Soldotna High School’s Ariana Cannava competed for Team Alaska at Junior Nationals in Lake Placid, New York, from Monday, March 11, to Saturday, March 16.
Cannava helped Team Alaska finish third in the team battle between 10 regions. Alaska is the only region which is made up of just one state. New England won with 1,212 points, while Intermountain Division had 897 and Alaska had 842.
Cannava’s week started Monday in the Under-18/Under-20 7.5-kilometer individual start freestyle. Cannava was 79th in 27 minutes, 4 seconds, with Lena Poduska of Intermountain winning at 23:10.
Wednesday, Cannava competed in the classic sprints, but her qualifying time was not in the top 30 and thus not enough to get her into the heats.
Friday, Cannava competed in the 10K classic mass start. She finished 65th in 38:58. The winner was Maeve Ingelfinger of Intermountain at 32:09.
Saturday, the competition finished with a 4-by-3-kilometer freestyle relay. Cannava teamed with John Lohuis, Talia Day and Hatcher Menkens to finish 25th in 35:35. Far West won at 30:52.
Hippchen finishes 20th overall at nationals
Kenai Central graduate Tyler Hippchen finished tied for 20th in the individual combined in men’s Nordic at the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association National Championships from March 4 to 9 in Lake Placid, New York.
Hippchen skis for Western Colorado University in Gunnison. Western Colorado was the defending national champion, but finished third behind Clarkson University and Paul Smith’s College.
In the individual start 7.5K freestyle race on March 5, Hippchen was 15th in 22:59. Aidan Ripp of Paul Smith’s College won at 20:29.
In the classic sprint on March 6, Hippchen was eliminated when he finished fifth in the fifth quarterfinal. He was 21st overall.
In the 15K classic mass start on March 8, Hippchen was 32nd at 49:50. Ripp won at 39:21.
