The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Ultimately, the goal is to just get kids out skiing”
By Than Acuff
The race season for four athletes on the Crested Butte Nordic Team (CBNT) came to a close at Junior Nationals at Soldier Hollow, Utah March 10-15.
CBNT u18 athletes Finn Veit and Sophia Bender were slated to return to the big show as Veit has qualified all four years of his high school Nordic racing career and it would be Bender’s third trip to Junior Nationals. On the other side of the experience spectrum, it was the first trip for both u16 CBNT skiers Tazzy Pozner and Ben Larson. Both Pozner and Larson are first year u16 skiers, with Larson a u14 but skiing up an age class this season, and to make the cut was an accomplishment in and of itself.
“The u16 field is really strong in the Rocky Mountain Division and the fact that they made it is incredible,” says CBNT head coach Gordon Gianniny.
The week started off with some bad news though as Veit was hit with an illness preventing him from closing out his prolific high school Nordic career with one last Junior Nationals. Then when the athletes reached Soldier Hollow, they were met with additional bad news, the course.
“The conditions were pretty wild,” says Gianniny. “The courses were icy and fast in the morning and then it would get up to 50 degrees in the day. It was either bulletproof or ankle-deep slush.”
Bender was left to carry the CBNT colors in the u18 age class and she opened the week with a focus on the sprint event at the start but some eyes on the distance events as well.
“Her strongest race is the skate sprint but she’s quite good at the distance events too,” says Gianniny.
Bender opened the week with a 7.5-kilometer individual start classic race and battled through the conditions and the massive field to place 42nd overall, sixth amongst her Rocky Mountain Division (RMD) peers.
“All in all, looking at where she’d been finishing all season, it was a consistent result,” says Gianniny.
She then turned her attention to the skate sprint event. Bender’s goal was to finish top 30 in the sprint qualifier to get through to the heats, but the initial icy conditions proved tough to handle for all Rocky Mountain Division athletes as she missed the qualifier cut and placed sixth amongst the RMD skiers.
“That was just challenging for all of the RMD skiers,” says Gianniny. “We never see conditions like that.”
Bender then returned to the distance discipline to line up midpack in the wave start format for the 10-kilometer skate race with a total of 130 skiers in the mix making for the potential for chaos and crashes.
“The first thing I told her, and all of our racers in a race like that, is to be very patient at the start,” explains Gianniny. “Just make some space for yourself at the start and then move up throughout the race.”
Bender did just that skate skiing her way to a 44th place finish, sixth among RMD athletes. Bender closed out the week with a team mixed relay event and the team she was on finished ninth overall.
“She was pretty darn consistent throughout the week,” says Gianniny.
Pozner and Larson were on the “experience” tour at Junior Nationals. Pozner had a strong start to her high school racing career including reaching the podium at a race in Aspen, but she’s also been dealing with some breathing issues all season. Despite that, she still never gave up. And she fought through those same issues at Junior Nationals to open with a 39th place finish, fifth among the RMD skiers, in the classic interval start race.
“She struggled with her breathing throughout the race but even on a rough day, she’s able to put in a solid race,” says Gianniny.
She continued through the week with similarly solid and consistent results in the skate sprint, the 7.5-kilometer skate mass start race and finished with the team relay race.
“She said she felt the best on the skate day,” says Gianniny. “She just shows up every day and gives it a go. She’s never intimidated and that bodes well for her future in the sport.”
Larson was in the same boat as Pozner, taking it all in. While Pozner has a shot at three more Junior National events in her future, Larson has four more potential returns as he is just an eighth grader.
“It’s a huge step up for a u14 coming into the event,” says Gianniny.
Larson opened with the five-kilometer classic race placing 59th and then lined up for the skate sprint event two days later, with some hopes and goals in mind.
“If everything went perfectly, he had a shot at qualifying for the heats,” says Gianniny.
Larson finished 41st in the qualifier race so he did not make it into the heats, but it was still quite a day for the young gun.
“Being that close is right where he should be,” says Gianniny.
Larson went on to place 54th overall in the skate mass start race and then mixed in with skiers from other divisions for the closing day relay race.
“At this point we just want to keep his enthusiasm for racing alive and well,” says Gianniny. “Luckily, he has a great attitude about it.”
The team loses just Veit to graduation and looks to get a couple more joining the race team out of the DEVO squad for the 2025/2026 season.
“We have the rest of the comp team returning plus one or two from DEVO,” says Gianniny. “Ultimately, the goal is to just get kids out skiing. The future is bright for sure.”
