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High School Results | Middle School Results | |||||||
State Championships, February 25, 2011
Middle Park's Sam Berggren doubled her High School Nordic Skiing State Championship title haul yesterday by winning the mass start skate race on the Aspen High School ski trails. Sam won Thursday's individual start classic race (a race against the clock) by over 40 seconds. She also dominated her competition in Friday's skate race, but used an entirely different strategy. Sam led the entire race from the start, with a pack of 4-6 women following right on her heels. Even when a fall in the group of elite women following her caused a small gap to form early in the race, she continued to simply ski her pace, allowing the chasers to catch back on behind her. As Sam and her group approached the final 500 meters of the 5000 meter race, the crowd anticipated a mass sprint to the line, but that was not in Sam's plan. She made a definitive move on the next to the last uphill, and when she popped up onto the finish stretch, she had dropped her chase group and skied across the line 12 seconds ahead of the next finisher.
The Panther women finished third overall in the skate race, with Linnea Zink, Sera Smith and Sam Miyauchi finishing 13th, 19th and 21st, respectively. Later in the evening, the MPHS Nordic women were awarded the Colorado High School Ski League team title in classic, and tied for third with Steamboat in skate. League titles are based upon results from the entire season, including points scored in the State Championships.
In the men's skate race, Tabor Miyauchi, Cole Congor, Steve Simmons and Colby Zink were the top four Panthers, finishing in 19th, 29th, 36th and 39th places respectively, with the men finishing in 7th place as a team out of the 12 teams in the state final race.
The State Championships were a tremendous cap to a great season for the Middle Park Nordic Team, with what is believed to be the largest representation ever in the state meet. The Panthers look forward to an exciting season next year, with plenty of young talent returning, including the 13 freshman and sophomore skiers who represented the team in the state meet this season.
Sam B won the women's classic race by 40sec, so she has one state Nordic ski title, going for #2 this aft in mass st skate race.
Classic Race Results
Skate Race Results
Middle Park High School skiers raced in their final regular season meet on the Devil's Thumb trails on Thursday, February 17. Snow and high winds in the morning made it tough for teams traveling to the race as well as race preparation, but as the day progressed, the weather settled into a steady snowfall and only a couple of teams failed to show. Conditions were soft, but the tracks for the mass start classic race held up throughout the races.
The Panther girls finished first out of the eight teams competing, led by senior captain Sam Berggren's first place finish, more than one and a half minutes ahead of the next finisher. Senior captain Sam Miyauchi finished 4th, with Sera Smith and Linnea Zink coming in together in seventh and eighth places, respectively. Jenna Curran and Anna Wolff had an exciting battle with a Steamboat skier at the finish line for 18th place, with Jenna just missing out and Anna a second behind. This turned out to be a race within the race, because after tabulating all the results, the line for qualification to the state meet calculated to be at 19th place. Jenna was in, and Anna just missed by a second.
The Panther boys had two skiers in the top 20, lead by Colby Zink in 16th place, followed closely by AJ Sapien in 17th, 10 seconds behind.
The Middle Park Panther Nordic Team would like to thank all of their supporters for helping to put on a fantastic race, and a special thanks to Home James and Rocky Mountain Roastery for making it possible for our volunteers and fans to get to the race by providing parking and shuttle services.
Next week, 21 members of the Middle Park Nordic team will compete in the State Championships in Aspen on Thursday and Friday, February 24 and 25. The competition kicks off with an individual start classic race on Thursday, and a mass start skate race is on tap for Friday. Both races are held on the ski trail system at Aspen High School and begin at 3:30 pm.
First an explanation: The race was held at Gold Run Nordic Center, hosted by Summit HS. It was a continuous pursuit format. Skiers started in a mass start and skied the first 3 kilometer loop classic. Then, they skied through a "pit zone" and changed out equipment on the fly and took off for a final 3 kilometer loop of freestyle (skate).
There were really three races going on. Each loop was individually timed, and scored as a separate race (classic and skate). In addition, the running time was used to score an overall pursuit finish.
In the womens race, Sam Berggren skied the classic leg and came through into the pit zone in third place, 30 seconds out of first. She had an excellent transition (after practicing changing out skis many times the week before), and then put the hammer down and clawed her way back for an exciting finish. She ended up second by three seconds in the overall, but had the fastest skate leg by 18 seconds.
Amelia Clancy was on a mission to qualify for state in the skate race. She paced herself well in the classic, and then went all out and finished in 11th place in the skate - an incredible finish for a first year skier. Both Amelia and Kaylene Loo (16th place, skate) had finishes high enough to qualify them for the state meet.
In the mens race, Joe Rupp, another first year skier, had a plan and executed it well, for a 19th place finish in the skate race. Joe, along with Steve Simmons and Isaac Elliott (also first year skiers) all had finishes in the skate race high enough to qualify them for state.
Classic Race Results
Skate Race Results
The course had a mass start quickly leading into a tight switchback turn and climb, creating some excitement as skiers fought for position going into the climb. In the boy's race especially, this lead to a number of tangled skiers and more than a few broken poles. However, those Middle Park racers who had mishaps recovered well and nobody let the early carnage spoil their race. The race was a two lap affair and a couple of turns on the fast, technical descent provided for a few thrills, but again, our skiers worked their way through the crashes and had good finishes. We spent some time last week talking about how to handle "surprises" in a race, and our kids really followed through and did a great job of dealing with the adversity.
In the girl's race, senior Sam Berggren fought and won a battle for second place with an exciting sprint finish, just nosing out a Vail skier at the line. Elly Zietz really raised her game in this race, finishing just high enough to qualify for the state meet in February.
In the boy's race, our top finisher was Collin Papuga, finishing in 21st place. Joe Rupp had a tremendous race and missed qualifying for state by only .2 seconds.
Our new skiers on the team, including Amelia Clancy, Simeon Anderson, Joe Rupp and Elly Zietz, have made huge strides in the first two races and we are looking forward to their continued progress.
Individual Men's Results
Individual Women's Results
The Middle Park High School Nordic ski team kicked off the season on Saturday, December 18, with a race near Minturn, CO. The 5km individual start classic race was held on a tight and very technical course that had skiers either running up steep hills, navigating sharp downhill corners or double poling on the flat, with little gentle terrain in between.
Those conditions seemed to suit the Panthers pretty well as a total of 8 skiers, one third of the team roster, finished high enough in the standings to qualify in classic technique for the state meet in February. Individual highlights include a third place finish by Sam Berggren with a time of 25:10. The girls race was won by Katie Scruggs of Vail Mountain School in a time of 24:28.
The best placed Middle Park boy was Taber Miyauchi, in 24:59. The boy's race was won by Tucker McCrerey a Steamboat skier, with a time of 18:33. Team results were not official at the time of this writing, but will be posted when they become available.
The Middle Park Nordic team has 24 skiers this season, and the team goal is to qualify the entire team for the state meet. In order to qualify, skiers must finish in the top 45% of the field during a regular season meet. Qualification is separate for skate and classic technique, and skiers may qualify and race in one or both techniques at the state meet.
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