by Tim Hauserman
2012 Far West Junior National Team at Soldier Hollow, Utah
The best 14-19 year old cross-country skiers in the country are coming into town March 8-14 to compete in the 2015 XC Junior Nationals at Auburn Ski Club. These racers first had to face a winter of stiff competition to qualify. Now at Junior Nationals, the best of the best may someday qualify for the Winter Olympics.
For those involved in the big family that is the Truckee-Tahoe nordic community we are stoked to see a crop of local athletes that we have known since they were little tykes have their opportunity to shine. The races will be fast paced and grueling, taking on the steep ups and downs of the Auburn Ski Club terrain.
Peter Holmes skiing into third!
Lynn Richardson, first volunteered for the Junior Nationals in 2000, when her kids were 4, and after being thrilled by the speed of the athletes, hoped her twins would become racers some day. By the time they were 9, and the next JN’s were here, they had already begun racing. Her daughter Skyler raced in two Junior National Races during her high school career. “I was so happy being at every race and cheering for them,” she says.
I coach 5th graders and direct the Strider Glider program at Tahoe Cross-Country Ski Area in Tahoe City. I remember some of this year’s JN competitors well: a shy Quinn Lehmkuhl in 3rd grade with a big smile on her face as she kept up with, and often passed, all the boys in her class. Or JC Schoonmaker who determinedly moved from the middle of a great pack of kids in 5th grade to the top of the heap just a few years later. And then there was Brandon Herhusky, who it seems would grow another foot taller every time you saw him.
To see our Far West Junior National athletes, please click on this link: Results/Far West Nordic
Truckee racers – Gabi, Savannah and Skyler
They are an amazing group of athletes that have worked hard to become great uphill skiers in a community composed mostly of downhill skiers. We should all be proud of them.
Click here for details and information on Junior Nationals: http://xcjuniornationals2015.com/
THINK OF ME, LYNN RICHARDSON, FOR ALL OF YOUR LAKE TAHOE AND TRUCKEE REAL ESTATE NEEDS!
YOUR FRIEND IN HIGH PLACES 
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