The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It’s a bigger pond but a really good experience for those younger skiers”
By Than Acuff
The Crested Butte Nordic Team (CBNT) got their first look at the competition in the Rocky Mountain Nordic Division at the first Junior National Qualifier race of the year in Steamboat Friday and Saturday, December 20-21 coming away with a top three result, a couple of top 10 results and a couple of surprises from the younger CBNT athletes.
Low snow forced organizers to alter the classic course leaving athletes to ski three laps on the shorter loop. And while it still skied “pretty well” according to CBNT coach Gordon Gianniny, having over 200 skiers skiing three laps did create some issues, specifically for u18 CBNT skier Finn Veit. While not the smoothest re-entry to the race season, Veit overcame a crash to still post a ninth-place finish.
“There were a lot of skiers on the course, it was getting pretty chopped up, so it was easy to catch an edge or end up in softer snow and take a fall,” says Gianniny. “It’s early season and stuff like that is bound to happen.”
Sophia Bender was the other CBNT u18 athlete and skied her way to a 10th place finish in her first year in the older age group.
“They both had solid races overall,” says Gianniny.
Then came the youth movement with the five other comp team skiers making their debut in the u16 age class. Tazzy Pozner had the top finish among the younger crew finishing seventh in her u16 debut in the girl’s race.
On the boys’ side, Ben Larson dominated the u14 age class last year and could have remained there this season but bumped up to u16 for the challenge and placed 20th in his first race among the older kids.
“If he had raced u14 he would have won by a minute and a half so it’s actually a really good move for him,” says Gianniny.
Robert Spencer placed 27th, Micah Hansen 31st and Riley Thompson placed 38th.
The team then returned to the venue on Saturday for the mass start skate race with the u18s skiing 7.5 kilometers and the u16 skiing five kilometers.
Veit rebounded from his mishap the day before to ski to a third-place finish among his u18 peers and sixth overall among the u18s and college racers. Bender climbed the u18 ranks as well and she posted a ninth-place finish.
Pozner led the way on the result sheet in the u16 race with her second top 10 result in a row finishing in eighth place in the skate race.
“It’s really exciting to have her in the mix already,” says Gianniny.
Larson took 20th again, Spencer 31st with Hansen just two seconds behind him in 32nd place and Thompson placed 43rd.
“It’s a bigger pond but a really good experience for those younger skiers,” says Gianniny. “I’m super happy for how it turned out for all of them.”
The CBNT also had five skiers from the DEVO team make the trip and Gianniny was impressed with their skiing and their attitude.
“They all seemed like they had a fun time skiing hard and making the most of it,” says Gianniny.
Veit and Bender will now head into the biggest pond available as they are off to Senior Nationals in Anchorage, Alaska January 2-7. It’s Veit’s second trip and he has plans to continue climbing the senior ranks and possibly earn a spot on a U.S. Junior Nordic Team bound for races in Europe.
“He had a solid result in the interval skate race last year, so he’s focused on that and definitely keeping an eye on the international races,” says Gianniny.
Bender is making her first trip to the big show and the plan is to test the waters with her eyes on the future.
“I’m less interested in specific results and more just getting experience racing against the fastest skiers from all over the country,” says Gianniny.
The CBNT team has its second Junior National Qualifier race at Soldier Hollow, Utah January 17-18. Two weeks later they race in Aspen and then CB Nordic will host the third qualifier race of the Junior National Qualifier series February 15-16.
