Palmer High ski standouts celebrate opportunities to compete at the college level

PALMER — Katey Houser and Rosie Whittington-Evans have known each other all of their lives. The Palmer High School standouts recently had the chance to celebrate their chance of a lifetime, and the longtime friends and teammates had the opportunity to share the moment together.

Houser and Whittington-Evans each signed their letter of intent to compete in Nordic skiing at the college level while surrounded by friends and family during a ceremony April 6 in the Palmer High School library.

Houser is set to attend Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, and compete for the Bobcats. Whittington-Evans will attend Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and compete for the Mules.

“It’s really special,” Houser said of sharing her signing day with Whittington-Evans. “Rosie was probably one of my first friends. We’ve also stayed close. I’ve looked up to her, and I think she looks up to me. We push each other really hard.”

The pair spent hundreds of hours training together year-round.

“We grew up together as athletes all throughout high school, and we’ve been training every summer,” Whittington-Evans said.

Whittington-Evans said both had day jobs during the summer, working 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but they would train before and after work. Their training started every morning at 7 a.m., and would continue after work until about 8:30 p.m.

“I’m here right now signing to go to Montana State because I have Rosie,” Houser said.

Both Houser and Whittington-Evans enjoyed historic careers with the Palmer High girls cross-country skiing program.

As juniors, Houser and Whittington-Evans helped Palmer finish a school-record third overall in the girls overall team standings at the state meet. That group also includes former Moose standout Aila Berrigan, who now skis for UAF.

“We did something that had never been done (at Palmer),” Houser said. “It was really special with those girls especially since we’ve trained together since we were itty-bitty.”

Houser set school records for individual finishes at the state ski meet. In February, Houser was second overall in the girls skimeister standings. She was also the runner-up in the girls freestyle race for the second straight year. She finished third in the classic race as a senior.

“I think I put my name in the Palmer High Hall of Fame. I think Rosie and I both have,” Houser said with a laugh.

Whittington-Evans finished sixth in the classic race at state as a senior. She also won the girls skimeister award in early February at the Region III Championships, after sweeping the freestyle and classic races. Houser was the runner-up.

Houser recently made her decision to call MSU her next home recently, while Whittington-Evans has had her focus on Colby for a while.

“It’s been a long road,” Houser said. “Rosie kind of knew where she was going pretty early. All of my options were kind of up in the air until about two weeks ago.”

Houser said the process was stressful, but she’s happy with the final decision.

“I’ve worked super hard for this. It’s been a goal of mine since I started racing in the sixth grade,” Houser said.

Houser said there were other options, but MSU proved to be the best fit.

“There were a couple of others, but financially Montana State was going to be the right move,” Houser said. “I love the team. The team is really what turned my head.”

Montana State was an option for Whittington-Evans as well, but Colby was her ultimate choice.

“I wanted to go somewhere I could be pushed academically as well as athletically,” Whittington-Evans said.

About 80 percent of the study body at the school are student-athletes, she said. Whittington-Evans also said Colby has a tremendously difficult acceptance rate of about eight percent.

“I thought I wasn’t going to get accepted, and when I did I was super excited,” Whittington-Evans said.

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