Alaska
Region 6 Championships Relays
Marisa Rorabaugh and Heather Edic skied stride-for-stride for 7.5K’s, and when they sprinted to the finish a last-second surge by Edic was enough to catch, but not overtake, Rorabaugh. The two skiers will share the Region VI crown for 2009. Logan Hanneman, on the other hand, surged hard on the last two climbs to win the boys’ title by almost a minute.The girls race started at 3:00PM under sunny skies and bright sun, with a temperature in the high teens, conditions that produced much faster snow than was the case for the Besh Cup finals five days earlier.
Rorabaugh and Edic led from the get-go, with Wendy Boger keeping them close company for most of the first lap and the beginning of the second lap. On the next-to-last climb to the high point on the trail system at the top of the Tower Loop Boger dropped off the back, but Edic and Rorabaugh kept going stride-for-stride.
They were still tip to tail after the Tower climb, and the final climb back to the stadium from the range did no more to separate the two. As they entered the home stretch Rorabaugh moved right and Edic moved left and the two cranked up the speed to the finish.
Rorabaugh had a lead of less than a meter as they approached the line, but Edic put on a last-second surge in the final five meters to pull even with Rorabaugh. Had the race been half-a-meter shorter, Rorabaugh would have won; half-a-meter longer and Edic would have been the champ.
West Valley’s Boger came in 56 seconds behind the leaders, followe by teammate Eliza Rorabaugh, then Lathrop’s Rosemary Hanson before West Valley’s #4 and #5, Rachael Schmoker and Elizabeth Whisenhant, crossed.
Kelly Schmitz of North Pole saved her best race of the season for the Regionals, pulling into 8th place overall and first for North Pole, in the absence of her older sister Christi, the Patriots’ normal #1.
Lathrop’s Mikayla Hamlin and Sydney Stone rounded out the top 10. North Pole’s other three counters were Rita Spann (17th), Charlotte Goffinet (23rd) and Hendrike Dawidowsky (28th)
West Valley’s strength at the top of the result sheet gives them a four-minute, ten-second cushion over Lathrop going into tomorrow’s 4 x 3Km mixed technique relay.
Lathrop’s Malemutes dominated the boys 10Km event. Logan Hanneman and Jordan Buetow led early, with West Valley’s Jacob Remington and Kelsey Boyer tagging along for the first few K’s. However, as the effect of the hills accumulated, Buetow and Hanneman gapped the WV skiers, then Hanneman pulled away from Buetow decisively on the Tower climb, then further padded his lead climbing back to the stadium from the Range.
Remington and Boyer comfortably held 3rd and 4th places to the end, although a hard-charging Pat Nugent from Lathrop might have made Boyer nervous had the race continued a bit longer. Nugent put 1:42.1 on his opposite number for West Valley. Robert Hovda was Lathrop’s #4 in 7th, just 5 seconds ahead of West Valley’s #4, Vanya Rybkin.
Lathrop’s Stefan Hajdukovich and Josh Branham rounded out the top 10.
North Poles scorers were Matt Stoller, Kenny Piech, Casey Reese and Bobby Ison in places 18-32-35-39.
Lathrop ended the day with a lead of 4:10.4 over West Valley and a lead of more than 20 minutes over North Pole, which fielded full boys and girls teams for the first time in several years.
Saturday’s mixed technique relay action begins at 11:00AM with the Girls’ 4 x 3Km, followed at about 12:15PM by the Boys’ 4 x 5Km.
Region 6 Championships Relays
Christi Schmitz of North Pole led off the relay by winning the first leg by 17 seconds over West Valley’s Wendy Boger. Shortly thereafter, West Valley’s second-leg skier Eliza Rorabaugh took over the lead and that was it for the Region VI Champions. The Wolfpack’s winning margin in the relay was 1:24.2 which gave them a total, two-day margin of 5:35.0 over the Lathrop Malemutes and 26:59.1 over the North Pole Patriots.
Schmitz skied the fastest classic leg of the day on her way to winning the “scramble.” Twelve seconds after Boger came Lathrop’s Rosemary Hanson. Kieran O’Neil of WV #3 was the fourth skier in, and Stephanie Whisenhant of WV #4 was fifth in.
On the second leg, Eliza Rorabaugh skied the second-fastest second leg time. She quickly overtook NPHS’ Nichole Rood, and the Wolfpack never looked back. Rorabaugh gained 40 seconds on Lathrop’s Sydney Stone to give WV a 52 second lead after two legs. Elizabeth Whisenhant of WV #3 had the fastest second leg, with a time of 12:14.8 for a loop that was about 60m shorter than the first leg.
West Valley’s Marisa Rorabaugh skated the fastest third leg, 12:14.5,boosting the lead to 1:45 by gaining 53 seconds on Lathrop’s Mikayla Hamlin. Kelley Schmitz of North Pole had the third-fastest third leg with a 13:29.1.
The Malemute’s Heather Edic skied the fastest skate leg of the day with an 11:20.8. She gained 21 seconds on WV’s Hannah Boyer, but that was purely academic, as Boyer needed to ski only hard enough to retain a comfortable lead.
The WV #2 girls team was third, WV #3 girls were fourth, and North Pole #1 was fifth.
In the boys race, it was Lathrop all the way as the Malemutes easily retained their lead from the first day and went on to win the team championship. Jordan Buetow led off and built up a comfortable, 26+-second lead over WV’s Jacob Remington. Buetow tagged Robert Hovda who not only held the lead, but gained another 55+ seconds on Vanya Rybkin, making the margin 1:22.
The Malemutes’ third skier, Pat Nugent laid another 36 seconds on West Valley’s Wyatt Mayo to build up a margin of nearly two minutes. With Friday’s individual champ Logan Hanneman skiing anchor for Lathrop, it was all over but the shouting. West Valley’s Kelsey Boyer skied the 2nd-fastest skate leg of the day (14:45.8), but Hanneman cruised a 14:39.5 to make the final margin 2:04.3.
Combined with their first day cushion of 4:10.4, the Malemutes combined margin of victory was 6:14.7.
1. West Valley Girls #1 48:55.3 (Wendy Boger-12:30.4, Eliza Rorabaugh-12:28.4, Marisa Rorabaugh-12:14.5, Hannah Boyer-11:42.0)
2. Lathrop Girls #1 50:19.5 (Rosemary Hanson-12:42.3, Sydney Stone-13:08.5, Mikayla Hamlin-13:07.9, Heather Edic-11:20.8)
3. West Valley Girls #2 52:56.6 (Stephanie Whisenhant-13:26.1, Elizabeth Whisenhant-12:14.6, Ema Mayo-14:18.4, Rachael Schmoker-12:57.5)
4. West Valley Girls #3 54:47.7 (Kieran O`Neil-13:16.9, Brigit Noon-13:42.5, Jenn Payer-13:56.3, Anna Deveraux-13:52.0)
5. North Pole Girls #1 54:57.3 (Christi Schmitz-12:13.3, Nichole Rood-15:43.5, Kelley Schmitz-13:29.1, Rita Spann-13:31.4)
6. Lathrop Girls #2 55:12.4 (Megan Edic-13:47.7, Claire Ferree-13:40.7, Maddie Button-14:21.1, Kim Fitzgerald-13:22.9)
7. West Valley Girls #4 59:54.9 (Helen Sudkamp-Walker-14:36.8, Brooke Wilson-15:26.2, Cortney Kisner-15:06.7, Robin Spielman-14:45.2)
8. Lathrop Girls #3 1:00:34.0 (Annie Sisson-15:33.6, Sarah King-15:05.0, Keri-Lynn Fitzgerald-14:20.9, Kaitlyn Zellweger-15:34.5)
9. North Pole Girls #2 1:05:30.9 (Allyse Eide-14:42.9, Hendrike Dawidowsky-16:51.9, Charlotte Goffinet-16:04.6, Beverly Ring-17:51.5)
10. Lathrop Girls #4 1:15:40.5 (Thea Ruckhaus-18:56.9, Katie Shier-16:14.5, Rachel Tomsha-20:27.2, Maura Barry-Garland-20:01.9)
11. Lathrop-West Valley Mixed 1:20:36.7 (Nina Ruckhaus-17:13.4, Fernanda Chamorro-29:55.1, Heather Hinzman-16:22.2, Mary Strehl-17:06.0)
Intermountain
Junior Nationals Intermountain Division Qualifier at West Yellowstone
2/14-15-2009
By Kathryn Tucker, parent of SVSEF skier Torin Tucker (J2)
The last day of the last Intermountain Division qualifier for 2009 Junior Nationals dawned thick with falling snow. Skiers woke to find 2 inches of fresh snow blanketing the ground and a steady fall of flakes. Skiers who had been here for the early season training camp in November were thrilled to see that all the Rendezvous Trails, bare of snow then, were now open.
This final qualifier was an interval start (30 seconds between skiers) classic race. The course wound through trees with only gradual climbs and descents. The soft new snow wasn’t fast and the skiers were striding much of the course, set with 3 tracks the entire way.
At 9 am the OJ/J1 boys started their 10K, 2 loops of the 5K course. Sun Valley skiers dominated this race, taking the top 3 OJM finishes: Miles Havlick, Willie Neal, Sam Farnham, and also sweeping the medals in the J1M: Max Durtschi (just back from the Scandinavian J1 Championships in Norway), Scott Schoen, Danny Sundali. The close finish in this race was Marshall Opel (Glacier) who squeaked out 5th over Charlie Fereday (Bogus Basin) in 6th, by 2 tenths of a second.
Katie Gill (Bridger) won the J1 women’s race with a 15 second lead over Elizabeth Guiney (Park City); Brownen Raff (Sun Valley) took 3rd. Gill and Guiney were also on the USA J1 Scandinavian Championship Team.
By the J2 start at 10:05 the snow had stopped falling and the sun was out. Jack Steele (Glacier) won, 20 seconds ahead of Cole Morgan (Bridger). Torin Tucker (Sun Valley) finished less than 3 seconds back to take 3rd. The close finish in this race was between Brandon Wade (Sun Valley) and Aren Burkemo (SoHo), with Wade finishing 6th, just 4 tenths of a second ahead of Burkemo in 7th.
J2 girls: Stella Holt (Glacier) won, followed by 4 Sun Valley skiers: Maggie Williams, Maranda Stopol, Morgan Atkinson, and Sloan Storey.
The race was followed by a barbeque lunch/awards ceremony at the Rendezvous trail cabin and the naming of the Intermountain Division Junior Nationals Team which will travel to compete in Truckee March 8-14th.
Full results of the race are posted at www.rendezvousskitrails.com. The IMD team points list is posted at www.intermountainxc.com. Info about the Junior Nationals is available at www.xcjuniorolympics2009.org.
