Kincaid classic

Frontiersman

KINCAID PARK — Depending on your perspective, Thursday’s opening day at the ASAA Alaska State Nordic Ski Championships were either a walk in the park or mass chaos.

For Colony sophomore Sydney Stewart, who placed 30th to lead all Mat-Su girls in the mass-start classic race, it was the former.

“There was a huge pile-up at the beginning,” Stewart said. “I don’t know how, but I managed to squirt through.”

Colony had the top Mat-Su team finishes in both the boys’ and girls’ races, which were held in fast, warm conditions at Kincaid Park in Anchorage. Colony’s boys placed eighth overall, while the Knight girls were 10th.

Colony senior Mason Wick led the CHS boys with a 15th-place showing. Robert Wise was 35th for Colony, Jon Mastroyanis finished 53rd, Corbyn Jahn placed 57th, Sean Boyden was 59th and Dave Gray finished 80th.

Heidi Doner was 46th for the Colony girls, while Caitlin Skvorc finished 60th, Ellen VanGorder was 62nd, Abby Jahn was 63rd and Heather Kelahan was 74th.

Susitna Valley senior Galen Johnston had the best finish among all Mat-Su skiers, placing sixth overall. Johnston’s big finish helped the Su Valley boys — which brought the minimum four skiers to the event — to a 15th-place finish. Ian Mannix placed 44th for Su Valley, Elias Holt was 92nd and Tyler Figley placed 97th.

The South Anchorage boys and East Anchorage girls won the overall team titles, with South’s Andrew Dougherty and East’s Jamie Bronga taking home top individual honors.

Johnston, who skis with the Alaska Pacific University ski team as part of an early-admissions program, said he was pleased with his showing, an improvement of four spots over last year.

“I didn’t have much kick through most of the race, but it worked out in the end,” Johnston said.

In a mass start, skiers all hit the trail at the same time, jockeying for position over the opening few hundred meters of the course before coming together as the trail narrows. With more than 100 skiers in both the boys’ 10-kilometer and girls’ 7.5-K races, that meant plenty of spills — early and often.

Racers near the front were mainly able to avoid the chaos, but those stuck in the pack were often powerless to avoid crashing as racers piled into each other early in the competition.

While most skiers were lucky enough to avoid the carnage, others were not. Especially the Palmer Moose, which saw both its boys and girls teams slowed by the early spills.

“It’s really hard to catch up after that,” Palmer’s Kevin Smith said following the race.

The early crashes in both the boys’ and girls’ races added to what turned out to be a miserable day for the Moose, which placed 17th in both the boys’ and girls’ team events.

“It’s really disappointing,” Smith said.

Smith finished 93rd overall, while Palmer’s top boys’ skier, Ryan Cunningham, was 89th. Wylie Mangelsdorf was 91st for the Moose, while Lauri Husa was 98th.

Two of Palmer’s best skiers, Davis Dunlap and Dunedin Strickland, fared even worse, with Dunlap placing 100th and Strickland disqualified after it was deemed he used skate skiing technique — illegal in a classic-style race.

Kimberly Del Frate was the top Palmer girl in 57th place, Jessica Odegard was 83rd, Amanda Del Frace finished 91st, Laura Whitmore was 94th, Mariah Shones was 106th and Shannon Stough finished in 111th.

Following the races, Palmer head coach Darin Markwardt took responsibility for Palmer’s lackluster showing, saying he should have been better prepared for the warm conditions at Kincaid Park.

“It’s been a tough day, but I’ll take the blame,” Markwardt said.

Coaches and athletes alike said the choice of ski wax was a big key to the day’s performances, and Markwardt said he made some bad decisions when it came to getting his athletes’ skis ready to race.

“It’s my fault for not finding a better wax,” Markwardt said.

While waxing may have cost Palmer’s skiers some time, the team’s coach also said he believes the mass start layout at Kincaid — which sends racers downhill shortly after the start — is a danger and unfair to skiers.

“I think it needs to be addressed,” he said.

Markwardt pointed out that skiers who got caught up in the crashes Thursday saw their chances of a good race virtually disappear.

“It’s like short track speed skating,” he said. “One slip and you’re out.”

But the former Colony High skier said he didn’t feel the conditions were unfair to any particular team or individual — just unfortunate for anyone who got tripped up.

“That’s racing,” he said.

While the Palmer team was left frowning following Thursday’s races, Wasilla finished the day all smiles. Though the Warriors finished near the back of the pack in both races — the girls were 18th out of 20 teams while the boys were 19th — head coach Jill Showman said the day couldn’t have gone much better for her squad of young skiers.

“They did a great job,” Showman said of her teams, which are made up mainly of first- and second-year skiers.

Wasilla’s Stephanie Flores led the Warrior girls with a 67th-place finish, while first-year skier Leif Johnson was the top Wasilla boys’ finisher in 83rd. Other Wasilla girls included Valerie Schleich (82nd), Cori Schleich (87th), Katherine Parker (89th), Kiersten Wilber (90th) and Mirijam Muench (104th). Tucker Minnick placed 107th for the Wasilla boys, Keith Pulver was 112th and Steve Chapman finished 113th.

Showman said while Wasilla may not have challenged for any titles, her squad set a number of personal bests — which she credited to some good wax work by assistant coach Ed Strabel.

“Everyone knew it was going to be all about wax, and that’s exactly what it was,” Showman said.    

Both Wasilla and Colony benefited from the Strabel family knowledge. Colony’s Sydney Stewart said she didn’t expect to finish nearly as close to the front of the pack as she did, and credited head coach Mark Strabel — Ed’s son — with getting her skis ready to race.

“I had great kick,” she said. “Our coach really knows his stuff.”

For his part, the younger Strabel wasn’t looking for much glory after the race. Like most coaches, Strabel said he was just happy to be finished with the mass start races and heading into the more relaxed freestyle and relay races set for today and tomorrow.

“The stressful day’s over,” Strabel said.

Today’s individual freestyle races begin at 1 p.m. with the girls’ 5-K race, followed by the boys’ 7.5-K event. Saturday’s relay races begin at 11 a.m.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com.

ASAA Alaska nordic ski championships

Mass-start classic

Thursday

Kincaid Park, Anchorage

Boys (10-kilometer)

Team times — 1. South Anchorage, 1 hour, 49 minutes, 29.4 seconds; 2. Service, 1:52:00.7; 3. West Valley, 1:52:45.6; 4. West Anchorage, 1:54:59.4; 5. Lathrop, 1:56:09.4; 6. East Anchorage, 2:00:39.7; 7. Eagle River, 2:01:04.4; 8. Colony, 2:02:38.3; 9. Soldotna, 2:02:57.0; 10. Skyview, 2:04:06.7; 11. Chugiak, 2:08:57.8; 12. Homer, 2:09:58.6; 13. Dimond, 2:10:30.4; 14. Seward, 2:10:35.5; 15. Susitna Valley, 2:11:36.8; 16. Kenai Central, 2:19:23.2; 17. Palmer, 2:20:28.9; 18. Grace Christian, 2:36:11.2; 19. Wasilla, 2:37:55.1; 20. Bartlett, 2:39:23.2

Individuals — 1. Andrew Dougherty, Sou, 26:48.9; 2. Eric Packer, Sou, 26:51.3; 3. Scott Patterson, Sou, 26:53.4; 4. Eric Hoffman, WV, 26:54.0; 5. Tyler Kornfield, Ser, 27:20.6; 6. Galen Johnston, SuV, 27:24.7; 7. James Crimp, West, 27:32.8; 8. Cole Talbot, Ser, 27:49.6; 9. Eric Ryan, Ser, 27:54.7; 10. Jordan Buetow, Lat, 27:54.8.

Other Mat-Su boys — 35. Robert Wise, Col, 29:51.5; 44. Ian Mannix, SuV, 30:47.5; 53. Jon Mastroyanis, Col, 31:44.6; 57. Corbyn Jahn, Col, 32:12.0; 59. Sean Boyden, Col, 32:28.9; 80. Dave Gray, Col, 33:59.4; 83. Leif Johnson, Was, 34:15.3; 89. Ryan Cunningham, Pal, 34:46.0; 91. Wylie Mangelsdorf, Pal, 35:04.5; 92. Elias Holt, SuV, 36:06.7; 93. Kevin Smith, Pal, 36:10.6; 97. Tyler Figley, SuV, 37:17.9; 98. Lauri Husa, Pal, 37:29.2; 100. Davis Dunlap, Pal, 38:15.4; 107. Tucker Minnick, Was, 40:26.6; 112. Keith Pulver, Was, 41:34.8; 113. Steve Chapman, Was, 41:38.4

Girls (7.5-kilometer)

Team times — 1. East Anchorage, 1:43:03.9; 2. Service, 1:43:40.2; 3. Chugiak, 1:44:51.6; 4. South Anchorage, 1:45:46.4; 5. West Anchorage, 1:47:14.3; 6. West Valley, 1:49:32.7; 7. Soldotna, 1:51:59.2; 8. Homer, 1:53:00.1; 9. Kenai Central, 1:57:59.7; 10. Colony, 1:58:51.8; 11. Seward, 2:00:55.8; 12. Lathrop, 2:03:43.2; 13. Valdez, 2:04:31.9; 14. Grace Christian, 2:05:53.4; 15. Dimond, 2:09:08.1; 16. Eagle River, 2:11:17.8; 17. Palmer, 2:12:17.8; 18. Wasilla, 2:12:29.9; 19. Skyview, 2:24:30.5; 20. Bartlett, 2:24:33.2

Individuals — 1. Jamie Bronga, East, 23:43.8; 2. Rachelle Kanady, West, 24:26.9; 3. Caitlin Patterson, Sou, 24:44.5; 4. Kailey Mucha, Sol, 24:59.3; 5. Esther Kennedy, Ser, 25:04.3; 6. Alyson McPhetres, Chu, 25:09.3; 7. Amy Glen, Ser, 25:21.2; 8. Kinsey Loan, Chu, 25:27.1; 9. Karina Packer, Sou, 25:30.2; 10. Marisa Rorabaugh, WV, 25:30.6.

Other Mat-Su girls — 30. Sydney Stewart, Col, 28:04.9; 46. Heidi Doner, Col, 29:04.0; 57. Kimberly Del Frate, Pal, 30:24.4; 60. Caitlin Skvorc, Col, 30:51.6; 62. Ellen Van Gorder, Col, 30:57.3; 63. Abby Jahn, Col, 31:01.5; 67. Stephanie Flores, Was, 31:41.4; 74. Heather Kelahan, Col, 32:43.4; 82. Valerie Schleich, Was, 33:13.6; 83. Jessica Odegard, Pal, 33:14.1; 87. Cori Schleich, Was, 33:45.2; 89. Katherine Parker, Was, 33:49.7; 90. Kiersten Wilber, Was, 34:03.2; 91. Amanda Del Frate, Pal, 34:04.0; 94. Laura Whitmore, Pal, 34:35.3; 104. Mirijam Muench, Was, 36:06.7; 106. Mariah Shones, Pal, 36:19.9; 111. Shannon Stough, Pal, 37:28.0.