Local skiers battle the best at Junior Nationals
Chugiak’s Adrianna Proffitt overcame a fall near the end of the race to turn in the top performance among nearly a dozen locals Monday on the first day of the 2019 U.S. Cross Country Junior National Championships at Kincaid Park.
Proffitt slipped coming through the final tunnel on the tricky course, which was hit with a variety of weather throughout the day ranging from rain to wind to snow to occasional sunshine and temperatures in the upper 30s to low 40s.
Proffitt, who races for Alaska Nordic Racing, was the eighth Alaskan in the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle race and finished 16th among U18 women.
Eagle River’s Helen Wilson was the next local across the line in the race, finishing 37th overall and 24th among U18s. Next among locals was Emily Walsh (56th overall, 39th U18), followed by Claire Nelson (96th overall, 66th U18) and Hannah Cryder (105th overall, 73rd U18). All the local skiers compete for ANR; Wilson, Nelson and Walsh compete scholastically for Eagle River High; Proffitt and Cryder ski for Chugiak High.
Heidi Booher, a Chugiak High grad who is racing for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation team, finished 31st among U20/U18 women.
Monday’s races were interval start, with the men sking 10 kilometers and the women and U16 boys skiing 5K.
Michael Earnhart was the fastest local men’s skier, finishing 28th overall in the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle race. He was followed by fellow Chugiak High/ANR skiers Miles Dennis in 82nd (34th U20), and Max Beiergrohslein in 101st (63rd U18).
In the U16 boys race, local skiers Konrad Renner finished 32nd out of 72 racers and Porter Blei was 58th.
Racing continues Wednesday with classic sprint races beginning at 10 a.m. at Kincaid. Friday’s racing is a mass start classic competition, with Saturday reserved for relay races. For a complete schedule and results, visit juniornationalsxc2019.com.
Facebook comments