Courtesy of VHS Coaches
Palmer Invite
14 Valdez High School Nordic Skiers competed in the Palmer invite at Government Peak Recreation Area. Keni, Soldotna, Homer, Grace Christian, Colony, Palmer, and Valdez attended the 2 day race.
The first day of the competition was a 4K mass start skate technique race. Thankfully Palmer temperatures were very mild and the course conditions were perfect. The races started off with JV boys and girls and finished with the Varsity boys and girls allowing for some fun and competitive racing. This was the first race of the year that featured a mass start. Our skiers gained great experience in navigating how to start in a chaotic group of skate skiers.
Day two of the competitions was a longer distance Classic Race. This was a challenging 8k classic that had the increased difficulty of 4 inches of fresh snow overnight. The new blanket of fresh snow made for a soft chopped up race surface and made wax decisions difficult. That made no difference to the Bucs who were ready to take on the competition and course. All 14 skiers stepped up to the start line 6 of them skiing an 8k distance race for the first time.
Senior Elaina Hanson represented the Bucs in the girls Varsity race and finished in 21st place overall. Rafe Caruthers also placed 21st in the combined boys varsity race and moved up 5 places on day 2’s classic race. Cole Wadsworth also had a great performance for the Varsity team with combined race time under an hour. Sophomores Blake Roosma and Ezekiel James also skied for the Varsity and continued to improve their times and their race experience.
Seven of our boys team and two of the girls competed in the JV level races. Ginger Keller raced all 12K of skiing which was her longest race of the season so far. Morgan Hamilton had a great skate race on day one but unfortunately had her ski binding fail on day 2 and had to make the lonely walk back to the start line. The seven JV boys are all first year high school skiers and continue to improve and impress each time they race. Freshman Gabe Caruthers recorded an impressive time which places him in the 3rd fastest spot on our team. Seniors Ian Turia and Phillip Taylor also had great races continuing to improve in their distance races and technique. Gray Odencrans, James Humphrey, Alex Aldrich and Oliver Ownby all competed in the 12K at grueling Government Peak Recreation Area and showed lots of toughness and drive to race hard all the way to the finish line.
It’s amazing to see how much our first year skiers have improved in just over one month of practice. The sky’s the limit for the future of the Buccaneer ski team!
Go BUCS