Last weekend was a big one for our junior racers, as the majority of them raced in two separate high-stakes events, both held at the Auburn Ski Club.
Saturday brought the CNISSF high school and middle school state championships, at which ASC athletes really showed their stuff! Then on Monday ASC hosted the President's Cup Freestyle Race, which was attended by 116 racers, from ages 8 to 75+. This race served as the final Junior National qualifier for juniors in the region, so our ASC junior racers really wanted to be on top of their game!
Saturday's race was a classic and freestyle pursuit race for the high school and strictly a skate race for the middle school. In these races, ASC team members represented their respective schools, and turned in a fantastic showing.
Among varsity women, Gabi Rinne placed 5th, followed by her Truckee High School teammate Skyler Flora in 6th. ASC's Melanie Swick, representing Incline High School, took 7th place, while Raylene Chew, representing Presentation High in San Jose, finished 8th among a strong varsity field.
For the men, ASC athletes, representing Truckee High School in these races, swept the podium in the open division, with Eli finishing first, followed by Brandon Flora in 2nd and Aaron Deeter in 3rd. Amazing work! In the highly competitive men's varsity field, ASC's Patrick McElravey, of North Tahoe High School, finished 2nd place to lead his team. Evan Vomund (IHS) placed 6th, followed by Alex Kopytko (THS) in 7th and Branden Deeter (THS) in 8th.
In the middle school races, ASC's devo and comp athletes showed that they have done the best training of anyone their age in this region, posting exceptional results among a very large field. In the 3-km women's race, Hannah Halvorsen took the win, representing Alder Creek Middle School. Bri Parker, also of ACMS, was not far behind in 5th. In the boys' race, ASC's Julien Bordes, Dylan Syben and Brandon Herhusky completed a 1-2-3 sweep, representing North Tahoe Middle School in dominating fashion. Awesome job to all of you!
In Monday's President's Cup Race, ASC athletes again showed they were up to the challenge of racing well against a competitive field, and under pressure. In the 5-km race, which served as the J2 skate qualifier for Junior Nationals, Julien placed 3rd; Dylan 4th; Evan 5th; Eli 6th; Brandon H. 10th; Aaron 11th; and Brandon F. 14th among men, for a very strong showing on behalf of the club. In the women's field, Gabi took 1st place, edging out Hannah in 2nd. Skyler was close behind in 3rd, followed by Bri in 10th, Celia Arnold in 12th and Freya Davis in 15th.
In the 10-kilometer event, which served as the J1/OJ skate qualifier, Patrick McElravey again paced the ASC squad, placing 2nd among men. Alex Kopytko was our next finisher in 11th place, behind a tough group of senior skiers from the Far West Farm Team. Branden was next, finishing 14th. Coach Nancy finished 15th overall, and 2nd among women -- a very strong result. Coach Kara was ASC's next finisher, placing 5th among women, followed by Melanie (7th woman) and Raylene (9th woman).
In the kids' 2-kilometer race, ASC's Sina Arnold placed 8th overall. Way to go Sina!
For the day, the following ASC competitors turned in qualifying times: Melanie, Raylene, Gabi, Skyler, Patrick, Alex, Branden, Julien, Dylan, Evan, Eli, Aaron, and Brandon H. Excellent work to all of you!!
Once all three qualifiers were taken into consideration, and any submitted petitions were reviewed, the following ASC athletes were officially named to the Far West Junior National team for 2012: Gabi, Skyler, Raylene, Melanie (accepted via petition), Dylan, Julien, Evan, Eli, Patrick, Branden and Alex. ASC alumni Annika Taylor (accepted via petition) and Joanne Reid (accepted via automatic qualification) were also named to the team. Far West will head out this coming Saturday to Midway, Utah to race at against the best in the nation at Soldier Hollow next week. Reports to come...!
A BIG thanks to ASC for doing such an awesome job keeping their trails open and in tip-top shape, in order to host these and so many other important races this year. Kudos to Bill and all ASC staff members. THANK YOU!
For a local newspaper article on the CNISSF High School State Championships, click HERE
And for an article on the President's Cup races, click HERE
BIG THANKS TO ASC
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello tmcelroy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. As is indicated in both the title and "about" sections of this blog, this particular blog is dedicated specifically to ASC's Comp and Devo teams, to provide updates on their training and racing throughout the year. It was my understanding that this year's HS State Champion, Jordan, was not a member of comp/devo this year, which is we he, along with numerous other top local athletes not currently skiing for ASC Comp/Devo, was not specifically mentioned in the blog post. If I am erroneous in this understanding, please do let me know as soon as possible. As I am not working with ASC everyday, it can be hard to keep up with any changes to the Comp/Devo roster.
Thanks, and a big congrats to Jordan on a phenomenal season!
Kara LaPoint
Kara,
ReplyDeleteI apologize for my lack of understanding how the ASC programs work. Jordan was only a member of the Jr Biathlon team and a former Devo/Comp team member and therefore not worthy of mention in the ASC Comp/Devo Blog.
Thanks for the clarification,
Tom