The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Kai Sherman punches ticket in final weekend of races
It’s not like first year J2 skier Kai Sherman wasn’t going to qualify for Junior Nationals, he just had not raced enough this season to make it official. So, there was a modicum of pressure on Sherman when he and the Crested Butte Nordic Team (CBNT) headed to Durango for the final Junior National Qualifier race of the season March 2-3.
“He just needed to have two good solid races,” says Nordic team coach Austin Ross.
In the end, Sherman did what needed to be done and will be joining J1 age class teammates Forrest Smith and Prawit Durgan at the Nordic Junior Nationals in Fairbanks, Alaska March 11-16.
It was a great close to the regular season for the CBNT with 10 athletes making the trip and all posting strong results under the hot Durango sun.
The weekend opened with a skate sprint on Saturday forcing skiers to punch it as hard as they can off the start line and redline for a little over one kilometer. Do well and you move on to the next round to do it all over again.
Smith made it all the way to the semifinals before getting knocked out and finishing his day placing 11th overall. Durgan made it through to the quarterfinals before getting dropped and finishing in 20th.
“To see Forrest make it into the semis was pretty good,” says Ross.
Sherman took a big first step toward qualifying for the big show when he made it all the way through to the skate sprint finals to finish in fifth place. J2 skier Benjamin Swift finished in 23rd.
The CBNT J3 contingent of Woody Martineau, Turner Peterson, Ian Eldridge and Cayden Fiala all kept it close with each other as Martineau finished the day in 11th, Peterson in 13th, Eldridge taking 14th and Fiala finishing in 19th place.
The top showings for the CBNT came from the youngest athletes on the team though as J4 skiers Sevy Peterson and Robbie Oberling both made it through to the final heat. Peterson had not raced since the first race of the season in January and showed up to post a fourth place finish with Oberling right behind him in fifth.
The skiers then lined up Sunday for classic mass start races with J1 and J2 skiers going charging for five kilometers and all others racing for three kilometers.
Typically the older skiers go for 10 kilometers so they had to adjust their strategy to the shorter distance.
“In a race that short they have to get out and go for it from the start,” says Ross.
Smith followed the plan to finish in ninth with a time of 12 minutes, 30 seconds.
Durgan suffered at the hands of his wax technicians as he found more kick than he wanted on the bottom of his skis holding him back all race long to finish in 25th.
“That was not entirely his fault, he had a sticky pair of skis,” says Ross. “That sort of falls on my shoulders.”
Sherman punched his ticket to Junior Nationals with a seventh place finish while Swift placed 23rd.
Meanwhile, the J3 CBNT skiers all finished together ranging from 12th to 17th place and Oberling took seventh while Turner placed ninth among J4 racers.
“It was a last hurrah for the younger skiers and I think they raced as well as they have raced all season,” says Ross.
The team ended up in eighth place overall in the overall Colorado Cup standings.
While Smith and Durgan have been to Junior Nationals before, this is their first year racing in the J1 division, which can be an eye-opener.
“You have to go in expecting a learning experience,” says Ross. “For them it’s about seeing what they need to do next year if they want to be at the top.”
This same is true for Sherman but more so as this will be his first Junior National race ever.
“My hope is that Kai will have some success that will motivate him to work even harder next year,” says Ross.
