Prep cross-country skiing season commences with Turkey Skate

Soldotna junior Tania Boonstra and Kenai Central junior Chase Laker opened the cross-country skiing season on the Kenai Peninsula with victories in the Turkey Skate on Tuesday at Tsalteshi Trails just outside of Soldotna.

Boonstra toured the 5-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 12 seconds, with SoHi senior Ariana Cannava second at 19:27.

Laker finished at 16:38, with SoHi freshman Ollie Dahl second at 17:20.

“It’s a chance to work out what racing feels like again,” said Soldotna head coach Isaac Erhardt, now in his seventh year at the helm. “What it feels like to put on the Lycra, do a warmup.

“How do you prepare for a race? How do you cool down after a race? Kind of putting all those little pieces together for the racers early in the season.”

Skiing is serious business in Alaska, where it’s not uncommon for athletes to be racing the World Cup a few years after high school.

With a nod to that, and the fact the region and state meets could see serious hills, Erhardt chose a tough course up and down Tsalteshi’s vaunted Bear loop for the opener.

“When I told them I had the Bear in I got some, ‘Thanks coach,’ with heavy sarcasm,” Erhardt said.

The teams at the meet all had various experience on snow this season, but all survived.

Soldotna and Kenai have been on snow, for the most part, since the season started Oct. 30.

“I was really impressed with their performance,” said first-year Kenai head coach Kristin Davis. “I think that was our third or fourth time at Tsalteshi so far this year, and we’ve certainly not had the whole team going up and down Bear just yet.

“So it was a challenging course for the first race.”

Third-year Homer head coach Jessie Goodrich said her squad has had about 10 practices on snow. The coach said many skiers also did swimming this year, so those athletes are just getting started on skis.

“There was a lot of fitness today,” she said. “It wasn’t about ski skills. It was just a big eye-opener because they felt really unfit.

“And so we were actually pretty psyched after the race. They could see where they would be if they were fit.”

Seward does not have any snow. J. Leslie, in his second year as head coach, said the team did spend a weekend in Hatcher Pass three weeks ago.

“At least those guys had been on snow,” Leslie said. “That’s what I was concerned with when I saw this course and Isaac had them going down there.”

The meet left all the coaches optimistic for the season.

Last season, the Stars girls took their first Region III championship since 2014.

Boonstra led the way by taking the region skimeister award for the second straight season.

Three of the top four from that team return. Those three were the top three Tuesday, with sophomore Kathryn Cox taking third.

SoHi freshman Kylie Smith was ninth and senior Leanne Gordon was 10th.

That has Erhardt excited about mounting a defense of the region championship.

“I’ll be working with the ladies to see if we can develop that bottom back half of the varisty group,” he said. “We’ll see if we can push them to close that gap to Kate and have four strong for the points.”

Erhardt said his boys closed strong last season and that continued Tuesday, though he said unseating region champ Colony will take a massive effort.

Right behind Dahl was sophomore Michael Davidson in third place. Junior Parker Richards was fifth and senior Noble Cassidy was ninth.

“That four has been training together this season,” Erhardt said. “When we go out and do longer skis, that’s the group that will all ski together and train together.”

In addition to high school skiing, Erhardt said he is excited to have five or six athletes doing Besh Cup racing this season to try and make the Junior Olympics.

Davis, in her fifth year in the program, takes over for Brad Nyquist. She said Nyquist did a great job setting up the program, which has 39 skiers and two managers this season.

Mike Bergholtz will remain an assistant, while past Kenai skiing stars like Jordan Theisen and Karl Danielson have been back to help at practice.

“They’re skiers who’ve competed at a much higher level,” Davis said. “I think it’s great for my skiers to see that.”

The Kenai girls have been the top Division II team at state for the past four years, while the boys have won three of the past four years.

The Kardinals girls lost one senior last season.

Sophomores Isla Crouse, Ruby Davis and Teresa Fallon were fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, Tuesday.

Senior Mya Taylor was eighth, while senior Fox Coyle did not race.

“We’ve got a couple of promising freshmen as well,” Davis said. “The varsity girls, for the most part, are kind of a young team, but there’s a lot of potential there too.”

In the boys race, Laker turned some heads by finishing 42 seconds in front of the field.

“Chase has been putting in a ton of work in the offseason,” Davis said. “I’m really excited to see what he does this year.”

Kenai freshman Fletcher Darr was sixth. Senior Elliot Hanson and junior Levi Strong should fill in the top four.

Junior Logan Cartwright and Swiss foreign exchange student Silvan Krieg also should earn varsity spots.

That group will look to hold off the Homer boys for top Division II honors at state. The Mariners took their first boys title in 2023.

“I’m hoping we win again this year,” said Goodrich, who has 21 skiers out for the team.

Senior Jody Goodrich was fourth Tuesday, while senior Leif Jaworski was seventh and junior Johannes Bynagle was eighth. Junior Rockwell Bates joined those three for the relay at state last season, but Bates didn’t make the trip to Soldotna on Tuesday.

“I hate to make it final on that fourth skier, because there’s two other guys, Tait Ostrom and Charlie Rustand, who will be trying to get that fourth,” coach Goodrich said.

Junior Ostrom was 10th, while Rustand is only a freshman.

In the girls race, the Mariners were led by another freshman — last season’s borough champ Myra Kalafut. Kalafut was seventh.

“Some of my kids never took time off after cross-country,” Goodrich said. “She’s one of them. This was her first high school race. She loved it.”

Coach Goodrich also was impressed with senior Cassidy Carroll on Tuesday. Carroll competed in the state swim meet in early November. Senior Jaela Marchbanks also will be key, but did not race Tuesday.

Goodrich said a number of other skiers will be looking to get in the mix, led by freshman Etta Bynagle.

Leslie said he has 13 skiers out for the team, but only six traveled to the Turkey Skate due to other commitments and illness.

Senior Oliver Trobaugh, senior Marty Fink and sophomore Philip Trobaugh competed the varsity race.

Senior Wally Wallace also did the open race for the Seward boys, while junior Esme Wilder and sophomore Aubrey Wilder did the open race for the girls. The open race was on a flatter course that did not include the Bear.

Once senior Katie Van Buskirk, sophomore Indigo Leslie, sophomore Maren Bickling and sophomore Selah Brueckner are added to the team, coach Leslie is excited about the potential.

“We can actually qualify as a team at meets, because that’s what it takes in cross-country skiing, is you need to have four skiers,” coach Leslie said. “I don’t think Seward has been able to qualify for team points in a long time.”

Leslie said competing as a team also is a possibility for the boys once junior Micah Brueckner joins the team.

The coach said sophomore Axel Larock and senior Gracie Russell will add even more depth.

Turkey Skate

Tuesday at Tsalteshi Trails

Top 10

Girls 5-kilometer freestyle: 1. Tania Boonstra, Soldotna, 19 minutes, 12 seconds; 2. Ariana Cannava, Soldotna, 19:27; 3. Kathryn Cox, Soldotna, 21:12; 4. Isla Crouse, Ken, 21:41; 5. Ruby Davis, Kenai, 21:43; 6. Teresa Fallon, Kenai, 22:14; 7. Myra Kalafut, Homer, 23:06; 8. Mya Taylor, Kenai, 23:06; 9. Kylie Smith, Soldotna, 23:35; 10. Leanne Gordon, Soldotna, 23:38.

Boys 5-kilometer freestyle: 1. Chase Laker, Kenai, 16:38; 2. Ollie Dahl, Soldotna, 17:20; 3. Michael Davidson, Soldotna, 17:30; 4. Jody Goodrich, Homer, 17:40; 5. Parker Richards, Soldotna, 17:50; 6. Fletcher Darr, Kenai, 18:29; 7. Leif Jaworski, Homer, 18:39; 8. Johannes Bynagle, Homer, 18:44; 9. Noble Cassidy, Soldotna, 19:23; 10. Tait Ostrom, Homer, 20:00.