Junior Nordic skiers battle at national championships

Ian Boucher named All-American

Three Crested Butte junior Nordic skiers and coach Duncan Callahan joined the Rocky Mountain Nordic (RMN) division team at the Junior National Championships in downtown Minneapolis, Minn. March 7-12.
It was the second trip to the big show for J2 Nordic skier Ian Boucher. After testing the waters last year as a first-year J2 racer and posting several “middle of the pack” results, Boucher and Callahan came in this year with top-10 finishes in mind.
“We were looking at top-10’s as goals,” says Callahan. “Top 10 was doable, top five was reasonable.”
The week started off with the grueling skate sprint race as racers ski a qualifying one-kilometer time trial first to establish seedings for heats. From then on the top two advance out of each heat until the winners emerge in the finals, with the final races under the lights in downtown Minneapolis.
Boucher finished 19th overall in the qualifying time trail and made it to the quarter-finals before being bounced with a third-place finish in his heat to finish in 15th place overall.
While it was a big improvement from his 40th-place finish last year, there was still a hint of frustration.
“He skied solid, he was just a little flatter than he would have liked,” says Callahan. “He really wanted to be in the final.”
Boucher’s next test came two days later in the five-kilometer mass start classic race but he fell just shy of the top-10 goal, finishing in 11th place with a time of 14 minutes, 57 seconds.
Again, he moved up 20 places from last year but still short of his goal.
“There was just a tinge of disappointment with the 11th-place finish,” says Callahan.
Nevertheless, it was obvious that Boucher was just getting stronger as the week wore on and he reached a pinnacle on Friday in the five-kilometer skate race.
Skiers were met with a slick Minnesota course for the event, making for blistering times.
“It was a ripper,” says Callahan. “Super-fast, hard as a rock conditions.”
Boucher peaked in his premier event, posting a time of 11 minutes and 43 seconds to finish in fifth place and earn all-American status.
“He had a great day and came away from that feeling really good,” says Callahan.
The Rocky Mountain Nordic team was then primed for a win in the 3×3 kilometer classic relay with Boucher skiing the second leg, but the first racer on course fell and snapped a ski, ending their shot at first place 1.5 kilometers into the race.
“He’s still got a lot of hunger in him,” says Callahan.
For second-year J1 skier Hannah Smith, it put a close to her competitive high school Nordic racing career. Smith qualified for Junior Nationals three times in her career and won the J2 national title in the five-kilometer freestyle skate race in 2009.
An injury forced her to miss the 2010 Junior Nationals and she was limited to classic races this season. Smith rose to the occasion qualifying for the Junior National Championships in the classic skiing format.
Smith finished her Junior National high school career placing 36th in the 10-kilometer classic race.
“She’s been dealing with the injury all season and we didn’t really know what to expect,” says Callahan. “She kept her head up and focused on the next race.”
Smith then joined an RMN team to place 13th in the 3×3 kilometer relay.
Forrest Smith followed in Boucher’s footsteps, or ski tracks, with his first trip to the Junior National Championships as a first-year J2. Forrest put together a number of “middle of the pack” results with his strongest effort coming in the relay race posting the 10th fastest split in his class.
“He skied very, very well,” says Callahan. “For Forrest getting experience at the national level was huge.”
The skiers will take a break until Callahan brings them back together for summer workouts.
“These guys are now getting ready for track and then we start training in June,” says Callahan.