2023 Nordic Ski Team
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Buccaneer Nordic Ski Team headed north to Fairbanks for the Region 6 competition held at Birch Hill Recreation Area. West Valley, Lathrop, Hutchison, Monroe, North Pole, Glennallen, and Valdez all competed in the two day event. After a great season of tough races around the state and hard work put in on our home trails the team was ready to compete and give their all at Regionals. With one of our largest teams in recent years 15 skiers represented Valdez in what would turn out to be by far the most demanding race of the year.
Day one of the two day competition started out with a mass start skate technique race 7.5 kilometers for the girls team and 10 kilometers for the boys. Conditions couldn’t be more difficult for a skate race. Temperatures for the race were around zero degrees and snow conditions were dry and cold. Causing skis to drag instead of effortlessly glide across the snow. On top of that was a challenging race course that will be the same course used for junior nationals in March that will feature the best racers from across the nation. None of these factors seemed to phase our Buccaneer skiers who all stepped up to the start line with an ice cold mentality ready to give their best effort.
The girls team was up first for their 7.5K race. Senior Elaina Hanson had a fantastic last regional race of her four year ski career in which she placed 15th overall and had a great time of 37:09. Ginger Keller, another senior, also had a great race that earned her a personal best 7.5K time over her 3 year ski career. Sophomore and first year skier Morgan Hamilton pushed her race experience onward and had an excellent race that placed her 26th overall.
Boys 2nd place team standings!
Next 12 Buccaneer boys took on their 10K skate race that had a total climb of 334 meters. Out of the 12 boys skiing, 8 of them were skiing in their first regional competition. They all put in grueling performances and finished the challenging 10K race. The top 4 skiers times for each
team are added together for the team score. Rafe Caruthers led the team with a time of 37:28 that placed him 12th overall. Just two places away from a medal spot. Senior Cole Wadsworth came in second placing 19th. In the 3rd spot was sophomore Blake Roosma who continues to improve each season. 4th on the team adding to our combined score was freshman Gray Odencrans who had great mental toughness and pushed himself to a great result in his first regional meet. Their combined score earned the Buccaneer boys an impressive 2nd place in the overall team results!
2nd place for the boys relay team
Day two was a fun day of relay competitions. Thankfully conditions improved with the temperature around 10 degrees at race time. This was a 3K classic technique race which felt like nothing compared to the challenge of day 1. With 12 boys we were able to field 3 relay teams. Team one for Valdez featured Cole Wadsworth, Gabe Caruthers, Ian Tiura, and Rafe Caruthers. With a combined time of 51:34 they placed in 2 place out of the scored teams and earned another spot on the podium! Team 2 was composed of Gray Odencrans, Blake Roosma, Elias Wisner, and Ezekiel James. Team 2 had a great race and came in just a few minutes behind team one. The 3rd boys relay team was made up of all first year high school skiers who have all improved tremendously over the season. Phillip Taylor, Alex Aldrich, Erik Vincent, and James Humphrey. Our 3 Buccaneer girls were also able to ski in the 4x3K relay by teaming up with Glennallen to ski in a combined “Panthaneers” relay team!
Our Buccaneer ski team continues to grow and improve each year. This year’s regionals had 2 different podium appearances for the Bucs! The first time our boys team has been awarded in the top 3 for many years. Along with many personal best times and gritty performances these skiers did great and represented our school and community well with great sportsmanship. As the coach I am very proud of this team and they should be very proud of their accomplishments as well. Now we look forward to the state competition which will be held in Anchorage in a two weeks.
Go Bucs!