By Tim Hauserman
An amazing week of nordic racing at Auburn Ski Club has came to a close this past weekend. The Junior Nationals, held right here in our backyard, was a meeting of the best 14-19 year old cross-country skiers in the country. Our Tahoe and Truckee young men and women, representing the Far West Division, were in the thick of things against some amazingly steep competition. They were able to make it into the middle of the pack in the overall standings behind such powerhouses as the New England, Mid-West, Intermountain and Alaska divisions.
Here in Tahoe, our world class downhill resorts and top notch coaching create Olympic downhill skiers and medalists. That’s great, but it reduces the number of athletes available for the pool of nordic skiers. Regions of the country with snow, but without the quality of our downhill resorts, produce a lot more cross-country skiers to draw from. But what we lack in size, we make up with great coaching, amazing parental support, and a small group of scrappy skiers who through a lot of hard work brought home some amazing results last week:
Hannah Halvorsen, from Sugar Bowl Academy, captured three top ten finishes, including a second place in a sprint race.
JC Schoonmaker, who races for Tahoe XC raced to a podium finish, with a last second lunge into third place in the 5K under 16 striding race.
Dylan Syben from Team Unleashed raced for a 4th place finish in the Men’s Under 18 Sprint Race.
Other top ten finishers included Tahoe XC’s Quinn Lehmkuhl and Sugar Bowl Academy’s Haydn Halvorsen
Now imagine how much faster those kids are going to be when we get the gobs of snow that are sure to bless us next year.
For more information on Tahoe’s great nordic kids, check out this article from last week’s Sierra Sun. http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/15433923-113/nordic-racing-tahoe-xc-racing-team-boasts-nine-locals
YOUR FRIEND IN HIGH PLACES 