Course throws twist into ski meet

MAT-SU — Adding a few moderate hills to the course can certainly make a cross country skiing race more challenging.

So what happens when throw in a mountain?

About 100 prep skiers figured that out Saturday afternoon during the Mat-Su Borough Championships at Mountain Streams Bed and Breakfast near Hatcher Pass.

“It was a quazi-mountain race on skis,” Palmer head coach Darin Markwardt of the event which sent skiers about a kilometer up Government Peak, before dropping back down and settling into about 1.7 kilometers worth of rolling terrain. “It was fun to put on.”

The event, hosted jointly by the Palmer and Wasilla ski programs, featured two loops on the 4.2-K course that started at the base of Government Peak.

“There was quite a bit of climbing,” Markwardt said. “Over a K of climbing.”

Markwardt said he’s curious to know exactly what type of elevation the skiers had to overcome before settling into the downward slope, but regardless, the Palmer ski coach credited the endurance of the athletes.

“It says something about the amazing stamina of these kids,” Markwardt said.

Markwardt said there was certain strategy that led to success in the race. The key to battling the climb was to not start out to fast and risk burning yourself out before the end of the run.

Overall, Markwardt said, the atypical event was a good way to cap a regular season that has not exactly been the easiest for the local skiers.

“It’s been a pretty tough year,” Markwardt said. “A three-week cold snap, one week of tropical warm weather and the threat of a volcano eruption. It’s been very challenging.”

But on Saturday, local athletes had a chance to compete in a local event, something that is far more unusual for Valley skiers than Mat-Su athletes who compete in spectator sports such as basketball or hockey.

“It’s really nice to go 15 minutes to the race site instead of four or five hours,” Markwardt said.

Markwardt also applauded the camaraderie of the tight-knit skiing community and the support of the parents, giving the teams the ability to put on such an event.

“There was a tremendous amount of work from the parents and volunteers,” Markwardt said.

Palmer swept the team standings of the event. Kimberly DelFrate led the Moose to the win in the girls’ standing with her first-place time of 36 minutes and 10 seconds.

Duney Strickland (30:07) and Wylie Mangelsdorf (30:36) finished first and second respectively to lead the Palmer boys to first in the team standings.

Colony finished second in both classes. Sydney Stewart led the Colony girls with a second-place finish. Stewart was 15 seconds behind DelFrate.

On the boys’ side, freshman Schyler Knopp was fourth with a time of 33:15.

Wasilla was third in both the boys and girls team standings.

Leif Johnson led the Warriors with a fifth-place finish with his time of 33:20.

On the girls’ side, Cori Schleich was eighth at 39:39.

Susitna Valley also participated in the event. Ian Mannix led the Su Valley boys with his third-place time of 30:39. Morgan Michels led the girls by finishing 14th at 41:22.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Mat-Su Borough

Championships

Saturday, Hatcher Pass

Boys’ team scores:

1. Palmer 2:10:05, 2. Colony 2:16:21, 3. Wasilla 2:24:40, 4. Valdez 2:41:01.

Boys individual results:

1. D. Strickland, Pal 30:07.60, 2. W. Mangelsdorf, Pal 30:36.56, 3. I. Mannix, SV 30:39.16, 4. S. Knopp, Col 33:15.52, 5. L. Johnson, Was 33:20.44, 6. C. Jahn, Col 33:56.79, 7. G. Williams, Col 34:29.13, 8. J. Simon, Pal 34:31.56, 9. S. Sinnett, Col 34:44.20, 10. T. Hoople, Pal 34:59.97, 11. D. Dunlap, Pal 34:54.04, 12. B. Chamberlin, Was 35:03.65, 13. C. Beck, Val 36:14.72, 14. A. Strickland, 36:31.44, 15. A. McConnell, Pal 36:36.71, 16. J. Dahms, Pal 36:47.56, 17. A. Meyerhofer, Col 37:48.04, 18. C. Mattson, Was 38:05.22, 19. K. Pulver, Was 38:12.23, 20. J. Pahkala, Was 38:12.23, 21. Q. Verfaillie, Val 38:28.09, 22. T. Figley, SV 38:30.99, 23. D. VanHoomissen, Pal 38:56.45, 24. M. Dallas, Pal 39:05.12, 25. K. Holladay, Pal 39:17.37, 26. J. Hausmann, Col 39:35.15, 27. A. Liebing, Pal 39:57.04, 28. K. Walker, Val 40:25.95, 29. M. Ketchum, Pal 42:45.59, 30. J. Buck, Col 43:06.43, 31. S. Chapman, Was 43:31.75, 32. F. Lamb, Pal 43:53.36, 33. C. Bowmer, Was 44:11.30, 34. T. Harris, Col 45:13.81, 35. F. Bean, Pal 45:15.34, 36. S. Stephens, Pal 45:44.26, 37. M. Adamson, Val 45:54.74, 38. Z. Verfaillie, Val 45:54.91, 39. R. Loveless, Was 46:30.44, 40. S. Dinges, Pal 48:36.40, 41. B. Wells, Val 50:29.95, 42. G. Shoulders, SV 53:13.20, 43. C. Winter, Pal 53:51. 73, 44. C. Pepitone, Was 57:53.16, 45. M. Simon, Pal 1:00:00.

Girls’ team results:

1. Palmer 2:32:42, 2. Colony 2:38:53, 3. Wasilla 2:45:49, 4. Valdez 2:47:56.

Girl’ individual results:

1. K. DelFrate, Pal 36:10.65, 2. S. Stewart, Col 37:55.44, 3. S. Stough, Pal 38:23.41, 4. M. Shones, Pal 39:01.31, 5. A. DelFrate, Pal 39:08.74, 6. L. Whitmore, Pal 39:17.98, 7. L. Frisch, Val 39:27.98, 8. C. Schleich, Was 39:39.86, 9. C. Skvorc, Col 39:43.89, 10. E. VanGorder, Col 40:31.63, 11. S. VanBavel, Col 40:44.47, 12. K. Parker, Was 41:19.59, 13. M. Michels, SV 41:22.95, 14. V. Schleich, Was 41:39.87, 15. L. Lutz, Pal 42:01.83, 16. H. Norris, Val 42:02.05, 17. M. Grammer, Val 42:14.05, 18. T. Stewart, Col 42:24.93, 19. K. Wilber, Was 43:12.52, 20. H. Smith, Pal 43:17.46, 21. D. Buckley, Col 43:56.73, 22. K. Malaika, Val 44:13.27, 23. J. Wright, Was 44:59.86, 24. S. Stephens, Pal 45:19.19, 25. B. Anderson, Col 46:19.33, 26. R. Hall, Was 46:36.58, 27. K. Powell, Col 46:49.39, 28. M. Lynn, Pal 47:05.58, 29. C. Hull, Pal 48:00.15, 30. L. Frohling, Pal 48:56.47, 31. K. Dahms, Pal 49:20.70, 32. S. Gussert, Val 49:35.87, 33. L. Swihart, Col 49:36.16, 34. M. Keefe, Pal 50:12.55, 35. Z. Fuller, Pal 50:17.96, 36. J. Simmons, Val 51:00.15, 37. A. Clement, Pal 51:24.40, 38. K. Sworts, Pal 52:47.17, 39. K. Ryneski, Was 53:42.66, 40. J. Moon, Was 57:03.23, 41. H. Edelman, Val 1:00:14.77, 42. M. Schachle, Was 1:00:17.99.