Max Donaldson captured his third straight state skimeister title Friday afternoon at Kincaid Park in Anchorage, denying Kenai Central’s Travis Cooper a shot at becoming the Peninsula’s first state ski champion.
Trailing Cooper by 20 seconds after Thursday’s opening day 7.5-kilometer classic race, Donaldson won Friday’s 10K freestyle event by nearly 10 seconds over Hunter Wonders of South, skiing to a time of 24 minutes, 26.6 seconds, while Cooper finished 63 seconds adrift in 11th place.
The performance was more than enough to earn Donaldson the skimeister award, which combines the times of the first two individual races of the three-day meet and determines the fastest boys and girls skier in the state.
Cooper ended up fifth in the overall skimeister results, which is the first top 10 result for a Peninsula boys skier in 12 years. Levi Michael led the Soldotna boys with a 33rd-place finish on Friday, and ended up 30th in the final skimeister standings.
Lydia Blanchet of West won Friday’s 7.5K girls freestyle race by nearly 30 seconds, winning in a time of 18:58.6 to capture her second skimeister championship, adding to the one she won in 2013.
Soldotna senior Sadie Fox finished 16th Friday, which was enough for ninth place in the final skimeister results. Kenai freshman Addison Gibson topped Peninsula girl skiers Friday with a 10th-place finish, which landed her a 10th place in the overall skimeister results, five seconds behind Fox.
Saturday’s schedule includes a pair of relay races. The season-ending girls 4-by-3.3K relay starts at noon, while the boys 4-by-5K relay is slated for 1:30 p.m. The two relays will determine the final team results of the weekend.
BOYS
Friday 10K
Top 10 Individual results — 1. Max Donaldson, WV, 24 minutes, 26.6 seconds; 2. Hunter Wonders, Sou, 24:35.0; 3. Gus Schumacher, Ser, 24:44.2; 4. Conner Truskowski, Ser, 24:49.0; 5. Matthew Hoefler, Sou, 25:09.7; 6. Benjamin Koenig, WV, 25:17.6; 7. Luke Cvancara, Dim, 25:23.3; 8. Canyon Tobin, Ser, 25:26.9; 9. Will Balcao, Sou, 25:27.5; 10. Luke Jager, Wes, 25:29.2.
Other Peninsula finishers — 11. Travis Cooper, Ken, 25:29.8; 30. Jordan Theisen, Ken, 26:54.4; 33. Levi Michael, Sol, 27:15.4; 36. John-Mark Pothast, Sol, 27:28.8; 37. Karl Danielson, Ken, 27:29.4; 38. James Butler, Ken, 27:31.3; 41. Koby Vinson, Sol, 27:45.9; 56. Jacob Davis, Hom, 29:09.1; 62. Aaron Swedberg, Sol, 29:31.0; 64. Daniel Shuler, Sol, 29:32.6; 65. Ghen Sasakura, Hom, 29:57.3; 66. Liam Floyd, Ken, 30:01.4; 71. Tanner Best, Sol, 30:14.5; 74. Hoxie Parks, Hom, 30:25.1; 80. Tadhg Scholz, Hom, 30:49.6; 93. Patrick Michaels, Ken, 33:31.8; 97. Logan Smith, Sew, 35:06.7; 98. Hunter Kratz, Sew, 35:36.1.
GIRLS
Friday 7.5K
Top 10 Individual results — 1. Lydia Blanchet, Wes, 18:58.6; 2. Anna Darnell, Sou, 19:27.7; 3. Emma Tarbath, Ser, 19:41.9; 4. Annika Flynn, Sou, 19:48.1; 5. Molly Gellert, Wes, 19:55.5; 6. Morgan Flynn, Eas, 20:00.2; 7. Magdalen York, 20:03.5; 8. Abby Amick, Was, 20:08.8; 9. Taryn Hunt-Smith, Ser, 20:08.8; 10. Addison Gibson, Ken, 20:29.2.
Other Peninsula finishers — 12. Riana Boonstra, Ken, 20:40.3; 16. Sadie Fox, Sol, 20:46.7; 29. Alex Bergholtz, Ken, 21:32.8; 30. Hannah Pothast, Sol, 21:37.2; 39. Aspen Daigle, Hom, 22:21.8; 42. Mikaela Salzetti, Ken, 22:27.6; 49. Olivia Hutchings, Sol, 23:04.8; 50. Rachel Ellert, Hom, 23:08.5; 55. Katie Cooper, Ken, 23:27.3; 60. Audrey Russell, Hom, 23:49.8; 61. Kellie Arthur, Sol, 23:51.4; 62. Ruby Lindquist, Sew, 23:56.8; 64. Sara Wolf, Hom, 24:09.1; 66. Emily Werner, Sol, 24:13.5; 69. Ithaca Bergholtz, Ken, 24:21.6; 71. Mariah Vantrease, Hom, 24:24.9; 74. Meika Chythlook, Sol, 25:05.8; 78. Mia Alexson, Hom, 25:18.9.
