Colony boys 2nd, girls 3rd in region championship

GOVERNMENT PEAK — Any doubts spectators, coaches or skiers may have had about trail conditions going into the Region III championship meet quickly evaporated in the light of strong competition and clear skies.

Kenai High School’s Travis Cooper, Colony’s Tracen Knopp and Grace Christian School’s Trent Fritzel dominated the boys’ varsity races. Cooper won the 5-kilometer classic on the first day of racing, followed by Knopp and Fritzel, all within 28 seconds of each other. Fritzel won the 7.5-kilometer freestyle on the second day, followed by Cooper and Knopp, with a time gap of less than 14 seconds.

Kenai took first, Colony, second, and Grace, third, in the boys’ team standings for the weekend.

“Yesterday was pretty good, I felt solid the whole way through,” Knopp said, of Friday’s race.

He finished the 5k — which was actually a few hundred meters short of that distance — in 12 minutes, 40 seconds.

Today was “good,” too, he said, but little by little, he watched his competition drift ahead of him.

“I definitely put it all out there, but Trent, he just pulled away from me,” Knopp said.

Knopp had been out all season after shattering the radial head of one of his arms — while cross country skiing — but after winning the borough championship last weekend, he was confident he could pull off two top-three finishes at regions.

Ironically, his twin brother Dawson, who has been Colony’s top male finisher this season, had to sit the whole region meet out due to illness. Both boys will compete at the ASAA State Championships next weekend, however.

Seniors Dakota Peterson-Thompson and Nick Harrison joined Knopp in the top 10, placing sixth and ninth, respectively, with combined times. Garrett Birch followed in 11th place.

The Palmer boys’ team finished fourth. Sophomore Josiah Alverts lead the Moose with a 10th-place finish overall using combined-time totals.

“I didn't really feel too good about yesterday,” Alverts said. “I went out a little too hard, didn't hang on, and I lost my basket, but I mean really I wasn’t in it mentally.”

Saturday’s race was different, however, as he moved up from 16th place after the classic race to seventh in the freestyle event.

“Coach (Mike Evans) told me to go out as hard as I could and to stick with the front group, so I tried to do that as much as I could,” Alverts said.

On the girls’ side, the Knights missed second place in the team standings by just three seconds.

Senior Greta Jenkins came in first for the Knights both days, placing fourth in the 5-kilometer classic and fifth in the 5k freestyle.

Even though her feelings during the races varied, Jenkins said she was “satisfied” with her performances and grateful for the groomers and her coaches’ wax choices, which contributed greatly to her success.

“Yesterday I felt great at the beginning and worse at the end, and today I felt awful at the beginning and much better, like stronger, at the end,” Jenkins said, of her races.

“We haven’t practiced in tracks for a couple weeks…so it was nice to have that yesterday,” she said. “The groomers did an excellent job.”

Jenkins was joined by teammates Jordyn Block, Lisbeth Olsen, Coleen Geraghty and M.E. Meyerhofer in the varsity race. In the final combined-time individual standings, Jenkins was fourth, Block seventh, Olsen 11th, Geraghty 16th and Meyerhofer 20th.

Block said the conditions “were honestly really good” compared to the rest of the season, but icy trails and a lack of practice with the mass start format took a toll.

“We haven’t gotten a lot of mass start race opportunities this year,” she said.

As such, a few skiers seemed unprepared for crowding, especially on a slick course.

“Going down the hills, a lot of people started snowplowing and it got very icy so that was causing a lot of people to fall,” Block said.

She included herself in that group.

“Today didn't go as well as I hoped,” she said, of the freestyle race. “I got tripped at the start and then I fell again trying to avoid a teammate later in the course. But I made up a lot of time, which I’m really proud of.”

Palmer’s winning woman, Rya Berrigan, had a similar experience.

“I got tripped like right at the beginning, and then someone like, fell on my skis,” she said. “I was in the 20s or 30s, in the back, but I made up a lot of time.”

Berrigan placed eighth overall in the combined-time standings.

Palmer’s runner-up, Ruby Woodings, had a different perspective than Block and Berrigan on the second day of racing.

“I like mass starts because I can really pace myself,” she said. “Today, it was a good race.”

Woodings finished ninth overall in combined-time standings.

Colony stormed the JV races as well as the varsity, placing five girls and three boys in each top 10 for team wins on both sides.

Alyson Kopsack, Jordan Bethel, Jocelyn Kopsack and Izabella Block took slots one through four, followed by Carmen Soto in sixth with combined-time totals.

Tim Farring, Bradley Grover and Gavin Birch placed first, third and fifth, respectively, in the boys JV race.

The ASAA/First National Bank Alaska 2015 Nordic Skiing State Championships is slated for Feb. 19-21 at Kincaid Park in Anchorage.

Block and Jenkins both said they’re looking to be competitive with Soldotna High School’s Sadie Fox — who won the region meet — as well as her teammate, Hannah Pothast, and freshman Kenai skiers Addison Gibson and Riana Boonstra at state.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.

Results

Region III Nordic Skiing Championships

BOYS

Team scores: 1. Kenai, 2 hours, 10 minutes, 55 seconds; 2. Colony, 2:12:21; 3. Grace, 2:14:10; 4. Soldotna, 2:20:23; 5. Palmer, 2:26:56; 6. Homer, 2:29:54.

Combined two-day times

1. Travis Cooper, Ken, 30:47; 2. Trent Fritzel, Gra, 31:05; 3. Tracen Knopp, Col, 31:08; 4. Karl Danielson, Ken, 32:33; 5. Levi Michael, Sol, 32:57; 6. Peterson-Thompson, Col, 33:07; 7. Jordan Theisen, Ken, 33:16; 8. John Cosgrove, Gra, 33:20; 9. Nicholas Harrison, Col, 33:48; 10. Josiah Alverts, Pal, 33:58.

Other Valley finishers

11. Garrett Birch, Col, 34:17; 14. Colbe Hand, Pal, 35:16; 24. Logan Seims, Was, 36:45; 27. Eli Ickes, Was, 37:59; 28. Ben Mordue-Swalling, 38:32; 32. Jeremy Houston, Pal, 39:31; 33. Caden Hand, Pal, 39:38; 35. Isaiah Shepler, 42:08; 37. Stefan Johnson, 44:25.

Top 10 from Friday’s 5K classic

1. Travis Cooper, Ken, 12:22; 2. Tracen Knopp, Col, 12:40; 3. Trent Fritzel, Gra, 12:50; 4. Karl Danielson, Ken, 13:19; 5. Levi Michael, Sol, 13:25; 6. John Cosgrave, Gra, 13:30; 7. Nicholas Harrison, Col, 13:38; 8. Peterson-Thompson, Col, 13:50; 9. Garrett Birch, Col, 13:55; 10. Colbe Hand, Pal, 13:57.

Top 10 from Saturday’s 7.5K freestyle

1. Trent Fritzel, Gra, 18:13; 2. Travis Cooper, Ken, 18:25; 3. Tracen Knopp, Col, 18:27; 4. Jordan Theisen, Ken, 19:13; 5. Karl Danielson, Ken, 19:14; 6. Peterson-Thompson, Col, 19:1; 7. Josiah Alverts, Pal, 19:24; 8. Levi Michael, Sol, 19:31; 9. John Cosgrave, Gra, 19:50; 10. James Butler, Ken, 20:08.

GIRLS

Team scores: 1. Kenai, 1:59:22; 2. Soldotna, 2:05:34; 3. Colony, 2:05:37; 4. Palmer, 2:12:14; 5. Homer, 2:13:03; 6. Grace, 2:27:10.

Combined two-day times

1. Sadie Fox, Sol, 27:52; 2. Addison Gibson, Ken, 28:09; 3. Riana Boonstra, Ken, 28:21; 4. Greta Jenkins, Col, 30:12; 5. Alex Bergholtz, Ken, 30:51; 6. Hannah Pothast, Sol, 31:01; 7. Jordyn Block, Col, 31:08; 8. Rya Berrigan, Pal, 31:14; 9. Ruby Woodings, Pal, 31:37; 10. Aspen Daigle, Hom, 31:41.

Other Valley finishers

11. Lisbet Olsen, 31:41; 16. Coleen Geraghty, 32:35; 20. M.E. Meyerhofer, 33:16; 26. Anahelene Taylor, 34:29; 27. Rebekah Youngblood, 35:15; 29. Eva Bingham, 35:41; 32. Sidney Feige, 35:53; 34. Isadora Warhus, 36:50; 36. Amy Baxter, 39:28; 38. Angela Syverston, 40:32.

Top 10 from Friday’s 5K classic

1. Sadie Fox, Sol, 14:32; 2. Addison Gibson, Ken, 15:09; 3. Riana Boonstra, Ken, 15:11; 4. Greta Jenkins, Col, 15:44; 5. Jordyn Block, Col, 16:00; 6. Alex Bergholtz, Ken, 16:19; 7. Hannah Pothast, Sol, 16:38; 8. Rya Berrigan, Pal, 16:40; 9. Lisbeth Olsen, Col, 17:01; 10. Aspen Daigle, Hom, 17:01.

Top 10 from Saturday 5K freestyle

1. Addison Gibson, Ken, 12:59; 2. Riana Boonstra, Ken, 13:09; 3. Sadie Fox, Sol, 13:19; 4. Hannah Pothast, Sol, 14:22; 5. Greta Jenkins, Col, 14:27; 6. Alex Bergholtz, Ken, 14:30; 7. Ruby Woodings, Pal, 14:32; 8. Rya Berrigan, Pal, 14:33; 9. Stephanie Allen, Val, 14:34; 10. Katie Cooper, Ken, 14:35.