Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Valdez High School Nordic Ski Team took 14 skiers up to Anchorage to participate in the Lynx Loppet Invitational at Kincaid Park for races starting on January 13th.
The first day included Open Girls and Boys 4.5k classic races, and 7.3k Boys and Girls classic pursuit races. On Friday we had 6 Buccaneer skiers compete in the open races, while the other 8 skied in the 7.3k Boys and Girls classic pursuit races. The following day we had 8 skiers compete in the Boys and Girls 8.2k skate races.
Seniors Cole Wadsworth, Elaina Hanson, Ian Tiura and Phillip Taylor all showed up to the races with an ‘Ice Cold’ mentality that brought them to new heights as they all finished with personal bests. Phillip Taylor received 1st place in the open boys 4.5k with a time of 20:34, and Ian Tiura smashed his previous 8k time by 5 minutes. Cole Wadsworth improved his 8k skate time by 2 mins, and Elaina Hanson surged forward with a personal best of 35:17, and 41st out of 108 girls!
There were great efforts brought forth by Junior, Rafe Caruthers who finished 35th out of over 150 skiers and had a two day combined time of 53:54.
Sophomores Alex Aldridge, and Morgan Hamilton made great strides by smashing their previous times by over 4 minutes a piece. Sophomore Blake Roosma reached a personal best in his 8k Skate race with a time of 33:39, and finishing 3rd out of our 7 boys. Sophomore Ezekiel James showed lots of grit and improvement even after having to miss the previous meet.
All 5 Freshman improved greatly on their times from the Valdez Invite, just one week prior. It marks a pretty incredible feat, considering that for many of them it was just their second race ever.
In a weekend that brought many personal bests, and much improvement throughout the team, the Buccaneer skiers hope to use this confidence boost as fuel for the next races to come. Next weekend holds the Palmer Invite, and they’ll be ready. Go Bucs!