CBNT closes out season at Junior Nationals

Three Nordic skiers represent Crested Butte

[  by Than Acuff  ]

It’s like clockwork for the Crested Butte Nordic Team (CBNT) as every year the Junior Nationals cross country ski championships happen, the CBNT is going to be there. This year three CBNT athletes, Finn Veit, Sawyer Ezzell and Oliver White, made the trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the Junior National championships March 7-12 as part of the Rocky Mountain Division (RMD) team, one of 10 division teams from throughout the U.S.

The three athletes all finished the RMD season in the top 12 of their respective age classes to make the team and were heading into the big show as ready as they could be.

“They all raced well at our last Junior National Qualifier race and then tapered for two weeks leading to Junior Nationals,” says coach Molly Susla. “We cut down on volume but kept up intensity.”

White is a first year u18 racer but was making his second appearance at Junior Nationals as he also qualified when he raced in the u16 age class. But for second year u16 age class racer Ezzell and first year u16 racer Veit, it was their first trip to the prestigious event.

And prestige was all part of the Junior National process as the week of racing began with an opening ceremony complete with words from former Nordic Olympians on Sunday, March 6. In addition, the athletes were met with a little rain that turned into a little snow that night on the two loops of man-made snow covered Nordic trails just outside of downtown Minneapolis.

“The venue is super high quality and they kept the trails in great condition,” says Susla.

The rest of the week the athletes battled cold and windy weather but persevered starting with the opening race on Monday, March 7, the individual start freestyle race.

Ezzell led the CBNT on the opening day as she skated her way through the five-kilometer course to a 30th place finish. Veit has a similarly solid showing coming in 40th place in his five-kilometer race and White closed out his first u18 Junior Nationals race on the 10-kilometer course to come in 87th.

Ezzell carried her momentum into the next race on Wednesday, March 9, the classic sprint races. The classic sprint event starts with a qualifier heat, from which only the top 30 advance. Ezzell posted an eighth-place finish in the opening qualifier heat.

“Eighth place in the qualifier is pretty mind blowing,” says Susla.

Ezzell did get bumped in a subsequent heat to miss the finals but still finished the day in 13th overall. Meanwhile Veit and White struggled to make it out of the qualifier round leaving them more time for recovery for the next race.

“Both of those guys are more distance skiers than sprinters,” says Susla.

Friday, March 11 was when athletes got their biggest test of vim and vigor in the Classic mass start race. Any mass start Nordic race is all out bedlam of skis and poles when the gun goes off and can make or break a skier before they even get going. Fortunately, the CBNT athletes escaped the potential carnage.

“It was a messy start for sure and some poles got broken but all of the Crested Butte kids managed to get out clean,” says Susla.

Ezzell made her way around the five-kilometer course in battling back and forth with numerous other skiers and ended up holding her own to finish in 24th place. Veit crossed the u16 line in 61st place and White placed 77th in his 10-kilometer race.

The week of racing wrapped up with the mixed team relay as each division puts together anywhere from three to five relay teams of two boys and two girls to compete against the other divisions. Ezzell’s RMD relay team finished the relay race in 10th place overall among the u16 teams to step onto the podium.

“She got her first Junior Nationals medal which is great,” says Susla. “She skied incredibly well all week.”

Veit’s RMD team placed 22nd and White’s u18 RMD team finished in 35th.

Overall, the event provided more for all of the CBNT athletes to experience and build off of as they look ahead to upcoming years of Nordic racing.

“I think it’s really cool for the kids to be in that environment,” says Susla. “They have to be on top of their own gear, handle their own warm ups and they’re racing against different kids. There’s so many new things thrown at them and they handled all of those factors really well.”

While the season is over and several of the CBNT skiers are on to new sports, Susla looks forward to building off of this past year during dry land training starting in the summer. Because, as is often said in the Nordic ski racing world, champions are made in the summer.