13 Valdez High School Nordic Skiers competed in the Region 6 Regional Ski Competition last weekend at Birch Hill in Fairbanks.  West Valley, Lathrop, Monroe, North Pole, Hutchison, and Valdez participated in the event hosted by the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks.  

The first day of competition was in classic technique. The boys skied a distance of 7.5 km, and the girls skied 5 km.  This race was the first for the Bucs due to COVID-19 limiting race events this season. The regional race pushed skiers to learn a lot about specifics of ski racing extremely quickly, and the Valdez team rose to meet the challenge. All racers finished despite freezing Fairbanks temperatures. The top 4 performances from each team were totaled together for the team score.  

The Top 4 Boys’ Finishers - Day 1

13th place Piers Shirk - 28:45.  

22nd place Jeffery Prevost - 32:58 

27th place Chase Randall - 34:34

28th place William Benes - 34:41 

Top 4 Girls’ Finishers - Day 1

16th place Elaina Hanson - 28:53

18th place Christina Wise - 27:29

21st place Caelyn Wise - 30:22 

24th place Billi Lovell - 32:21 

After day one of the competition, the boys were in 3rd place in the team rankings, and the girls were in 4th place, just 42 seconds behind North Pole in 3rd place.  Ginger Keller’s ski started to delaminate during her race, but she didn’t give up and finished in spite of the setback! 

After skiing their first race and getting a feel for the course, the Buccaneers were much more confident and prepared for Saturday’s skate technique race.  The race was 7.5 km for the girls and 10 km for the boys.  There were some impressive performances by all the Buccaneer skiers Saturday.  Freshman Rafe Caruthers demonstrated solid pacing and good technique. He climbed the leader boards from 31st place after day one to 21st place after day two and scored in the top four for our boy’s team.  Sophomore Piers Shirk finished the skate race only one place out of the top 10 and had a fantastic race, gaining ground on the day one leaders.  The boys’ strong skiing team had them end the weekend in 3rd place for the team competition.   

The girl’s team lead by Elaina Hanson completed a great race Saturday and pushed themselves as they chased North Pole for a spot on the podium.  Not only did they defeat North Pole, but they came in 17 minutes faster after day two.  The girls finished the competition in second place.

Top 4 Girls’ Finishers - Day 2

12th place Elania Hanson - 39:50 

14th place Caelyn Wise - 45:52

16th place Christina Wise - 46:22

17th place Billi Lovell - 53:31

The Top 4 Boys’ Finishers - Day 2

11th place Piers Shirk - 36:04

18th place Chase Randall - 42:34

21st place Rafe Caruthers - 45:12

22nd place Jeffery Prevost - 46:58 

Also participating in Regionals and earning personal bests included Fisher Mishmash, Blake Morrison and Patrick O'Brien. Ethan Weber, Jared Humphrey, and Barrett McCumby added to the team accomplishments with steady improvement throughout the season

GO BUCS!

Article by Coach Beck

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