Through rain, sun and horrendous wind, high school cross-country skiers still put on the Kenai Peninsula Borough ski championships Friday and Saturday at the Tsalteshi Trails behind Skyview High School.
Kenai Central’s Travis Cooper and Soldotna’s Colton Diehl traded victories through both days, with Cooper coming out on top of the combined weekend results to win the boys championship.
Soldotna’s Sadie Fox had an easier time in the girls varsity division, cruising to victory both days to defend her borough girls championship.
SoHi coach Dan Harbison said the races would have never been possible if not for the trail work done by Bill Holt and John Pothast, who cleared all the forest debris that was strewn across the trails from the recent winds. Both Cooper and Fox were happy enough with the trail conditions.
“I was just trying to go out fast and stay ahead,” Cooper said. “It was icy around the corners but overall pretty good.
“There was a little bit (of debris), but they did a nice job cleaning it up.”
Fox said she was trying to keep up her pace Saturday, a much easier task compared to Friday’s windstorm.
“It was pretty icy so I was looking all over the place,” she said.
On Friday, Fox dominated the girls eight-kilometer skate event with a time of 26 minutes, 39 seconds, a whopping 1:46 ahead of second-place teammate Hannah Pothast. Saturday, Fox took the five-kilometer skate race in 15:32.
Diehl won Friday’s boys 10-kilometer skate race in 27:54, just 12 seconds ahead of Cooper, but Cooper won Saturday’s five-kilometer skate event with a quick 13:03, overcoming Friday’s disadvantage to Diehl to take the borough championship by 15 seconds.
James Butler, Fox Michaud, Olen Danielson and Jordan Theisen helped Kenai take five of the top 10 spots to win the boys borough title by nearly four minutes over Soldotna.
The Stars won the overall girls team title with help from Dani McCormick, Emily Werner and Olivia Hutchings to beat Kenai by almost eight minutes.
Fox has won all but one of her high school races she’s competed in this season, the lone defeat being a third place at the Lynx Loppet Invitational in Anchorage in December. With two weeks to go before the end of the high school season, Fox feels like she can contend for a podium spot at the state meet in two weeks.
“When there’s a pretty big gap, I was just trying to push myself,” Fox said. “But (at state), there’s some pretty strong girls.”
Cooper said he is gunning for a top-10 placement among the state’s best.
“Our team is strong, and this is good motivation to keep it going,” Cooper said.
BOYS
Overall 2-day team standings — 1. Kenai, 2 hours, 52 minutes, 20 seconds; 2. Soldotna, 2:56:13; 3. Skyview, 3:05:55; 4. Homer, 3:13:59.
Friday 10K individual results — 1. Colton Diehl, Sol, 27:54.0; 2. Travis Cooper, Ken, 28:06.3; 3. Brian Rowe, Hom, 28:45.8; 4. Levi Michael, Sol, 29:31.5; 5. Fox Michaud, Ken, 29:31.5; 6. Olen Danielson, Ken, 29:41.0; 7. James Butler, Ken, 29:45.3; 8. Brenner Musgrave, Sky, 30:08.4; 9. Tanner Best, Sol, 30:12.0; 10. Jordan Theisen, Ken, 30:35.7; 11. Nate Mole, Ken, 30:44.1; 12. Josh Vantrease, Hom, 31:32.0; 13. Addison Downing, Sol, 31:43.5; 14. Jeremiah Hudson, 31:51.1; 15. Sky Schlung, Sky, 31:55.8; 16. Drew Kant, Sol, 32:08.8; 17. Daniel Shuler, Ken, 32:26.7; 18. Liam Floyd, Ken, 32:37.1; 19. Sterling Stasak, Sky, 32:59.2; 20. Aaron Swedberg, Sol, 33:12.0; 21. Nick Zweifel, Sew, 33:55.3; 22. Cody Kincaid, Sol, 34:05.9; 23. Hoxi Parks, Hom, 34:52.7; 24. Logan Hemphill, Sky, 35:50.8; 25. Ryan Navrot, Hom, 36:16.5; 26. Tadhg Scholz, Hom, 36:24.3; 27. Jerry Swanson, Sew, 38:23.8.
Saturday 5K individual results — 1. Travis Cooper, Ken, 13:03.1; 2. Colton Diehl, Sol, 13:29.5; 3. Jordan Theisen, Ken, 13:47.4; 4. Levi Michael, Sol, 13:49.3; 5. Brian Rowe, Hom, 13:58.0; 6. James Butler, Ken, 14:02.8; 7. Brenner Musgrave, Sky, 14:07.2; 8. Tanner Best, Sol, 14:16.0; 9. Fox Michaud, Ken, 14:22.6; 10. Nate Mole, Ken, 14:30.4; 11. Olen Danielson, Ken, 14:37.7; 12. Jeremiah Hudson, Sky, 14:50.0; 13. Sky Schlung, Sky, 14:50.8; 14. Josh Vantrease, Hom, 14:59.6; 15. Liam Floyd, Ken, 15:16.1; 16. Addison Downing, Sol, 15:17.1; 17. Drew Kant, Sol, 15:33.6; 18. Sterling Stasak, Sky, 15:44.7; 19. Daniel Shuler, Sky, 15:48.9; 20. Cody Kincaid, Sol, 15:52.9; 21. Aaron Swedberg, Sol, 16:14.3; 22. Logan Hemphill, Sky, 16:23.4; 23. Jerry Swanson, Sew, 16:42.5; 24. Hoxie Parks, Hom, 16:46.9; 25. Tadhg Scholz, Hom, 16:47.5; 26. Ryan Navrot, Hom, 17:35.5; 27. Nick Zweifel, Sew, 17:39.
GIRLS
Overall 2-day team standings — 1. Soldotna, 3:02:57; 2. Kenai, 3:10:35; 3. Homer.
Friday 8K individual results — 1. Sadie Fox, Sol, 26:39.3; 2. Hannah Pothast, Sol, 28:25.8; 3. Kirsten Nyquist, Ken, 29:09.5; 4. Mika Morton, Sky, 29:14.4; 5. Alex Bergholtz, Ken, 29:32.7; 6. Rachel Ellert, Hom, 30:02.8; 7. Dani McCormick, Sol, 30:33.9; 8. Emily Werner, Sol, 30:52.2; 9. Katie Cooper, Ken, 31:11.1; 10. Annamarieka Chythlook, Sky, 32:01.2; 11. Olivia Hutchings, Sol, 32:04.8; 12. Mikaela Salzetti, Ken, 32:26.0; 13. Audrey Russel, Hom, 32:53.9; 14. Molly Erickson, Sol, 33:11.8; 15. Xochi Harbison, Sol, 34:04.7; 16. Brittany Hollers, Sky, 36:35.2.
Saturday 5K individual results — 1. Sadie Fox, Sol, 15:32.6; 2. Mika Morton, Sky, 16:04.1; 3. Aspen Daigle, Hom, 16:18.2; 4. Hannah Pothast, Sol, 16:20.4; 5. Kirsten Nyquist, Ken, 16:29.7; 6. Rachel Ellert, Hom, 16:50.8; 7. Alex Bergholtz, Ken, 16:56.9; 8. Mikaela Salzetti, Ken, 17:10.0; 9. Dani McCormick, Sol, 17:12.6; 10. Olivia Hutchings, Sol, 17:20.5; 11. Emily Werner, Sol, 17:28.9; 12. Katie Cooper, Ken, 17:39.5; 13. Annamarieka Chythlook, Sky, 18:20.8; 14. Mariah Vantrease, Hom, 18:29.2; 15. Molly Erickson, Sol, 18:32.0; 16. Audrey Russel, Hom, 18:41.8; 17. Xochi Harbison, Sol, 19:21.9; 18. Brittany Hollers, Sky, 20:32.6.
