Three Alaskans finished in the top-ten of the U18 boys race: Third from left, Hatcher Menkens, Vebjòrn Flagstad and Oskar Flora. Photo by Care Lane Quakenbush.
A wind-whipped day ended with three Team Alaska skiers on the podium Monday on the first day of competition at the U.S. Junior National cross-country championships in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Two others with Alaska ties — one who skis for UAF, another who skis for APU — also landed on the podium, but for divisions other than Alaska.
Team Alaska finished with one gold, one silver and one bronze.
Rosie Whittington Evans, who trains with Alaska Pacific University, captured the U20 women’s gold medal in the 7.5-kilometer freestyle race.
In the 7.5K freestyle for U18 boys, Vebjòrn Flagstad of the Alaska Winter Stars took silver and Oskar Flora of APU took bronze.
Also claiming medals were U20 racers Ben Dohlby, who skis for UAF but is a member of the Great Lakes Division team, and Davis Isom, who trains with APU but is a member of the Midwest Division team. Dohlby won the silver and Isom took the bronze in the men’s 7.5K race.
Skiers faced difficult conditions. Strong winds that have been battering the northeast United States didn’t spare Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Team Alaska coach Anson Moxness said.
“The weather for the women’s race was high wind and blowing snow. Pretty tough conditions,” he said via text.
“The sun started to come out (for the men’s races) but there was still quite a bit of wind. There were dust devils in the stadium — except they were snow.”
All of the races are being held on man-made snow, Moxness said.
Top Alaskans in Monday’s other races included:
— Jack Leveque, a Winter Stars skier, claimed fourth place in the U16 boys 5K.
— Mia Stiassny of APU and Miya Kam-Magruder of the Winter Stars placed 12th and 14th, respectively, in the U16 girls 5K.
— Olivia Soderstrom of the Winter Stars placed 12th in the U18 girls 7.5K.
Team Alaska’s only victory came courtesy of Whittington-Evans, who won the U20 women’s race in 23:50.1. Marit Flora of APU gave Alaska a sixth-place finish in 24:50.8.
Alaska skiers at Lake Placid, N.Y. Photo by APU
Flagstad and Oskar Flora joined Tabor Greenberg of the New England Division on the U18 boys podium. Greenberg won in 19:32.0, Flagstad clocked 20:11.5 to take the silver and Flora was third in 20:34.8. Hatcher Menkens of APU was 8th in 20:48.7.
The U20 men’s race featured seven skiers with Alaska ties in the top 10. Jack Lange of New England triumphed in 19:08.8, but after that it was nearly all Alaska.
Dohlby took silver in 19:41, followed by third-place Isom (20:03.0), fourth-place Owen Young (20:18.3), fifth-place Corbin Carpenter (20:16.3), sixth-place Cole Flowers (20:20.8), eighth-place Blake Hanley (20:29.2), ninth-place Derek Richardson (20:34.8) and 10th-place Matt Seline.
Carpenter and Seline are UAA skiers but are competing in the Rocky Mountain and Far West divisions, respectively.
Leveque was the only Alaskan with a top-5 finish in the U16 boys race, but four others finished in a seven-second span to claim top-20 spots.
Leveque finished five seconds off the podium in 14:22.1; he was 40 seconds behind winner Logan Drevlow of the Midwest Region. Other top finishers for Alaska were Raven Spangler (13th in 14:43.2), Gabe Black (14th in 14:43.5), Ethan Styvar (16th in 14:48.9) and Nathan Vanderlugt (17th in 14:50.1.)
For the U16 girls, Stiassny (16:36.0) and Miya Kam-Magruder (16:41.6) were more than a minute off Lea Perreard’s winning pace for New England (15:28.5).
Racing continues Wednesday in Lake Placid with the classic sprint.