Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Mammoth JN Qualifier: Allan Bard Classic

After competing in the CNISSF high school/middle school classic races at Tamarack XC Ski Center on Friday, several ASC and other Far West athletes stayed in Mammoth through the weekend to race in the Allan Bard Classic race on Sunday -- Far West's second Junior National qualifier race.

With very cold temps and a fairly flat course with little recovery at about 9,000 feet elevation, it was a tough day out there, but ASC athletes did awesome!

In the J2 girls' 5-kilometer race, Hannah Halvorsen ('racing up' as a J3) finished second, just missing the win to SBA's Bria Riggs by less than one second. Super strong performance, Hannah! Gabbi Rinne finished 3rd, about 30 seconds back, easily making the qualification standards for Junior Nationals.

Among J2 boys, Dylan Syben took top honors -- and skied well ahead of the qualifying pace for Junior Nationals -- ahead of North Tahoe High School's Peter Holmes (2nd). Julien Bordes (4th), Brandon Herhusky (5th in the J2 race, as a J3), Evan Vomund (6th), and Eli Yale (8th) all turned in qualifying times as well. Awesome job guys! Other ASC finishers turning in strong performances, but not quite making the Junior National qualifying cut time, were Aaron Deeter (10th) and Andrew Clusserath (12th).

Among J1/OJ girls, Melanie Swick skied to a fifth-place finish in the 5-kilometer race, but just missed the qualifying standard for Junior Nationals in a very strong field. In the men's J1/OJ race, which was 10 kilometers, Patrick McElravey set the pace, winning the race by just a half-second over Jordan McElroy. Branden Deeter and Alex Kopytko finished third and fifth, respectively, to also turn in qualifying times.

All in all, ASC had 10 Junior National qualifiers on the day. The final qualifier takes place on Monday, Feb. 20th up at ASC.


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