Wood River Wins Third National Cross-Country Ski Education Foundation Boys High School Championship in Past Six Years. Truckee Wrenches Girls Title from Alaska for the First Time.
Lake Placid, NY
The Wood River High School won its third National Cross-Country Ski Education Foundation High School Championship in the past six years this past week in Lake Placid, NY at the Junior Olympic Championships. The Wood River boys won the title like they have in the past, with their amazing depth. They built a thirteen-point lead over Service after the first day’s classic race. Jackson Harris and Luke Pletcher paced the team in the classic race with an 11th and 6th place finish in their age classes. Wood River then held off a hard charge by Service and Truckee in the skate race, this time paced by David Vanderpool, Reid Pletcher and Alex Hamlin. All three boys placed in the top ten in their age groups in the skate race. Defending champion Stratton Mountain School got strong skiing out of national champion Brett Bedard, but they did not have enough members to score in the meet.
The Girls National High School trophy has never traveled out of Alaska in its six years of existence. Last year Traverse City almost played David, leading after the skate race and coming close to unseating Alaskan Goliath Service, but couldn’t quite do it. This season Service and Traverse City came in as favorites, but they were shocked by California’s Truckee High School. Truckee was not on anyone’s radar before the Junior Olympics, but led my Maisha Goodpaster’s second place in the classic race they built up a commanding lead after day one. Whitney Prosor and Kara Lapoint also skied into the top fifteen in their age classes for Truckee. Traverse City made a hard charge in the skate race, as Cassidy Edwards and twins Julia and Anna Coulter placed in the top ten. But Truckee’s trio all skied into the top fifteen again to win their first National title by a scant six points.
National High School Championship — Boys Teams Skate Score Classic Score Total 1 Wood River H.S. Hailey, ID 281 274 555 2 Service H.S. Anchorage, AK 277 261 538 3 Truckee H.S. Truckee, CA 268 249 517 4 Durango H.s. Durango, CO 252 260 512 5 Boulder H.S. Boulder, CO 242 251 493 6 Chugiak H.S. Chugiak, AK 255 211 466 7 Keen Valley H.S. Kenn Valley, NY 211 243 454 8 St. Louis Park H.S. St. Louis Park, MN 205 211 416 9 Summit H.S. Summit County, CO 206 209 415 10 Steamboat Springs H.S. Steamboat Springs, CO 228 181 409 11 Traverse City H.S. Traverse City, MI 152 198 350 12 Hayward H.S. Hayward, WI 156 171 327 13 Lander H.S. Lander, WY 152 169 321 14 Casper H.S. Casper, WY 161 154 315 15 Marquette H.S. Marquette, MI 166 139 305 16 Fairport H.S. Fairport, NY 99 133 232 National High School Championship — Girls Teams 1 Truckee H.S. Truckee, CA 269 279 548 2 Traverse City H.S. Traverse City, MI 282 260 542 3 Stratton Mtn School Stratton, VT 244 255 499 4 Community School Sun Valley, ID 255 233 488 5 Summit High H.S. Summit County, CO 262 214 476 6 West Valley H.S. Fairbanks, AK 245 216 461 7 Service H.S. Anchorage, AK 221 238 459 8 Wood River H.S. Hailey, ID 213 225 438 9 Durango H.S. Durango, CO 193 236 429 10 Mesabi East H.S. Aurora, MN 178 207 385 11 East H.S. Anchorage, AK 181 195 376 12 Bozeman H.S. Bozeman, MY 182 183 365 13 Pinedale H.S. Pinedale, WY 168 179 347 14 Lander H.S. Lander, WY 160 147 307 15 Hopkins H.S. Hopkins, MN 169 125 294 16 Casper H.S. Casper, WY 81 68 149
Source: NCCSEF
