6—Jack Horowitz 1:51. 7—Aiden Burchmore 1:54.
- J5 girls: 1—Logan Smith 1:27. 2—Lucy Ludwig 1:33. 3—Marcella Fisher 1:48. 4—Willa Laski 1:52. 5—Gina Greenberg 1:53. 6—Meg Keating 1:56. 7—Svea Leidecker 2:03. 8—Anja Grover 2:06. 9—Gretel Huss 2:07. 10—Lily Hogan 2:09. 11—Cadence Campbell 2:14. 12—Anneka Thompson 2:16. 13—Crosby Boe 2:23. 14—Priya Merchant 2:40. 15—Kaia Wolfrom 2:49. 16—Agnes Kind 3:06. 17—Liv Nelson 3:37.
- J5 boys: 1—Alex Shafer 1:32. 2—Alexander Guylay 1:35. 3—Adam Kind 1:39. 4—Luca Mathieu 1:43. 5—Ridge Dirksmeier 1:47. 6—Oliver Wiedemann 1:48. 7—Kye Harned 1:54. 8—Blake DeHart 1:57. 9—Ryan Carnes 2:02. 10—James Carlin 2:07. 11—Skylar Goepfert-Maguire 2:16. 12—Jack Seibly 2:43.
- J6 girls: 1—Sam Smith 1:32. 2—Paige DeHart 2:07. 3—Goldie Kirk 2:29. 4—Anika Vandenbergh 2:39.
- J6 boys: 1—Holden Archie 1:50. 2—Enzo Lutz 1:51. 3—Alec Wiedemann 2:44. 4—Mats Radl-Jones 3:09.
Skate race
- J4 girls: 1—Anja Jensen. 2—Chloe Tanous. 3—Eva Grover. 4—Laine Allison. 5—Sascha Leidecker. 6—Abigail Kirk. 7—Kate Horowitz. 8—Quinn Closser. 9—Maya Lutz. 10—Azia Mathieu.
- J4 boys: 1—Cash Dart. 2—Jake Gorham. 3—Aiden Burchmore. 4—Kai Nelson. 5—Cole Reeves. 6—Sebi Radl-Jones. 7—Jack Horowitz.
- J5 girls: 1—Logan Smith. 2—Lucy Ludwig. 3—Lily Hogan. 4—Gina Greenberg. 5—Meg Keating. 6—Marcella Fisher. 7—Willa Laski. 8—Svea Leidecker. 9—Crosby Boe. 10—Cadence Campbell. 11—Kaia Wolfrom. 12—Anneka Thompson. 13—Gretel Huss. 14—Liv Nelson. 15—Priya Merchant. 16—Agnes Kind.
- J5 boys: 1—Ridge Dirksmeier. 2—Alex Shafer. 3—Oliver Wiedemann. 4—Kye Harned. 5—Skylar Goepfert-Maguire. 6—Alexander Guylay. 7—Adam Kind. 8—James Carlin. 9—Luca Mathieu. 10—Blake DeHart. 11—Ryan Carnes. 12—Jack Seibly.
- J6 girls: 1—Sam Smith. 2—Paige DeHart. 3—Anika Vandenbergh. 4—Goldie Kirk. 5—Maeve Bailey.
- J6 boys: 1—Holden Archie. 2—Mats Radl-Jones. 3—Enzo Lutz. 4—Alec Wiedemann.
