Valley skiers compete in competitive race series

PALMER — Local cross-country skiers competed in the Matanuska Nordic Series last weekend at the Government Peak Recreation Area. In an event similar to the Besh Cup that would determine Junior Nordic teams, athletes from under eight to over 18 competed in two days of 10 kilometer cross-country ski races at GPRA.

“Every race opportunity becomes an important race opportunity because it could be it. So we’ve been telling our athletes that all year long every time trial, every race opportunity, citizen race whatever the case may be, you’ve got to approach it like there’s a team to name, like there’s a podium to stand on and like it’s the last race you’re going to get because that could be the case so what I’m seeing form athletes this weekend I’ve got no complaints,” said ANR coach Mikey Evans.

Evans also coaches most of the athletes on ANR during the high school season as the head coach for the Palmer ski team. Evans said that training routines for endurance athletes such as cross-country skiers have not been disrupted as traditional sports by the coronavirus pandemic. However, without typical competitive race schedules, many of the top skiers in the state competed last weekend at GPRA. Tyler Kornfield and Kai Meyers of APU took titles in the classic and skate ski events, respectively. The top performer of all Valley athletes was Katey Houser, a Palmer skier who competes for ANR. Houser took 5th in the classic race and 4th in the 5k skate race with a time of 14:47.9. Rosie Whittington-Evans took 16th in the classic and 14th in the skate race, and Aila Berrigan took 18th in the classic and 14th in the skate race with a time of 15:48.6. Colony’s Lydia Bushey took 23rd in the Saturday classic race and 24th in the Sunday skate race with a time of 17:41.0. Palmer’s Elisabeth Hennemann also took home top-25 finishes in both events.

“I’ve seen the work that kids have been doing and this the Valley group of athletes that have been training with me they were five days a week seven a.m., in the gym doing the work, doing the roller skiing, puting in the hours so every one of these kids that I’m responsible for in that way, they should be having results,” said Evans.

Palmer product Joseph Walling led the Valley men with a 10th place finish in Saturday’s classic 10k and a 14th place finish in Sunday’s freestyle race with a time of 27.31.7. Colony’s Garrett Streit took home top-20 finishes in both races, and his Colony teammate Simeon Ramirez finished in 21st and 23rd. Palmer’s Thomas Merritt finished in 28th and 27th and teammate Jaxson Lee finished in 23rd and 28th. Evans spoke to the structure of local ski clubs in developing young skiers.

“Our sport is hard and it takes a special kind of person to want to do it because it’s weather dependent. You’re out in the elements on good days and bad days for training and racing it just is what it is. It’s a resource intensive sport. It’s only possible on the backs of volunteers so to have athletes like ours that are having results this year, you have to have a community that values trails, that values lifelong activities like skiing,” said Evans. “We have one of the best venues in the state in terms of just the setting is beautiful here, the trails are amazing. The ski club is motivated to host races, so I would be disappointed if the valley did not become a perennial producer of quality events, quality athletes and an increased density of both of those.”