Mazama’s Novie McCabe and Walker Hall continued their domestic ski schedules with the University of Utah this past weekend with a trip to Alaska for the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships, hosted by the University of Alaska at Anchorage.
McCabe took first place in the 20K classic event, cruising to a 58-second win over Mariel Pulles of Alaska-Fairbanks. Thirty-one racers started the women’s race. Hall placed 13th in the men’s 20K classic race featuring 35 starters.
Three former Mountain Lion women raced against each other at the SLU Carnival at Mount Van Hoevenberg near Lake Placid, New York, this past weekend. Gretta Scholz, Jori Grialou and Greta Laesch raced in the two-day event put on by St. Lawrence University.
In Friday’s 5K freestyle sprint, Scholz was first across of the three Methow Valley skiers, in 20th place. Grialou was next in 28th and Laesch in 43rd place. There were 65 racers in the sprint. On Saturday in the 20K classic, Scholz crossed the line in the 18th spot, Grialou placed 25th and Laesch moved up to 37th.
Scholz is a junior skiing for Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Grialou is in her freshman year at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Laesch skis for Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and is in her sophomore year.
Two Methow Valley youth skiers traveled to Soldier Hollow, Utah, this past weekend to ski in the Intermountain Youth Championships. Josie Bolinger and Aidan Sands skied a short 3.3K freestyle sprint on Saturday and each earned the spot on top of the podium in the U16 age class. On Sunday, in the longer mass start classic, Bolinger took 2nd place and Sands took home his second 1st-place trophy of the weekend.
The meet featured skiers mostly from the intermountain states of Idaho, Utah, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, but coach Colin Sands reported there were also some skiers form other Northwest states.
“The kids raced great,” the coach said. “It isn’t easy not having your full team here so managing your warm up plan and being prepared to race takes a bit more.”
A more complete contingent of skiers head for the Great White Northland for a meet near Kelowna, British Columbia, this coming weekend for the BC Championships. It is the last big meet before qualifiers head for the Junior Nationals in Fairbanks, Alaska, in a few weeks.
