FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

  • Last Day on the Dachstein

  • Last Day on the Dachstein

  • Last Day on the Dachstein

  • Last Day on the Dachstein

  • Fairbanks

    Myself and a couple of friends/ex-teammates decided to drive up to Fairbanks for the weekend and enjoy some of the early snow. Today was our first day here and we are very impressed with the conditions. Just got back from a 2 and a half hour classic ski. Check out the pictures;

    Leaving town…
    Very scenic drive.. On a clean day you can see Mt. McKinley 

    Pitt stop
    Breakfast… its kind of dark here in AK
    We are staying at a friends place at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Free housing is always nice!
     This is Birch Hill Recreational Area. They had 30 kilometers of groomed trails. We skied 2 and half hours and didn’t ski any of the same trails. 

     Left to right…Lukas Ebner (UAA), Erik Soderstrom (UAF), and Lasse Molgaard-Nielson (UAA)..

  • Female Long Distance Specialist – Majdic Follow-Up

    A commenter noted that it was interesting that Petra Majdic showed up as being “statistically significantly” better at longer distance races (as opposed to sprint races), although just barely.

    It turns out this is a good example of the statistical concept of leverage. Check out the following graph that compares skiers at each end of the statistically significant group I highlighted in my last post:

    Johaug was near the top of the list and Majdic just barely snuck in at the bottom. What’s going on here is that the “standard” distances, 10-15km don’t have much of an effect on the model. But really short distances (5k or Prologues) and really long distances (30km and up) exert more leverage on the regression line.

    So Johaug hasn’t done terribly well in Prologues, but has done well in 30k’s. Conversely, Majdic doesn’t have quite as extreme a split between those two race lengths. It is true that basically all of Majdic’s results at 30km+ are classic races (big surprise!) and she is quite the classic specialist. So it could be that despite attempting to control for technique in my model I haven’t quite entirely removed technique as a confounding factor in Majdic’s case.

    Related posts:

    1. <La Clusaz Recap: Distance Mass Start
    2. <Career Retrospective: Petra Majdic
    3. <Erling Jevne: The Greatest Classic Specialist?


  • Stonegrinding Batches Happening Weekly at Cyclova XC!

    Our Customized Wintersteiger Micro 100 machine is safe and sound in it’s new home at Cyclova XC in St. Croix Falls, WI – and ready to grind your skis!

    The racks are full of amazing new skis, snow is on the mind, and it’s now officially “stonegrinding season”!  
    We have had a steady trickle of skis coming in for stonegrinding since opening our doors on October 1, but beginning tomorrow, we are

  • Stonegrinding Batches Happening Weekly at Cyclova XC!

    Our Customized Wintersteiger Micro 100 machine is safe and sound in it’s new home at Cyclova XC in St. Croix Falls, WI – and ready to grind your skis!

    The racks are full of amazing new skis, snow is on the mind, and it’s now officially “stonegrinding season”!  
    We have had a steady trickle of skis coming in for stonegrinding since opening our doors on October 1, but beginning tomorrow, we are

  • Stonegrinding Batches Happening Weekly at Cyclova XC!

    Our Customized Wintersteiger Micro 100 machine is safe and sound in it’s new home at Cyclova XC in St. Croix Falls, WI – and ready to grind your skis!

    The racks are full of amazing new skis, snow is on the mind, and it’s now officially “stonegrinding season”!  
    We have had a steady trickle of skis coming in for stonegrinding since opening our doors on October 1, but beginning tomorrow, we are

  • Recovering in the Mountains

    One of the worst things that can happen to an athlete during training camp is to catch a cold. Red leaves and the promise of snow in the future also bring around the common cold. Combined with tougher training in preparation for racing season and sickness can be tricky to avoid. Three days in to our second week of high altitude fall training camp I found myself with an itchy throat and a water faucet for a nose.

    For many people the common cold is simply a nuisance but for an athlete it can be a big deal. During the racing season when I get a cold I generally take time off from training until I feel I have recovered, however since it is only October I decided to try and train through my head cold. The risk in training through your cold is that it can move from your head to your chest and then go from days to weeks before you recover.

    I am very fortunate to have my teammate and wife, Caitlin
    to help take care of me at home and on the road.

    I backed off my weekly training load by decreasing the intensity in my workouts. I think the blood moving around in my body when I trained at a distance pace and heart rate actually helped flush some of the sickness out of me.
    It is hard at training camp to ski easy and slow when your teammates and friends are working hard in intervals and time trials but the patience paid off. I woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful fall day and the ability to breath out of my nose.

    Noah, Caitlin and Mikey and I set off for a nice long run in the mountains.

    One of my favorite things to do in addition to ski racing is to run, hike and climb in the mountains. I grew up in the Cascades of Washington and my passion for the mountains has for the most part been put on hold as I pursue my ski racing goals and dreams. I am grateful for the opportunities I do get throughout the year to play in the mountains and train for skiing.

    The mountains have always had a rejuvenating effect on me.
    I finished our run on Saturday tired but feeling healthy and fresh.

     

  • Recovering in the Mountains

    One of the worst things that can happen to an athlete during training camp is to catch a cold. Red leaves and the promise of snow in the future also bring around the common cold. Combined with tougher training in preparation for racing season and sickness can be tricky to avoid. Three days in to our second week of high altitude fall training camp I found myself with an itchy throat and a water faucet for a nose.

    For many people the common cold is simply a nuisance but for an athlete it can be a big deal. During the racing season when I get a cold I generally take time off from training until I feel I have recovered, however since it is only October I decided to try and train through my head cold. The risk in training through your cold is that it can move from your head to your chest and then go from days to weeks before you recover.

    I am very fortunate to have my teammate and wife, Caitlin
    to help take care of me at home and on the road.

    I backed off my weekly training load by decreasing the intensity in my workouts. I think the blood moving around in my body when I trained at a distance pace and heart rate actually helped flush some of the sickness out of me.
    It is hard at training camp to ski easy and slow when your teammates and friends are working hard in intervals and time trials but the patience paid off. I woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful fall day and the ability to breath out of my nose.

    Noah, Caitlin and Mikey and I set off for a nice long run in the mountains.

    One of my favorite things to do in addition to ski racing is to run, hike and climb in the mountains. I grew up in the Cascades of Washington and my passion for the mountains has for the most part been put on hold as I pursue my ski racing goals and dreams. I am grateful for the opportunities I do get throughout the year to play in the mountains and train for skiing.

    The mountains have always had a rejuvenating effect on me.
    I finished our run on Saturday tired but feeling healthy and fresh.

     

  • Recovering in the Mountains

    One of the worst things that can happen to an athlete during training camp is to catch a cold. Red leaves and the promise of snow in the future also bring around the common cold. Combined with tougher training in preparation for racing season and sickness can be tricky to avoid. Three days in to our second week of high altitude fall training camp I found myself with an itchy throat and a water faucet for a nose.

    For many people the common cold is simply a nuisance but for an athlete it can be a big deal. During the racing season when I get a cold I generally take time off from training until I feel I have recovered, however since it is only October I decided to try and train through my head cold. The risk in training through your cold is that it can move from your head to your chest and then go from days to weeks before you recover.

    I am very fortunate to have my teammate and wife, Caitlin
    to help take care of me at home and on the road.

    I backed off my weekly training load by decreasing the intensity in my workouts. I think the blood moving around in my body when I trained at a distance pace and heart rate actually helped flush some of the sickness out of me.
    It is hard at training camp to ski easy and slow when your teammates and friends are working hard in intervals and time trials but the patience paid off. I woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful fall day and the ability to breath out of my nose.

    Noah, Caitlin and Mikey and I set off for a nice long run in the mountains.

    One of my favorite things to do in addition to ski racing is to run, hike and climb in the mountains. I grew up in the Cascades of Washington and my passion for the mountains has for the most part been put on hold as I pursue my ski racing goals and dreams. I am grateful for the opportunities I do get throughout the year to play in the mountains and train for skiing.

    The mountains have always had a rejuvenating effect on me.
    I finished our run on Saturday tired but feeling healthy and fresh.

     

  • Recovering in the Mountains

    One of the worst things that can happen to an athlete during training camp is to catch a cold. Red leaves and the promise of snow in the future also bring around the common cold. Combined with tougher training in preparation for racing season and sickness can be tricky to avoid. Three days in to our second week of high altitude fall training camp I found myself with an itchy throat and a water faucet for a nose.

    For many people the common cold is simply a nuisance but for an athlete it can be a big deal. During the racing season when I get a cold I generally take time off from training until I feel I have recovered, however since it is only October I decided to try and train through my head cold. The risk in training through your cold is that it can move from your head to your chest and then go from days to weeks before you recover.

    I am very fortunate to have my teammate and wife, Caitlin
    to help take care of me at home and on the road.

    I backed off my weekly training load by decreasing the intensity in my workouts. I think the blood moving around in my body when I trained at a distance pace and heart rate actually helped flush some of the sickness out of me.
    It is hard at training camp to ski easy and slow when your teammates and friends are working hard in intervals and time trials but the patience paid off. I woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful fall day and the ability to breath out of my nose.

    Noah, Caitlin and Mikey and I set off for a nice long run in the mountains.

    One of my favorite things to do in addition to ski racing is to run, hike and climb in the mountains. I grew up in the Cascades of Washington and my passion for the mountains has for the most part been put on hold as I pursue my ski racing goals and dreams. I am grateful for the opportunities I do get throughout the year to play in the mountains and train for skiing.

    The mountains have always had a rejuvenating effect on me.
    I finished our run on Saturday tired but feeling healthy and fresh.

     

  • Beautiful Day for a Classic Ski

    This afternoon the team did a nice classic ski out to the town of Stratton. Despite the morning being overcast and rainy, the weather cleared in time for practice and we had great, somewhat warm weather for training. The boys skied in one big pack and the girls were in two smaller packs, but everyone stuck close together and enjoyed a nice, relaxed ski.

    Gino, Paddy, & Hamish stride up the hill into the town of Stratton.
    Charlie looking smooth.
    Corky, Calvin, and Murph.
    We had the team stop 6K into the ski and worked on some arm and leg swings – reminding everyone to ski smooth, relax their shoulders, and maintain an athletic body position.
    Rizio looking good.
    The boys skied in a big pack this afternoon.
    Gino & Hamish.
    Corky.
    Boys team near the top of the Stratton Arlington Road.
    Brooke, Issy, Anika & Mollie striding to the top.
    Tess & Kate – skiing and chatting. : )
    Boys team – cruising.
    Girls – heading for home.

  • Getting Faster, Do It If You Can

    It’s a busy time of year here at school — tonight is the premier of the school play, “Cats,” that stars three of our nordies: Devlin, Kaitlin, and Ryley.  I’ve been busying myself helping with odd jobs around the stage and music pit, and Evan and Hans took a trip down south to visit college and check up on alum, Elena Luethi!

    On the training side — our training is literally speeding up — almost every session has some component of agility and speed and we are averaging two to three “quality” sessions a week.  Yesterday was an easy session ski walking up Mad River Glen with poles.  MK, Heidi, and I followed the work road at a steady cadence, focusing on using the upper body and stepping off a flat foot.  Journeys up Mad River at this time of year are important to local skiers — a right of passage for a good winter — something along the lines of appeasing the snow gods.

    The chill of winter hasn’t reached the top of the Green Mountain Ridge yet, and last year we had already skied a few days by now … but as we reached the ridge the only precip was liquid.  After a quick switch into a dry bottom layer in the Stark’s Nest Lodge we entered into what seemed like an already cooled environ with a strong northerly wind.  Feeling inspired and searching for soft ground to descend upon, we took a detour on the way down to explore the “20th Hole,” a not-so-secret out-of-bounds trail on the skiers right side of the mountain.

    Rafter found a little hole of his own.

    Running on soft ground like the mossy ski runs of Mad River is a great way to reduce impact on joints and very good for agility.  It is important for athletes to have multi-directional and stabilizing exercise to compliment the more common forms of in-line training we conduct on a daily basis.  Not to mention it always makes you feel a bit more rugged when you’re soaked and muddy–just make sure you have some dry layers to chance into immediately post workout!!

    ————————————–
    Today we started the workout by watching video of perhaps the most rugged cross-country skier to ever live — Vegard Ulvang.  We watched him bound in the Norwegian Tundra, making strong and dynamic motions, and seemingly float up the hills.  There was also a clip of Pal Gunnar Mikkelsplass, which noted that good bounding is just like good skiing, where the center of your body’s mass stays above your feet.  We took to the woods with all this in mind.
    After a twenty minute warm-up, I met the girls and we did some contrasting technique work — trying first to take large powerful bounds (a little more “old school”) and then more upright (think Axel Teichmann) bounds where you might get the feeling of “floating’ up the hill.  The flavor of the workout was natural intensity, or fartleks, involving four short pitches on an approximately one kilometer loop.  I set up cones to denote the zones where the girls would bound at full effort, which were interspersed by sections where they would jog and recover before getting to the next set of cones.  The idea being to allow for super fast efforts while maintaining a sense of overall composure because of the recovery zones.  Today the goal was 30 minutes of continuous effort.
    On a bigger scale this workout is a part of increased intensity and on-foot training this fall.  We are in the fourth week of a cycle of coming back from altitude in Italy — next week (week five out) we are trying to feel really good.  This is a test run of our next altitude block, where we are in West Yellowstone five weeks before US Nationals and Junior Trials.  It takes some getting used to to train at altitude and time to “feel” good after a solid session up high.
    Today Heidi and MK were attacking the hills with an intensity I haven’t seen from them yet this year.  It seems like good timing for a testing week and we’re looking forward to getting the whole gang back together and knocking it out of the park.  Who knows maybe that hard work will pay off and we’ll see some snow!!

  • Getting Faster, Do It If You Can

    It’s a busy time of year here at school — tonight is the premier of the school play, “Cats,” that stars three of our nordies: Devlin, Kaitlin, and Ryley.  I’ve been busying myself helping with odd jobs around the stage and music pit, and Evan and Hans took a trip down south to visit college and check up on alum, Elena Luethi!

    On the training side — our training is literally speeding up — almost every session has some component of agility and speed and we are averaging two to three “quality” sessions a week.  Yesterday was an easy session ski walking up Mad River Glen with poles.  MK, Heidi, and I followed the work road at a steady cadence, focusing on using the upper body and stepping off a flat foot.  Journeys up Mad River at this time of year are important to local skiers — a right of passage for a good winter — something along the lines of appeasing the snow gods.

    The chill of winter hasn’t reached the top of the Green Mountain Ridge yet, and last year we had already skied a few days by now … but as we reached the ridge the only precip was liquid.  After a quick switch into a dry bottom layer in the Stark’s Nest Lodge we entered into what seemed like an already cooled environ with a strong northerly wind.  Feeling inspired and searching for soft ground to descend upon, we took a detour on the way down to explore the “20th Hole,” a not-so-secret out-of-bounds trail on the skiers right side of the mountain.

    Rafter found a little hole of his own.

    Running on soft ground like the mossy ski runs of Mad River is a great way to reduce impact on joints and very good for agility.  It is important for athletes to have multi-directional and stabilizing exercise to compliment the more common forms of in-line training we conduct on a daily basis.  Not to mention it always makes you feel a bit more rugged when you’re soaked and muddy–just make sure you have some dry layers to chance into immediately post workout!!

    ————————————–
    Today we started the workout by watching video of perhaps the most rugged cross-country skier to ever live — Vegard Ulvang.  We watched him bound in the Norwegian Tundra, making strong and dynamic motions, and seemingly float up the hills.  There was also a clip of Pal Gunnar Mikkelsplass, which noted that good bounding is just like good skiing, where the center of your body’s mass stays above your feet.  We took to the woods with all this in mind.
    After a twenty minute warm-up, I met the girls and we did some contrasting technique work — trying first to take large powerful bounds (a little more “old school”) and then more upright (think Axel Teichmann) bounds where you might get the feeling of “floating’ up the hill.  The flavor of the workout was natural intensity, or fartleks, involving four short pitches on an approximately one kilometer loop.  I set up cones to denote the zones where the girls would bound at full effort, which were interspersed by sections where they would jog and recover before getting to the next set of cones.  The idea being to allow for super fast efforts while maintaining a sense of overall composure because of the recovery zones.  Today the goal was 30 minutes of continuous effort.
    On a bigger scale this workout is a part of increased intensity and on-foot training this fall.  We are in the fourth week of a cycle of coming back from altitude in Italy — next week (week five out) we are trying to feel really good.  This is a test run of our next altitude block, where we are in West Yellowstone five weeks before US Nationals and Junior Trials.  It takes some getting used to to train at altitude and time to “feel” good after a solid session up high.
    Today Heidi and MK were attacking the hills with an intensity I haven’t seen from them yet this year.  It seems like good timing for a testing week and we’re looking forward to getting the whole gang back together and knocking it out of the park.  Who knows maybe that hard work will pay off and we’ll see some snow!!

  • Getting Faster, Do It If You Can

    It’s a busy time of year here at school — tonight is the premier of the school play, “Cats,” that stars three of our nordies: Devlin, Kaitlin, and Ryley.  I’ve been busying myself helping with odd jobs around the stage and music pit, and Evan and Hans took a trip down south to visit college and check up on alum, Elena Luethi!

    On the training side — our training is literally speeding up — almost every session has some component of agility and speed and we are averaging two to three “quality” sessions a week.  Yesterday was an easy session ski walking up Mad River Glen with poles.  MK, Heidi, and I followed the work road at a steady cadence, focusing on using the upper body and stepping off a flat foot.  Journeys up Mad River at this time of year are important to local skiers — a right of passage for a good winter — something along the lines of appeasing the snow gods.

    The chill of winter hasn’t reached the top of the Green Mountain Ridge yet, and last year we had already skied a few days by now … but as we reached the ridge the only precip was liquid.  After a quick switch into a dry bottom layer in the Stark’s Nest Lodge we entered into what seemed like an already cooled environ with a strong northerly wind.  Feeling inspired and searching for soft ground to descend upon, we took a detour on the way down to explore the “20th Hole,” a not-so-secret out-of-bounds trail on the skiers right side of the mountain.

    Rafter found a little hole of his own.

    Running on soft ground like the mossy ski runs of Mad River is a great way to reduce impact on joints and very good for agility.  It is important for athletes to have multi-directional and stabilizing exercise to compliment the more common forms of in-line training we conduct on a daily basis.  Not to mention it always makes you feel a bit more rugged when you’re soaked and muddy–just make sure you have some dry layers to chance into immediately post workout!!

    ————————————–
    Today we started the workout by watching video of perhaps the most rugged cross-country skier to ever live — Vegard Ulvang.  We watched him bound in the Norwegian Tundra, making strong and dynamic motions, and seemingly float up the hills.  There was also a clip of Pal Gunnar Mikkelsplass, which noted that good bounding is just like good skiing, where the center of your body’s mass stays above your feet.  We took to the woods with all this in mind.
    After a twenty minute warm-up, I met the girls and we did some contrasting technique work — trying first to take large powerful bounds (a little more “old school”) and then more upright (think Axel Teichmann) bounds where you might get the feeling of “floating’ up the hill.  The flavor of the workout was natural intensity, or fartleks, involving four short pitches on an approximately one kilometer loop.  I set up cones to denote the zones where the girls would bound at full effort, which were interspersed by sections where they would jog and recover before getting to the next set of cones.  The idea being to allow for super fast efforts while maintaining a sense of overall composure because of the recovery zones.  Today the goal was 30 minutes of continuous effort.
    On a bigger scale this workout is a part of increased intensity and on-foot training this fall.  We are in the fourth week of a cycle of coming back from altitude in Italy — next week (week five out) we are trying to feel really good.  This is a test run of our next altitude block, where we are in West Yellowstone five weeks before US Nationals and Junior Trials.  It takes some getting used to to train at altitude and time to “feel” good after a solid session up high.
    Today Heidi and MK were attacking the hills with an intensity I haven’t seen from them yet this year.  It seems like good timing for a testing week and we’re looking forward to getting the whole gang back together and knocking it out of the park.  Who knows maybe that hard work will pay off and we’ll see some snow!!

  • Title #12, Sweetest of them all for Park City Miner XC?


    From the Deseret News By Steve Mundee
    SALT LAKE CITY — Considering that Park City has now won nine out of the past 10 state titles in cross country it sounds weird to say that the Miners were surprised to win the title again this year. However, that is the case with nationally ranked, No. 13 Ogden, competing.

    “Nobody believed we could do it. I’m not even sure I believed it,” said Park City coach Jeff Wyant. “These girls rose up.”

    Wyant has led the Miners to 12 total state titles during his tenure at Park City, but says that this year was one of the sweetest because they weren’t expected to win the race. Wyant is also quick to credit the athletes for the program’s continued strength.

    “We train hard and we’ve been lucky getting girls who want to win,” he said.

    Alisse Walker and Annie Orr finished ninth and 10th, respectively. All seven Park City runners finished in the top 20, and they all finished within a 34-second window.

    Ogden’s team fell to third place, behind Pine View.

    However, the Tigers saw athletes finish one and two individually in the race. Jamie Stokes took first place by a comfortable margin with teammate Sarah Feeny crossing the line next.

    “It’s been my goal for a long time,” said Stokes. “I can’t believe it actually happened.”

    She was the leader for nearly the entire race, winning with a 23-second margin.

    “I didn’t want to leave the race up to chance,” she said.

    3A Boys

    Ogden edged Park City to grab their first state title since 2007.

    “There is not a senior in the group, and they were hungry,” said Ogden coach Dan Hall.

    The Tigers were comprised of two juniors, three sophomores, and a freshman. When asked the secret for getting such a young team ready to compete so effectively coach Hall said, “It’s work ethic; they want it.”

    Ogden wanted it so much the boys have been talking for weeks about championship rings and telling Hall that they are going to give him a Gatorade bath. Hall finished his comments by saying that the boys’ victory was a relief and that “it was a sweet comeback” after the disappointing meet the girls team endured.

    Ben Saarel of Park City finished first place in what he called a “crazy race,” but had nothing but compliments for Jordon Cross, the second-place finisher from Ogden.

    “Gross is an incredible runner and a great pace-setter,” said Saarel. “He ran an incredible race.”

    Saarel’s strategy was to hang with Cross for the majority of the race and overtake him towards the end, which worked to perfection.

    ###

    Congrats to the Miners. Look forward to getting in a few runs before Footlocker Regionals… -Torin


  • Title #12, Sweetest of them all for Park City Miner XC?


    From the Deseret News By Steve Mundee
    SALT LAKE CITY — Considering that Park City has now won nine out of the past 10 state titles in cross country it sounds weird to say that the Miners were surprised to win the title again this year. However, that is the case with nationally ranked, No. 13 Ogden, competing.

    “Nobody believed we could do it. I’m not even sure I believed it,” said Park City coach Jeff Wyant. “These girls rose up.”

    Wyant has led the Miners to 12 total state titles during his tenure at Park City, but says that this year was one of the sweetest because they weren’t expected to win the race. Wyant is also quick to credit the athletes for the program’s continued strength.

    “We train hard and we’ve been lucky getting girls who want to win,” he said.

    Alisse Walker and Annie Orr finished ninth and 10th, respectively. All seven Park City runners finished in the top 20, and they all finished within a 34-second window.

    Ogden’s team fell to third place, behind Pine View.

    However, the Tigers saw athletes finish one and two individually in the race. Jamie Stokes took first place by a comfortable margin with teammate Sarah Feeny crossing the line next.

    “It’s been my goal for a long time,” said Stokes. “I can’t believe it actually happened.”

    She was the leader for nearly the entire race, winning with a 23-second margin.

    “I didn’t want to leave the race up to chance,” she said.

    3A Boys

    Ogden edged Park City to grab their first state title since 2007.

    “There is not a senior in the group, and they were hungry,” said Ogden coach Dan Hall.

    The Tigers were comprised of two juniors, three sophomores, and a freshman. When asked the secret for getting such a young team ready to compete so effectively coach Hall said, “It’s work ethic; they want it.”

    Ogden wanted it so much the boys have been talking for weeks about championship rings and telling Hall that they are going to give him a Gatorade bath. Hall finished his comments by saying that the boys’ victory was a relief and that “it was a sweet comeback” after the disappointing meet the girls team endured.

    Ben Saarel of Park City finished first place in what he called a “crazy race,” but had nothing but compliments for Jordon Cross, the second-place finisher from Ogden.

    “Gross is an incredible runner and a great pace-setter,” said Saarel. “He ran an incredible race.”

    Saarel’s strategy was to hang with Cross for the majority of the race and overtake him towards the end, which worked to perfection.

    ###

    Congrats to the Miners. Look forward to getting in a few runs before Footlocker Regionals… -Torin


  • Title #12, Sweetest of them all for Park City Miner XC?


    From the Deseret News By Steve Mundee
    SALT LAKE CITY — Considering that Park City has now won nine out of the past 10 state titles in cross country it sounds weird to say that the Miners were surprised to win the title again this year. However, that is the case with nationally ranked, No. 13 Ogden, competing.

    “Nobody believed we could do it. I’m not even sure I believed it,” said Park City coach Jeff Wyant. “These girls rose up.”

    Wyant has led the Miners to 12 total state titles during his tenure at Park City, but says that this year was one of the sweetest because they weren’t expected to win the race. Wyant is also quick to credit the athletes for the program’s continued strength.

    “We train hard and we’ve been lucky getting girls who want to win,” he said.

    Alisse Walker and Annie Orr finished ninth and 10th, respectively. All seven Park City runners finished in the top 20, and they all finished within a 34-second window.

    Ogden’s team fell to third place, behind Pine View.

    However, the Tigers saw athletes finish one and two individually in the race. Jamie Stokes took first place by a comfortable margin with teammate Sarah Feeny crossing the line next.

    “It’s been my goal for a long time,” said Stokes. “I can’t believe it actually happened.”

    She was the leader for nearly the entire race, winning with a 23-second margin.

    “I didn’t want to leave the race up to chance,” she said.

    3A Boys

    Ogden edged Park City to grab their first state title since 2007.

    “There is not a senior in the group, and they were hungry,” said Ogden coach Dan Hall.

    The Tigers were comprised of two juniors, three sophomores, and a freshman. When asked the secret for getting such a young team ready to compete so effectively coach Hall said, “It’s work ethic; they want it.”

    Ogden wanted it so much the boys have been talking for weeks about championship rings and telling Hall that they are going to give him a Gatorade bath. Hall finished his comments by saying that the boys’ victory was a relief and that “it was a sweet comeback” after the disappointing meet the girls team endured.

    Ben Saarel of Park City finished first place in what he called a “crazy race,” but had nothing but compliments for Jordon Cross, the second-place finisher from Ogden.

    “Gross is an incredible runner and a great pace-setter,” said Saarel. “He ran an incredible race.”

    Saarel’s strategy was to hang with Cross for the majority of the race and overtake him towards the end, which worked to perfection.

    ###

    Congrats to the Miners. Look forward to getting in a few runs before Footlocker Regionals… -Torin