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FAIRBANKS — One skier successfully defended her title, while another hopes to successfully defend her Skimeister award.

Kailey Mucha, a senior from Kenai, won the girls 5-kilometer freestyle race for the second straight year, while defending Skimeister Kinsey Loan a junior from Chugiak, is just 4.1 seconds behind with her best race coming today at the ASAA State High School Nordic Ski Championships on at Birch Hill Recreation Area.

Kimberly DelFrate was the top Mat-Su Valley skier during the first day of the state meet. The Palmer senior finished in 20th place, completing the Birch Hill course in a time of 17:39.4. Kimberly’s twin sister, Amanda, was 28th at 17:58.7.

In the boys’ 7.5-K race, Scott Patterson led a group of three South Anchorage skiers who placed in the top four. Patterson crossed the finish line at 19:55.6. Teammates Forrest Mahlen and Noah Hagen finished third and fourth respecitivley.

Service’s Silas Talbot was the runner-up at 21:00.1.

Palmer’s Duney Strickland finished 18th with a time of 22:21.2.

Mucha opened the state championships on Thursday afternoon by posting a time of 16:41 in the girls’ race on the tough Three Hills course on the Jim Whisenhant Ski Trails.

“It was tough, but it was good,” Mucha said of the 5-K course that features three notorious climbs. “With the cold and snow It was kind of slow compared to what we usually have in Soldotna.”

While times in the shorter 5K race are usually close, the conditions — temperatures in the low teens and fresh snow on the trail — were expected to spread out the field.

Not so, on Thursday.

The top eight finishers in the interval start race were within 21.2 seconds of each other and the top 11 are only separated by 42 seconds.

That should make things very interesting heading into today’s mass-start 7.5K classic race.

“Kinsey is a really good classic skier,” Mucha said. “I’ve got to find some way to stay within four seconds o her.”

Loan finished Thursday’s in 16:18.2. A year ago she won the Skimeister Award by finishing third in the freestyle event and second in the class race. She was 3.6 seconds behind Mucha in the freestyle race and 1.3 seconds behind Esther Kennedy in the classic, but 21.2 seconds ahead of the sixth-place Mucha.

“The courses here are always tough, but I had some pretty fast skis today” Loan said. “I was trying to catch Celia Haering (West Anchorage) who started two skiers ahead of me (30 seconds), but I didn’t quite do that.”

Loan is looking forward to today’s race, even though the temperatures are supposed to be colder than Thursday.

“It’s a longer course, so we’ll be able to see where everyone is at,” Loan said. “I just want to hang with the group and not let anybody get too far ahead.”

West Valley senior Marisa Rorabaugh and her sophomore teammate Hannah turned in outstanding performances in taking the third and fifth positions with respective times of 16:19.7 and 16:24.7.

“I did everything I could and was fighting as hard as I could to get up the hills,” Rorabaugh said. “I had a good race on the same course during the Besh Cup, so I thought I could get top-10 against this kind of competition.”

She’s not only in the top 10, she’s got a chance to become the first Interior skier to earn a Skimeister award since Kate Pearson in 1997.

Boyer, who started 15 seconds ahead of Mucha, had one goal for Thursday’s race.

“I wanted to keep her behind me” she said. “It was hard, but I did it.”

By accomplishing her goal, Boyer is just 10.6 seconds behind Mucha in the race for the Skimeister crown.

Loan’s teammate Alyson McPhetres, was fourth in 16:23.3.

Rounding out the list of skiers who finished in the 16-minute range are Jessica Yeaton of South Anchorage, 16:25.9, Celia Haering of West Anchorage, 16:33.9, Marion Woods of Dimond, 16:35.3, Mackenzie Kanady of Service in 16:44.7, Karina Packer of South Anchorage in 16:48.9 and Kate Backstrum of South Anchorage in 16:56.7.

“There’s at least 10 or 15 girls who can win on any day, so that makes it exciting,” Backstrum said.

Service’s Becky Butler had the honor of being the first skier out of the starting gate and the first skier to cross the finish line in the interval start race.

“Everybody was chasing me,” she said. “Those hills are tough, but it was a short course so it was OK.”

Morgan Michels led the Susitna Valley Rams witha 34th-place finish and time of 18:14.7. Caitlin Skvorc led the Colony Knights by finishing 56th at 19:35.3.

In addition to Strickland, senior Wylie Mangelsdorf also posted a top-25 finish for the Moose. Mangelsdorf was 23rd, with a time of 22:50.8. Senior Davis Dunlap was 34th for Palmer.

Abe Meyerhofer led Colony, finishing 43rd.

Racing continues today in Fairbanks.

Contact Fairbanks Daily News-Miner sports editor Bob Eley at 459-7581.

ASAA/First National Bank State Cross Country Skiing Championships

Thursday, Birch Hill, Fairbanks

Girls individual results 5.066-K.

1. Kailey Mucha, Kenai, 16:14.1; 2. Kinsey Loan, Chugiak, 16:18.2; 3. Marisa Rorabaugh, West Valley, 16:19.7; 4. Alyson McPhetres, Chugiak, 16:23.3; 5. Hannah Boyer, West Valley, 16:24.7; 6. Jessica Yeaton, South Anchorage, 16:25.9; 7. Celia Haering, West Anchorage, 16:33.9; 8. Marion Woods, Dimond, 16:35.3; 9. Mackenzie Kanady, Service, 16:44.7; 10. Karina Packer, South Anchorage, 16:48.9; 11. Kate Backstrum, South Anchorage, 16:56.7; 12. Rebecca Mamrol, Service, 17:00.9; 13. Annie Liotta, West Anchorage, 17:03.8; 14. Kryston McPhetres, Chugiak, 17:04.3; 15. Tristan Ramey, South Anchorage, 17:07.3; 16. Stephanie Kirk, South Anchorage, 17:10.6; 17. Rebecca Farr, East Anchorage, 17:19.9; 18. Bree Mucha, Soldotna, 17:36.4; 19. Greta Anderson, Service, 17:37.9; 20. Kimberly Delfrate, Palmer, 17:39.4; 21. Eliza Rorabaugh, West Valley, 17:45.4; 22. Jasmine Clock, Soldotna, 17:46.8; 23. Sarah Cresap, Grace Christian, 17:49.5; 24. Anna Price, Service, 17:54.2; 25. Megan Baker, West Anchorage, 17:55.8; 26. Emily Rogers, South Anchorage, 17:56.2; 27. Brittany Hippe, Dimond, 17:58.4; 28. Amanda Delfrate, Palmer, 17:58.7; 29. Maranda Merkes, Soldotna, 18:05.2; 30. Megan Edic, Lathrop, 18:05.4; 30. Maggie Bursch, Homer, 18:05.4; 32. Christi Schmitz, North Pole, 18:10.1; 33. Amelia Hennessy, Dimond, 18:14.3; 34. Morgan Michels, SuValley, 18:14.7; 35. Alison Ross, Service, 18:18.8; 36. Bonnie Scott, Chugiak, 18:19.6; 37. D.Anne Martin, Soldotna, 18:28.6; 38. Michelle Klaben, Kenai, 18:38.1; 39. Becky Butler, Service, 18:44.2; 40. Savanna Desatoff, Dimond, 18:44.3; 41. Sarah Freistone, Dimond, 18:45.2; 42. Mikayla Hamlin, Lathrop, 18:49.8; 43. Elizabeth Whisenhant, West Valley, 18:54.6; 44. Amelia Hartke, Chugiak, 18:59.1; 45. Frances Bursch, Homer, 19:02.3; 46. Allison Barnwell, Seward, 19:09.2; 47. Kaya Morelli, Homer, 19:09.3; 48. Melanie Smith, Soldotna, 19:11.2; 49. Kelly Schmitz, North Pole, 19:25.1; 50. Marie Schmidt, Homer, 19:26.0.

Other Valley finishers:

55. Hannah Smith, Palmer, 19:35.3; 56. Caitlin Skvorc, Colony, 19:35.9; 57. Mariah Shones, Palmer, 19:38.5; 63. Shannon Stough, Palmer, 19:59.2; 67. Robyn Hall, Wasilla, 20:04.9; 79. Katherine Parker, Wasilla, 20:42.8; 82. Lindsay Dreese, Colony, 20:47.0; 90. Brittney Anderson, Colony, 21:12.4; 91. Meagan Lynn, Palmer, 21:21.1; 93. Shannon Van Bavel, Colony, 21:27.7; 95. Valerie Schleich, Wasilla, 21:34.7; 103. Abby Nagel, Colony, 22:00.7.

Boys individual results (top-50, 7.626-K):

1. Scott Patterson, South Anchorage, 19:55.6; 2. Silas Talbot, Service, 21:00.1; 3. Forrest Mahlen, South Anchorage, 21:09.3; 4. Noah Hagen, South Anchorage, 21:18.9; 5. Isaac Lammers, Chugiak, 21:21.1; 6. Nicholas Treinen, West Anchorage, 21:30.0; 7. Travis Semmens, Kenai, 21:33.0; 8. Patrick Nugent, Lathrop, 21:35.4; 9. Logan Hanneman, Lathrop, 21:39.9; 10. Peter Mamrol, Service, 21:46.8; 11. Eric Ryan, Service, 21:54.7; 12. Carl Smith, South Anchorage, 21:57.7; 13. Neil Liotta, West Anchorage, 21:58.6; 14. Jack Novak, South Anchorage, 22:09.3; 15. Andrew Arnold, Grace Christian, 22:13.6; 16. Nathaniel Knapp, East Anchorage, 22:14.9; 17. Sam Dougherty, South Anchorage, 22:15.1; 18. Dunedin Strickland, Palmer, 22:21.2; 19. Kyle Barnhart, Service, 22:22.1; 20. Stefan Hajdukovich, Lathrop, 22:23.9; 21. Scott Wheeler, West Anchorage, 22:34.0; 22. Anders Nyquist, Kenai, 22:37.9; 23. Wylie Mangelsdorf, Palmer, 22:50.8; 24. Jani Lane, Service, 22:58.8; 25. Jacob Kirk, Grace Christian, 22:59.3; 26. Riley Troyer, West Valley, 23:06.8; 27. Hunter Jackinsky, Skyview, 23:07.1; 28. Vegard Andersen, East Anchorage, 23:07.9; 29. Vanya Rybkin, West Valley, 23:09.2; 30. Ben Fitzgerald, Chugiak, 23:15.3; 31. Jan (Kuba) Grzeda, West Valley, 23:15.4; 32. Ryan Sanders, Soldotna, 23:34.4; 33. John Glen, Service, 23:35.1; 34. Davis Dunlap, Palmer, 23:36.0; 35. Kyle Hanson, Lathrop, 23:42.2; 36. Bryce Monaco, Dimond, 23:42.8; 37. Andre Lovett, Homer, 23:58.9; 38. Parker Sorensen, Homer, 24:00.7; 39. Dan Bradley, Chugiak, 24:04.2; 40. IntiMayo Harbison, Soldotna, 24:06.7; 41. Brett Chase, Seward, 24:16.0; 42. Douglas Watts, West Anchorage, 24:17.4; 43. Abe Meyerhofer, Colony, 24:18.1; 44. Brandon Blackley, Eagle River, 24:20.0; 45. Brayden Holt, Skyview, 24:24.8; 46. Leif Danielson, Skyview, 24:27.1; 47. Alex Loan, Chugiak, 24:28.6; 48. Ted Hoople, Palmer, 24:28.8; 49. Schyler Knopp, Colony, 24:30.3;50. James Watkins, Kenai, 24:30.4.

Other Valley finishers:

52. Connor Mattson, Wasilla, 24:45.7; 57. Aube Strickland, Palmer, 25:01.8; 67. Keith Pulver, Wasilla, 25:35.1; 72. Gunner Williams, Colony, 25:51.3; 76. Kaden Holladay, Palmer, 26:01.2; 95. Darien Sinnett, Colony, 27:06.4; 106. Rick Loveless, Wasilla, 28:22.8; 107. Leo Jaschek, Colony, 28:27.2; 110. Jake Buck, Colony, 28:36.9; 111. Chayne Bowmer, Wasilla, 28:46.6; 118. Anthony Oliver, Wasilla, 30:06.0; 121. Christone Susky, SuValley, 31:17.0.