Besh Cup races 1 and 2 were held Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 21 and 22, at Kincaid Park in Anchorage. The six Besh Cup races are used to select Under 16, Under 18 and Under 20 skiers for Junior Nationals. Other ages also race Besh Cup to face top competition.
Saturday, racers did a classic sprint.
In boys Under 14, Kenai Middle School’s Leif Laker finished 15th at 4 minutes, 35.97 seconds, with the victory going to Isaac Yager of Arctic Winter Stars at 3:43.64.
In men’s senior, Kenai Central graduate and Western Colorado University student Tyler Hippchen was ninth at 3:48.38. Erling Bjoernstad of the University of Alaska Anchorage claimed the win at 3:14.39.
In boys Under 16, Soldotna’s Ollie Dahl was eighth at 3:58.23. The win went to Jack Leveque of Arctic Winter Stars at 3:29.43.
In girls Under 16, SoHi’s Kathryn Cox was 13th at 4:45.75. The win went to Miya Kam-Magruder of Arctic Winter Stars at 4:10.02.
In boys Under 18, SoHi’s Michael Davidson was 15th at 3:48.33, Kenai Central’s Chase Laker was 16th at 3:48.49, SoHi’s Parker Richards was 18th at 3:56.13, Homer’s Johannes Bynagle was 23rd at 4:04.49, Homer’s Tait Ostrom was 29th at 4:18.95, Kenai’s Silvan Krieg was 32nd at 5:18.54 and Soldotna’s Haedyn Horstman was 33rd at 5:20.06. The win went to Noa Kam-Magruder of Arctic Winter Stars at 3:17.18.
In girls Under 18, SoHi’s Tania Boonstra was seventh at 4:22.64. The win went to Olivia Soderstrom of the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Club at 4:10.61.
In men’s Under 20, Homer’s Jody Goodrich was 13th in 3:45.55 and Kenai Central grad and Western Colorado student Jack Laker was 16th at 3:57.20. The win went to UAA’s Murphy Kimball at 3:11.84.
In women’s Under 20, SoHi’s Ariana Cannava was sixth at 4:30.17. APU’s Piper Sears won at 4:04.84.
Sunday, the racers did a mass start freestyle.
In the men’s senior 10-kilometer race, Hippchen was 13th at 28:02, with UAA’s Matt Seline winning at 22:59.
In the men’s Under 20 10K, Jack Laker was 15th at 27:11 and Goodrich was 16th at 27:41.The University of Vermont’s Tabor Greenberg won at 23:04.
In the men’s Under 18 10K, Chase Laker was 13th in 26:32, Bynagle was 20th in 28:08, Davidson was 23rd in 28:33, Richards was 25th in 28:37, Ostrom was 29th in 31:01 and Krieg was 32nd in 34:30. The win went to Vebjorn Flagstad of Arctic Winter Stars in 23:20.
In the women’s Under 20 10K, Cannava was fifth at 31:51. Sears won at 28:53.
In the girls Under 18 10K, Boonstra was second at 29:51, with Mia Stiassny of APU winning at 28:19.
In the boys Under 16 5K, Dahl was seventh at 13:51, with Jack Leveque of Arctic Winter Stars winning at 12:32.
In the women’s Under 16 5K, Cox was 13th at 16:30 and Kenai Central’s Ruby Davis was 18th at 17:55. Kam-Magruder won at 14:28.
In the boys Under 14 5K, Leif Laker was 18th at 19:54, with Yager winning at 15:07.
