CB Nordic Team opens race season in Winter Park

“Some kids had great days, and some had tough days, but that’s ski racing”

By Than Acuff

Despite the snow situation around Colorado, the Crested Butte Nordic Team (CBNT) has been making the most of their training and opened the race season with their first Junior National Qualifier (JNQ) race on Saturday and Sunday, December 20-21 in Winter Park.

As is often the case, training for the Nordic season starts in the summer and second year head coach Gordon Gianniny had as many as seven athletes participating in dryland training from June to August. They then headed into their fall sports seasons with the high school and then reconvened as a team at the start of November with 11 athletes on the comp team and Gianniny at the helm with new assistant coach Carmen Soto.

“She’s been an awesome addition to the coaching staff, and I think the female athletes appreciate having a woman’s voice there,” says Gianniny.

Last year in November the team had one day of dryland training when they opened preseason workouts before getting on snow thanks to early season storms. This year has been quite different.

“It was a lot of roller skiing,” says Gianniny. “We’d roller ski one or two days a week and fill in the rest with running or even mountain biking.”

The snow did eventually come, and the kids managed to get some time on skis both here at home as well as a four-day camp on the Grand Mesa.

“Considering the conditions, training has been pretty good,” says Gianniny.

Their training was then put to the test last weekend and conditions at the Snow Mountain Ranch venue were more ranchy and less snowy, but still skiable. It just took a lot of scrambling for coaches and athletes as the course was a mile-and-a-half walk from the typical spot and subsequently, the waxing area was 20 minutes away from the start line.

“The most challenging thing for the coaches was the place to test out kick wax was out in the sun and the course was in the shade and that led to some struggles,” says Gianniny. “But at the end of the day, it was great to get in some racing.”

The weekend opened with interval start classic races on Saturday with the u20/u18 age group skiing a 7.5 course with a massive hill on the first half of the course and u16 skiers skiing five kilometers with that same hill causing problems given the wax station situation.

The strategy for the opening races varied among the nine CBNT athletes that made the race. With some having raced last year it was about dialing in specific race strategies and goals to set them up for a shot at Junior Nationals later in the season. For the new racers, the weekend was just a chance to test the waters and figure out racing in its entirety.

Sophia and Brie Bender were the two CBNT skiers in the u18 class. Sophia, who is typically stronger in sprints, had a great start to her final CBNT season placing 11^th overall, eighth among her high school racing peers.

“That was a really great season opening result for her,” says Gianniny.

Brie had taken some time away from racing, so she was getting back into the rhythm of racing in Winter Park and placed 28^th.

“That was solid for coming back to racing and she will find her rhythm at races later in the season,” says Gianniny.

Jayden Beyer was the lone u18 CBNT skier in the boys’ race and was his first Nordic JNQ event ever and was in a field of experienced racers as well as some collegiate racers back for the holidays.

“He got thrown right into the deep end, but his attitude was awesome,” says Gianniny. “You could see his running chops coming out on skis.”

Tazzy Pozner returns after a successful season last year when she qualified for Junior Nationals (JN). She placed 11^th in Winter Park and while it may not have been the result she hoped for, she did overcome some technical difficulties and she is in the mix already for a return to JNs.

“Her skis were not cooperating for her,” says Gianniny. “There’s lots to look forward to though. Once we get into the meat of the season, she’s going to be strong.”

Dari Spedden and Ali Johnson are both new to the u16 age class yet still placed 19^th and 20^th respectively having had strong fall seasons running cross-country.

For the u16 boys, Micah Hansen, Robert Spencer and Riley Thomson are all back after racing u16 last year with both Hansen and Spencer gunning for JNs. Hansen opened the 2026 race season with a 12^th place finish while Spencer placed 13^th putting them both in a great spot moving forward. Meanwhile, Thompson placed 24^th which is a jump up from his start last season.

“It was a huge result for Micah and great to see that progress from both of them,” says Gianniny.

The cold and windy Saturday for skiers then turned into a sunny warm day on Sunday bringing a host of new challenges with the course breaking down as the day went on. Not only that, but in a rare occurrence, both race days were distance races with u18 skiers competing in a 7.5-kilometer interval start skate race and the u16 skiers having a five-kilometer race in the same format.

“That was tough for the kids to deal with longer distances back-to-back on tough course conditions,” says Gianniny. “Some kids had great days, and some had tough days, but that’s ski racing.”

Sophia finished the day in 21^st place with Brie placing 30^th while Beyer continued to get his skis underneath him and showing great promise.

“He looked really good for a first-time racer,” says Gianniny. “It was a great weekend for him overall.”

Pozner dug deep in her race battling through some adversity to place 14^th while Spedden, known more as a classic racer, placed 20^th.

“It was great to see her out there crushing it in a skate race,” says Gianniny.

Johnson placed 23^rd in the girls’ race and the race of the day for the CBNT came from Hansen in the u16 boys’ race as he punched his way into the top 10 to place seventh.

“He’s really leveled up this year, and it puts him in a great spot for JNs,” says Gianniny.

Spencer placed 15^th setting him up for his goal to make it to JNs as well and Thomson finished 24^th.

The CBNT Devo team got their taste of racing too as five young guns made it to Winter Park and competed in the u12 and u14 races as well over the weekend.

“We have a ton of younger kids in our program and it’s exciting to see them start and hopefully come up through the program to the comp team,” says Gianniny.

The team takes a break now and returns to workouts on January 1. While the next JNQ isn’t until January 23-24, both Sophia and Brie will be traveling with the Western Colorado University Nordic team to Lake Placid, New York to race in Senior Nationals January 5-9.

“It’s an awesome opportunity for them to mix it up with some of the best skiers in the country,” says Gianniny. “We’re lucky to have Western taking them.”