Crested Butte Nordic Team battles in Junior National Qualifier in Frisco

Three down, one to go for Junior National qualification

By Than Acuff 

It’s getting down to the wire in Junior Nationals qualification season for the Crested Butte Nordic Team (CBNT) with three Junior National Qualifiers (JNQ) now completed and one more left to go.

The team headed to Frisco Saturday and Sunday, February 7-8 for their latest JNQ and for the first time all season, coach Gordon Gianniny was looking at a full race crew of 11 skiers ready to compete. But as the first race day drew near and the race weekend continued, CBNT athletes started dropping.

The weekend of racing started with a mass start Classic race. Mass starts are chaotic by nature, and this one was especially so as warm temps made for soft conditions. As a result, Gianniny made a point to remind his athletes of the plan going in.

“There’s always a lot going on in mass starts so we talk a lot about being patient,” says Gianniny. “There’s plenty of time in the race to make moves later on with less risk.”

U18 skier Sophia Bender is a sprinter by trade, which Gianniny believes played out well for her in the mass start format as she moved her way into the lead group through the first two laps. The leaders pulled away from the field during the third lap, but Bender remained in the zone to cross in ninth place.

“She had a really solid Classic day,” says Gianniny. “It was her best distance race of the season.”

Her sister Brie Bender took time away from racing last year, so she used the day to reacquaint herself with mass start distance racing and crossed the line in 21^st place.

Tazzy Pozner had a race to remember among the u16 skiers. Pozner has been on quite a tear recently, but she fell victim to the chaos and conditions crashing a total of three times, including losing a pole, throughout the race. But each time she picked herself back up and pushed through to cross the line in 10^th place.

“For a challenging day, she skied super well,” says Gianniny.

U16 teammate Ali Johnson continues to gain momentum and skied her way to a 16^th place finish while Dari Spedden fell victim to the course and crashed but still managed to cross in 20^th place in her first mass start race experience.

“The warm and weird conditions caused a lot of crashes throughout the day,” says Gianniny.

Jayden Beyer skis in the u18 age class in his first year of racing and also fell victim to the conditions with a couple of crashes but toughed it out to finish in 27^th. U16 skier Micah Hansen has been having a strong season but an injury the day before the weekend forced him to sit out the race Saturday, so Robert Spencer led the way for the u16 CBNT boys’ crew to come in 18th.

“He’s still battling back from being sick and building toward the last JNQ,” says Gianniny.

Riley Thomson finished 20^th, Noah Lockman 26^th and Larkin Lockhard placed 27^th in the u16 age group.

Then illness and injury set in for the CBNT leaving them with just seven athletes to race in the individual start skate race on Sunday. Sophia and Brie remained on track for their results throughout the season with Sophia placing 12^th and Brie 23^rd. Pozner was on the cusp of illness but slid up to the u16 starting line and proceeded to ski her way to a ninth-place finish while Johnson finished in 18^th place.

“For Tazzy to have a mediocre day and still be in the top 10 is impressive,” says Gianniny. “Ali had a great weekend overall and is making huge steps tech-wise.”

Hansen lined up on Sunday and gritted his way to an 11^th place result while Spencer finished 13^th.

Their last JNQ of the season is in Aspen February 21-22 and Sophia, Pozner and Hansen are all looking good to qualify for Junior Nationals while Spencer still has some catching up to do after being sick. The good news is, the Aspen race includes a sprint, Spencer’s strongest event.

“He’s on the bubble but the sprint really suits his skill set,” says Gianniny.