Colony finally has chance to host major ski event

PALMER — Local cross-country skiers may log more miles than any other group of high school athletes. And that’s before they hit the trail.

But after years of working through seasons that feature nothing but road trips, Valley skiers had the chance to stay close to home this weekend to compete in the Mat-Su/Colony Pursuit on the Ed Strabel Trails at Colony High School.

“It’s great,” Palmer senior Meagan Lynn said of the chance to race in the Valley. “It’s really nice to get to sleep in our own bed.”

The typical race weekend during the high school ski season usually involves a long road trip, with places like Fairbanks, Kenai, Soldotna, Homer or Valdez the destination. If they’re lucky, local skiers can make the short trek to Anchorage or Susitna Valley High in Talkeenta.

And the travel doesn’t stop with the weekend races. Poor winter conditions, specifically a lack of snow, in the Valley during the last several years have forced local teams to practice in the Hatcher Pass area.

“My freshman, sophomore and junior years, most of the time we practiced up at Archangel and the mine up at Hatcher,” Colony senior Brittany Anderson said.

That itself adds miles to local teams.

“For practice we’d always have to drive up to Hatcher, that’s a half-hour drive each way,” Colony head coach Mark Strabel said. “We wouldn’t get back to school until six at night.”

A few years ago, improvements were made to the existing trails at Colony High to make it possible for the program to host large events. Until then, schools in Palmer-Wasilla area were unable to host anything other than very small events.

“Our trails were too short, too narrow and weren’t hard enough,” Strabel said.

But even after the improvements were made, Colony still couldn’t host a race because of the conditions.

“If we have great snow, it’s too cold. If we had great temperatures, we didn’t have the snow,” Strabel said.

And that sent local skiers on the road.

It’s taxing, but it helps build something within the local athletes, Strabel said.

“For one thing, it made them tougher, being able to balance everything,” Strabel said. “We’d spend more time on the road than we did training or racing.”

And despite the added stress of travel, Strabel continued to see local skiers produce in their sport and the classroom.

“These are some of the highest (grade point average) kids in the school,” Strabel said.

This year has been better. Heavy snowfall has left the Colony trails in great shape, and the Knights are thrilled about the benefits.

“This year we haven’t gone (to Hatcher Pass) very much, it’s all been here,” Anderson said.

Because of that, the Knights feel like they’re better skiers.

“Definitely, I think it’s made us better,” Colony sophomore Tracie Haan said. “We’re able to just come out and ski.”

All of the local skiers are enjoying better conditions.

“This year, we’ve been really lucky,” Lynn said.

Strabel said visiting skiers also enjoyed a change from the typical schedule.

“Some of the Kenai Peninsula schools haven’t raced off the Kenai Peninsula,” Strabel said. “For them to race somewhere other than Anchorage or the Kenai Peninsula is huge for them.”

Colony was forced to cancel races on Saturday due to cold weather. Alaska School Activities Association rules state schools cannot host a race if temperatures dip below -4 degrees. Temperatures Friday warmed up just enough to allow Colony to host the race.

“It was cold, but a lot of skiers kept on saying these trails are a lot of fun,” Strabel said.

Grace Christian’s Daniel Serventi and Soldotna’s Bree Mucha raced to wins during Friday’s classic events. Serventi used a time of 23 minutes and 21 seconds to finish first in the 7-kilometer, ahead of Colony senior Abe Meyerhofer.

The Knights, led by the runner-up, finished second in the team standings. Brandon Schafer was 12th for Colony.

Wasilla’s Connor Mattson finished seventh in the boys race. Palmer’s Andrew Liebing was 14th.

Mucha won the girls’ 5-K, with a time of 21:53. Palmer’s Hanna Smith was the top Valley skier in the girls race with a 15th-place finish.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

MAT-SU COLONY PURSUIT

Boys team standings:

1. Soldotna; 2. Colony; 3. Grace Christian; 4. Palmer; 5. Valdez; 6. Kenai; 7. Homer; 8. Skyview.

Boys individual results (top 25):

1. D. Serventi, GC 23:21.7; 2. A. Meyerhofer, Col 24:28.1; 3. J. Dillon, Sol 25:08.3; 4. W. Jonas, Sol 25:23; 5. J. Snelders, Val 25:26; 6. M. Luke, Sol 25:35.5; 7. C. Mattson, Was 25:35.8; 8. L. McLaughlin, GC 25:52.4; 9. M. Adamson, Val 25:53.1; 10. T. Cooper, Ken 26:47.4; 11. B. Rowe, Hom 26:23.8; 12. B. Schaffer, Col 26:47.4; 13. T. Cooper, Ken 26:50.3; 14. A. Liebing, Pal 26:53.8; 15. C. Diehl, Sol 27:08.4; 16. L. Jaschek, Col 27:15.4; 17. J. Buck, Col 27:16.1; 18. J. Dahams, Pal 27:21.0; 19. A. Strickland, Pal 27:27.3; 20. E. Morris, Col 27:28.8; 21. D. Sinnett, Col 27:45.5; 22. J. Klein, GC 28:02; 23. J. Klein, GC 28:02; 24. J. Bressler, Ken 28:23.9; 25. K. Holladay, Pal 28:30.2.

Other Valley finishers:

34. L. Reed, Col 30:43.8; 44. A. Oliver, Was 34:41.8.

Girls team standings:

1. Grace Christian; 2. Homer; 3. Kenai; 4. Palmer; 5. Soldotna; 6. Colony; 7. Skyview.

Girls individual finishers:

1. B. Mucha, Sol 21:53.1; 2. A. Trujillo, GC 23:22.9; 3. M. Schmidt, Hom 23:49.0; 4. S. Fox, Sol 24:40.1; 5. C. Trujillo, GC 24:40.8; 6. K. Morelli, Hom 24:41.5; 7. E. Arnold, GC 24:56.8; 8. E. Merioles, Val 25:07.8; 9. H. Norris, Val 25:15.5; 10. C. Soistman, Hom 25:25.5; 11. M. Gerard, Hom 25:46.0; 12. K. Nyquist, Ken 25:52.4; 13. O. Fair, Ken 25:59.8; 14. K. Rowe, GC 26:03.4; 15. H. Smith, Pal 26:08.2; 16. T. Ostrander, Ken 29:09.4; 17. M. Lynn, Pal 26:24.8; 18. B. Anderson, Col 26:26.4; 19. O. Pfeifer, Ken 26:39.7; 20. C. Hull, Pal 26:53.6; 21. B. Meier, Col 27:17.8; 22. M. Morton, Sky 27:38.7; 23. C. Neill, Sky 27:44.1; 24. J. Johnson, Pal 27:44.9; 25. T. Haan, Col 27:50.6.

Other Valley finishers:

30. G. Jenkins, Col 28:44.4; 31. K. Johnson, Pal 29:08.5; 36. M. Meyerhofer, Col 30:25.0; 37. T. Loveless, Was 31:03.8; 39. K. Jenkins, Col 31:20.1; 40. K. Sworts, Pal 31:22.8; 42. M. Thompson, Col 32:14.3.