DWSF Nordic Awards

This past weekend the Durango Winter Sports Foundation hosted its annual DWSF Awards Dinner where each team awards a male and a female in the following categories:  MVP, Devo MVP, Sportsmanship, Most Improved, Rookie of the Year, and Volunteer of the Year.  Each of the coaches have input for who they would nominate for each award Please read below for information on this year’s winners from the Durango Nordic Ski Club

MVP:  This award goes out to the male and female who display the greatest success at a local, regional, national, and international level.  This year’s female winner is Hannah Peterson for her success throughout the year in the RMN JNQ race series as well as her performance at Junior Nationals.  Hannah’s peak came around at the right time as she won the last JNQ of the season, here at Durango, to secure her spot on the RMN JN Team.  At Junior Nationals Hannah reach All-American honors in each individual race by placing 9^th in the classic sprint, 8^th in the skate mass start, and 6^th in the classic individual start.  This year’s male winner was Cully Brown, who went undefeated in each RMN JNQ that he entered this winter.  Then, after enduring and operation on his appendix, had two All-American races at Junior Nationals, placing 3^rd in the classic sprint and 2^nd in the individual start classic race.

Devo MVP:  This is the second year of us having this award and it recognizes a male and a female from our development program, 13 years old and younger.  Similar to the MVP award, this is awarded to the junior male and female that demonstrates success at the local and regional level.  This year’s female award goes out to Jordan Taylor.  This season Jordan placed either 1^st or 2^nd at all of the RMN Colorado Cup races that she attended.  The male Devo MVP award goes to Wiley Corra, who was undefeated this season in the Colorado Cup race series.

Sportsmanship: This award goes to the male and female who exudes sportsmanship conduct.  This male and female displays graciousness in winning or losing and is always quick to congratulate their fellow teammates and competitors.  They lead by example and show up every day in order to give their all, either at practice or on race day.  This year’s female Sportsmanship award goes to Lily Oswald.  The male winner of the Sportsmanship award is Abe Ott.

Most Improved:  This award is presented to the male and female who displayed improvement throughout the ski season.  The female award this year is presented to Maggie Wigton for her continued improvement not just this year, but also over the past few years.  Maggie displayed continue improvement from the beginning of the season until her best races, the final RMN CO Cup races in Durango.  The male award is presented to John Rhoades.  John battled a lot of sickness this year, but through focused training still improved throughout the season, finishing it off with extremely strong races in Durango.

Rookie of the Year:  This award is presented to male and female skiers who are in their first year in our club.  It is based on their commitment to, and love of, the sport and how they represent themselves and our team at practice and events.  This year’s female award is presented to Ruby May.  Ruby is always up beat and cruising around on her skis.  She goes out of her way to talk with all ages of skiers on the team as well as coaches.  She is going to be a great ambassador of the sport.   The male award is presented to Carter Kileen.  Moving here from Wisconsin, this was the first year the Kileen family is part of our club, and we are lucky to have them.  Carter always brings a smile to practice and loves to race.  We are looking forward to many more years to come.

Volunteer of the Year:  These male and female awards are presented to volunteers to the club who help at events, fundraisers, races, and all other things Nordic.  This year’s female award is presented to Nancy Agro for all of her help with the Coke race series as well as our JNQ.  The male award is presented to Bill Rhoades for his timeless dedication to helping with the timing of all the Coke Races, Langlauf, as well as our JNQ.

Durango Nordic Athletes Return with Gold, Silver, and Bronze

From March 3^rd through March 11^th, 8 members of the Durango Nordic Ski Club were attending Junior Nationals held in Midway, UT at the Soldier Hollow Olympic Venue.  The trip we very successful for these athletes and the team returned home with 9 Individual All-American races, which is a top 10 finish, as well as a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals.

 

The racing kicked off on Monday March 5^th with Classic Sprints.  The format starts with a qualifier in the morning and then the head to head sprint heats in the afternoon.  The top 30 in each age group in the qualifier move on to the sprint heats in the afternoon.  In the J1 Boys class, Haakon Sigurslid placed 11^th and Sepp Kuss placed 63^rd.  In J2 Boys, Cully Brown had an All American finish, placing 3^rd and Charlie Greenberg placed 58^th.  In the J1 Girls class Rachel Hampton placed 14^th, Amy Katz placed 26^th, and Kaylee Blevins placed 38^th.  In the J2 Girls class Hannah Peterson also had an All American finish, placing 8^th.

The next race was a mass start freestyle event on Wednesday March 7^th.  The first group to race was the J2 Boys where Cull Brown placed 16^th and Charlie Greenberg placed 34^th.  Shortly following them was the J2 Girls race and Hannah Peterson from Durango had an All American race, placing 8^th.  In the J1 Boys race, Sepp Kuss placed 20^th and Haakon Sigurslid placed 27^th. In the J1 Girls race, Rachel Hampton had an All American finish, placing 9^th.  She was followed by teammate Amy Katz in 19^th and Kaylee Blevins in 53^rd.

The final individual race was an individual start classic race on Friday March 9^th.  The first group to start was the J1 Girls where DNSC athlete Rachel Hampton again had an All American race, finishing 7^th.  She was followed by her teammates Amy Katz in 19^th and Kaylee Blevins in 38^th.  Next to race were the J2 Girls where Hannah Peterson again had an All American finish placing 6^th.  In the J1 Boys class Haakon Sigurslid placed 19^th and Sepp Kuss placed 21^st. In the last race of the day, Cully Brown had another All American race, finishing 2^nd in his class.  He was followed by his teammate Charlie Greenberg in 49^th.  

The 2012 Junior Nationals ended with a team relay on Saturday March 10^th.  Charlie Greenberg was on the 8^th place J2 boys team and Cully Brown was on the 11^th place team.  In the J2 Girls relay, Hannah Peterson was on the 4^th place relay team.  In the J1 boys race, Haakon Sigurslid was on the 9^th place team and Sepp Kuss was on the 12^th place team.  In the J1 Girls race, Rachel Hampton was on the gold medal winning 1^st place team and Amy Katz was on the 10^th place team.  Kaylee Blevins skied up an age group to be on an OJ Girls team that finished 13^th. 

“This was a great Junior Nationals for both Durango athletes and the Rocky Mountain Division.” Said coach Josh Dalley.  “For most of us, we skied our best at Nationals when it really counted.  It was nice this year to have Nationals hosted in Utach at higher elevation and a race venue we are used to racing at.  I think this contributed a lot to the success of our team and Rocky Mountain’s 2^nd place overall finish"

8 Durango Athletes Skiing at Nationals

This past weekend the Durango Nordic Ski Club hosted the last two qualifiers in an eight race series to determine who will ski at USSA Junior Nationals next week.  The official team naming was done directly following the final race on Saturday.  Durango Nordic will send eight athletes to the week long series of races to be held at the Olympic Venue in Midturn, UT.  Congratulations to Kaylee Blevins, Cully Brown, Charlie Greenberg, Rachel Hampton, Amy Katz, Sepp Kuss, Hannah Peterson, and Haakon Sigurslid.

These skiers were named to the team following races at the Durango Mountain Nordic Center on Friday 2/24 and Saturday 2/25.  Friday everyone competed in a Classic technique Sprint Race.  The morning started off with a qualifier around the 1.2km course to determine the seeding for the head to head sprint heats later in the day.  In total, to make it to the final, the skiers will need to race around the course four times.  From Durango, Haakon Sigurslid won the J1 boys race, followed by Sepp Kuss in 10^th and Levi Kurlander in 12^th.  In the girls J1 field, DNSC was lead by Rachel Hampton in 2^nd, Amy Katz in 3^rd, Kaylee Blevins in 8^th, Lily Oswald in 13^th and Emma Greenberg in 16^th.  Charlie Greenberg lead the way for the J2 boys in 7^th place, followed by Abe Ott in 8^th, John Rhoades in 10^th, and Gordon Gianniny in 13^th.  In the J2 gils field, Hannah Peterson placed 5^th.  In J3 boys, Dylan Williamson placed 11^th, followed by Stan Ott in 12^th, Liam O’Neil in 14^th, Leo Bruell in 15^th, and Perrin Kileen in 16^th.  Marit May lead DNSC in the J3 females with a 6^th place finish.  She was followed by teammates Maggie Wigton in 7^th, Katja Freeburn in 8^th, Camryn Sippy in 10^th, and Hannah DeKay in 11^th.  Carter Kileen lead Durango in the J4 boys group with a 7^th place finish.  He was followed by Quinn Luthy in 10^th and Cobe Freeburn in 11^th.   Wiley Corra won the J5 boys race with his teammates Ethan Craig in 4^th, Mason James in 5^th, Jack Tescher in 6^th, and Wyatt Gober in 8^th.  Jordan Taylor placed 2^nd in the J5 girls race and Claudia Luthy was 5^th.  Cian O’Neil won the J6 boys race.  Durango’s Ruby May won the J6 girls race, followed by her sister in 2^nd.

Saturday was the final qualifier for the Junior Nationals.  J1 and older skiers race 10km around a grueling course.  J2’s race 5km, J3’s and J4’s raced 3km, and the J5’s and J6’s raced 1.2km.  Rachel Hampton of DNSC placed 1^st in the J1 girls group.  She was followed by her teammates Amy Katz in 4^th, Kaylee Blevins in 9^th, and Lily Oswald in 13^th.  Sepp Kuss lead Durango in the J1 boys race, placing 2^nd.  He was followed by Levi Kurlander in 12^th and Haakon Sigurslid in 15^th.  In the J2 girls race, Hannah Peterson of Durango finished strong to win her first race of the year.  In the J2 boys race, Charlie Greenberg place 7^th ahead of teammates John Rhoades in 8^th, Gordon Gianniny in 11^th, and Abe Ott in 13^th.  In the J3 girls race, Maggie Wigton was 4^th, Marit May was 6^th, Katja Freeburn was 8^th, and Camryn Sippy was 9^th.  Dylan Williamson lead Durango in the J3 boys category with a 10^th place finish.  He was followed by Stan Ott in 14^th, Perrin Kileen in 15^th, and Liam O’Neil in 20^th.  Carter Kileen placed 7^th in the J4 boys race, just ahead of teammates Cobe Freeburn in 10^th and Quinn Luthy in 14^th.  Jordan Taylor was again 2^nd in the J5 girls and Claudia Luthy was 6^th.  Wiley Corra edged out the competition to win the J5 boys race.  Teammates Ethan Craig was 4^th, Mason James was 6^th, Jack Tescher was 7^th, and Wyatt Gober was 8^th.  Ruby May again won the J6 girls and Cian O’Neil won the J6 boys.

“It is awesome to have the last RMN qualifier on our home course” said Head Coach Josh Dalley.  “We get to train on these trails everyday, so racing well on them comes naturally.  I’m very proud of how all DNSC athletes preformed this weekend as well as all of our volunteers.” 

Olympic Venue Strength - Western Super Qualifier

The Durango Nordic Ski Club took part in a weekend of racing at Soldier Hollow in Midway, UT, the 2002 Olympic ski trails.  The event is named the Western Super Qualifier and it is the largest junior cross country ski race in the nation.  Taking place on January 27^th and 28^th and drawing in teams from the pacific coast to the Mississippi River, there were over 650 competitors for this past weekend’s races.  Durango Nordic Ski Club had 31 racers competing with ages ranging from 6 to 17.  “We were very excited to be there racing at Soldier Hollow again this year” said coach Josh Dalley.  “It is always the best venue we attend each year, as well as the largest and most competitive fields.  This year there is an added bonus to the race, as we will be back here in March for Junior Nationals.”

After hard rain on Thursday afternoon, the all man-made snow race trail were groomed into shape for the classic technique sprints that they would host that day.  In sprint racing, the top 30 in each age group move on to the elimination heats where they go head to head in heats of 6 racers.  From each heat, the top few skiers will move on to the next round.  The boys were the first around the 1.2km course, setting an early pace.  From Durango, Haakon Sigursld qualified in 3^rd in the J1/OJ group, Sepp Kuss placed 45^th, and Levi Kurlander placed 79^th in a field of 124 racers.  The next group to go was the J2 boys (14-15 year old) and Durango’s Cully Brown set a tough mark to beat, qualifying 1^st.  He was followed by teammates Charlie Greenberg in 28^th, John Rhoades in 39^th, Abe Ott in 40^th, and Gordon Gianniny in 53^rd.  Next the girls were up for qualifying and Rachel Hampton lead the way for Durango Nordic, placing 14^th.  She was followed by Amy Katz in 20^th, Kaylee Blevins in 35^th, and Lily Oswald in 40^th.  Hannah Peterson qualified 15^th in the J2 girls division.  After the qualifier, DNSC had 6 skiers that would move on to the heats in the afternoon.  Again the boys went first, and Haakon Sigurslid skied strong through the rounds, making at 6^th place finish overall in the A final.  Cully Brown showed his strength and ski handling skills, winning each heat on the way to an A Final victory.  Charlie Greenberg was eliminated in his quarter final and would place 29^th on the day.  The girls were up next, but after tough battles to the line, Hampton, Katz, and Peterson would not advance past the quarterfinals.

Beyond the sprint racing for the older athletes, Friday also saw a lot of great racing by the younger age groups.  Starting Durango off with a podium was Ruby May, who placed 3^rd in the J6 female category. The momentum continued as Wiley Corra took 1^st in the J5 male category.  He was followed by teammates Ethan Craig in 9^th, Mason James in 10^th, Quincy Buickerood in 11^th, and Wyatt Gober in 15^th.  Jordan Taylor brought another podium home to Durango, placing 2^nd in the J5 female group.  Racing in the J4 male category was Cobe Freeburn and Carter Kileen of Durango, who placed 9^th and 15^th respectively.  Skiing two laps of the sprint loop, leading the way for Durango in the J3 male group was Dylan Williamson in 31^st place.  He was followed by teammates Stanton Ott in 35^th, Leo Bruell in 41^st, and Perrin Kileen in 42^nd.  Marit May of Durango placed 12^th in the J3 female group.  She was followed by her teammates Katja Freeburn in 20^th, Maggie Wigton in 24^th, and Camryn Sippy in 36^th. 

DNSC woke up the next morning to chilling temps and a rock hard race course.  This time the technique would be freestyle and younger racers would get to race before the older one who will race a longer distance.  Ruby May again started it off right with a 3^rd place finish in the J6 females.  As did Wiley Corra, who again won his race in the J5 males.  Corra was followed by teammates Quincy Buickerood in 10^th, Ethan Craig in 11^th,  Jack Tescher in 13^th, Mason James in 14^th, and Wyatt Gober in 17^th.  Jordan Taylor again placed 2^nd among the J5 females.  In the J4 males, Cobe Freeburn lead the way for Durango in 13^th, followed by Carter Kileen in 16^th.  In the J3 male group, Dylan Williamson placed 25^th, Perrin Kileen place 34^th, Leo Bruell placed 40^th, and Stanton Ott placed 41^st.  In the J3 female group, Katja Freeburn had an outstanding race, placing 8^th.  She was followed by Maggie Wigton in 16^th, Marit May in 2^nd, and Camryn Sippy in 29^th.  Next to race were the male J2’s, which turned out to be a tough head to head battle among the top 3 thoughout the 5km course.  Coming to the finish line neck and neck, Cully Brown placed 3^rd. He was followed by Charlie Greenberg in 15^th, John Rhoades in 35^th, Abe Ott in 29^th, and Gordon Gianniny in 46^th.  Hannah Peterson, placing 10^th, was the next to race in the J2 female group.  As the distances increased, the J1/OJ females were next.  Rachel Hampton placed 7^th overall, followed by Amy Katz in 15^th, Kaylee Blevins in 30^th, and Lily Oswald in 31^st.  The last race of the day was J1/OJ males, skiing a 15km course with 126 racers.  Sepp Kuss had an amazing race, placing 16^th.  He was followed by Haakon Sigurslid in 31^st, and Levi Kurlander in 86^th.

“This weekend was a huge success for us as a club.” said Dalley “Not only did we show our strength among the top competitors in the nation, but we also proved that we have serious racers in middle who are moving up in their standings as the season goes on.  And we have this amazing group of young superstars who going to be following right in their tracks.  Now we are focusing our training and looking toward the Durango JNQ we host and being back here at Soldier Hollow in March for Junior Nationals”