Prep Nordic Skiing: West squads sweep Region IV meet; East’s Marley Ireland, Service’s Aaron Power earn Skimeister honors

The West Anchorage High School ski program continued their winning ways Friday and Saturday. The Eagles boys and girls teams both took home titles at the 2023 Region IV High School Cross Country Ski Championships at Kincaid Park and served notice that they’re ready for a run at State in a couple weeks.

Scarlet Parr of West emerges from the lower tunnel during the skate relay on Saturday. Photo courtesy Toby Erickson

The Eagles boys squad led the team standings by a razor-thin margin after Friday’s 7.3 kilometer individual classic race. Their accumulative time of one hour, 20 minute and 15 seconds put them less than 30 seconds ahead of Service High, setting the stage for an exciting freestyle relay on Saturday with the Region title on the line.

There was drama early. Under flurries that created snow-globe conditions, Justin Lucas put Service ahead with a blazing first leg, and tagged off to 2022 State Skimeister, Aaron Power. This was the moment it felt like the defending state champion Cougars might impose their will, but West’s Blake Hanley recorded the days fastest leg to real Power back in. West skiers Liam Chisolm and Murphy Kimball then skied strong 3rd and 4th legs to close the door.

The West team  finished the weekend with accumulative time of 1:55:27 to edge out Service (1:56:18). South High was third (2:05:24) followed by Dimond (2:08:26) and East (2:10:37).

Blake Hanley (539) tags off to Liam Chisholm (639) during the skate relay on Saturday. Photo courtesy Toby Erickson.

Power, a senior, earned Region IV Skimeister honors for having the best two-day summed time. The Cougars standout won Friday’s classic race in 19 minutes, 30 seconds, outpacing teammate Lucas (19:47) and West’s Hanley (19:51). Power’s time time of 8:40 in the relay leg equaled Lucas’s and was second only to Hanley’s 8:37.

The West girls showed similar balance and depth in taking the team title. The group of Berit Meyers, Zoe Rodgers, Piper Sears, Sammy Legate logged an accumulative two-day time of two hours, 24 minutes, 11 seconds. The upstart East High Thunderbirds placed second in 2:28:30 and were followed closely by Service (2:29:30) and Dimond (2:29:47).

Berit Meyers of West leads the pack at the mass start of the Region IV Championship skate relay on Saturday at Kincaid Park. Photo courtesy Toby Erickson.

East’s Marley Ireland was named the girl’s Skimeister. The Thunderbird senior placed a close second to Dimond’s Emily Erickson in Friday’s classic race and her two-day total time of 34:57 earned her the top Region IV skier honors ahead of Service super freshman Olivia Soderstrom (35:07) and Erickson (35:11).

Not since East alum Jamie Bronga won the state Skimeister in 2008 have the Thunderbirds (boys or girls) had this kind of success. But Ireland’s individual success is an exclamation point for a revitalized Thunderbird program. Five years ago the girls team didn’t have enough skiers to field a team at state.

The daughter of head coach Gary Snyder, Ireland has been logging strong performances the last few years, but nowadays she has teammates keeping her company near the front of the pack, many who are underclassmen. The team in red is back.

In the past, it was normal for strong skiers zoned to attend East High School to transfer to others schools for the ski program. That trend is changing.

“It’s good to have a girls team at East again,” said Snyder. “I want them to know they don’t have to transfer to have a good team.”

Speaking of good teams, the West boys and girls showing at Regions should put the rest of the state on notice.

The deep and talented West nordic program fielded 86 athletes this year. The Eagles had 14 skiers qualify for the Alaska Junior National Team and another four qualify for the Arctic Winter Games.

They are so deep in fact, that on the boys side, the West B Team had the third best accumulative time at Regions, trailing only their A Team and the Service A Team, and on the girls side the West B team finished 3rd in Saturday’s relay to their A Team and the East A Team.

Service skier Grady Kuijper. Photo by Harlow Robinson

“We have an incredible group of student athletes who all work hard with individual goals,” said West head coach Joey Caterinichio. “The success is we channel their individual goals into team goals”

West boys were runners-up at the state championships last year. But with the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Nordic Ski State Championships approaching Feb 23-25th at Kincaid Park, the Eagles appear primed to challenge last year’s state champion Cougars, a squad that returns all its skiers from last season.

The West girls were also runners-up to Service a year ago, and while several skiers graduated from last year’s team, they also appear to be peaking.

“West is just hoping to put it all together for the win but is not assuming it will be easy,” said Caterinichio. “Anyone can win on any given day.”

Boys Results

TEAM (Day One, Day Two, Total Time)

1. West  (1:20:15, 35:12,1:55:27),  2. Service (1:20:44, 35:33,1:56:18) 3.South (1:28:23, 37:01, 2:05:24), 4. Dimond (1:28:48, 39:37, 2:08:26), 5. East (1:30:48, 39:49, 2:10:37), 6. Chugiak (1:34:31, 42:40, 2:17:11), 7. Eagle River (1:35:26, 42:16, 2:17:43)

INDIVIDUAL (Day One, Day Two, Total Time)

1. Aaron Power, Service 19:30, 8:40, 28:10  – Skimeister
2. Lucas, Justin Service 19:47, 8:40, 28:27
3. Hanley, Blake West 19:51, 8:37, 28:29
4. Hatcher Menkens, West 20:12, 8:42, 28:54
5. Murphy Kimball, West 19:55, 9:00, 28:56
6. Liam Chisholm, West 20:15, 8:52, 29:08
7. Cole Flowers, West 20:25, 8:53, 29:18
8. Elias Soule, Service 20:34, 8:57, 29:32
9. Ethan Eski, West 20:46, 8:49, 29:35
10. Ethan Howe, East 20:11, 9:25, 29:37