By Gavin Kentch
This year’s Junior Nationals kick off at Mt Van Hoevenberg, in Lake Placid, on Monday, March 11, with an interval-start skate race. U16 athletes will race 5 kilometers and U18 and U20 athletes will race 7.5km in the first of four races at 2024 JNs. Equal distance racing is now firmly established across this country (exception: Masters Nationals); both genders will race the same distance throughout the week.
Current conditions on the ground at Mt Van Ho seem to be… distressingly springlike, but also subject to change. The official trail report for Wednesday was that all competition trails are closed to the public (for competitions, understandably enough), and that all other trails are “currently closed due to unseasonably warm temperatures and a lack of natural snow. In the event of natural snowfall, we will assess conditions and open the Legacy trails as conditions allow.”
One tech on site yesterday described the substance athletes were skiing on as one that “only pretended to be snow.” See full caption below for more.
It is currently 40° F at the venue, down from 52° F yesterday. The NWS point forecast for the venue calls for a high temp of 51° on Friday, and then things get pretty sloppy (here is a hazardous weather outlook for the area spanning from today through next Wednesday), ft. rain, two to four inches of wet snow, and blustery winds. Ski the East.
This week is national championships week for USCSA, also at this venue, and nordic ski races have been occurring as planned (here are some results from Tuesday, and here are athletes racing in tank tops), so, like, there is snow at the venue, it could just be pretty damp by the time JNs start on Monday. Waiting for FIS-legal temperatures in Fairbanks last year this is not.
Speaking of Fairbanks, New England was the winning team at 2023 Junior Nationals, taking home the Alaska Cup for doing so. New England also previously won the Alaska Cup (awarded to the region with the highest combined score from its athletes) in 2022, and 2019, and 2018, and 2017, and 2016, and 2015, and 2014. You may sense a theme here.
Alaska won its eponymous cup in 2013, officially so, and also in 2020, unofficially so; it was in the lead halfway through race week when remaining races were canceled due to the pandemic. Before 2013, New England also took the Alaska Cup in 2012, and 2011, and 2010, and 2009, and 2006, and 2005, and 2004. Team Alaska interrupted this string with a win at home in Anchorage in 2008.
TLDR, dating back to 2004, New England has won 15 of the 19 team titles awarded; Alaska has won three (I’m counting 2020 for this fwiw/drop this down to two titles out of 18 if you don’t); and Intermountain won once, in 2007. I don’t have a quip or anything here; that is clearly a very impressive run by New England — check out the plaque on the plinth here.
And speaking of New England: Here’s who is likely racing for them, and for all other regions of the country, in Lake Placid starting next week. Regions are listed here in order of their placement in last year’s Alaska Cup standings.
(Note that those standings are cumulative; an athlete from a region with a smaller team can still be an amazing skier and win individual championships, they will just suffer in overall team standings by virtue of having fewer athletes from their home region on their team. We are talking about junior skiers here, note well, not pros.)
Finally, please keep in mind that these links generally reflect those athletes who qualified for a team, rather than those athletes who are specifically attending. I’m clearly not privy to each region’s decisions about acceptances or not; who accepted but then got sick this week; which U20 athletes pre-qualified but are instead racing at NCAAs; etc. As always, if I got something here wrong, please let me know. Thanks.
New England
Here are the nominees for this year’s New England team. Regions that have all names listed are those regions that wrote out athletes’ names in the team announcement in copy and paste-able form.
U16: Lea Perreard, Leigh Niedeck, Kate Carlson, Mary Harrington, Brooke Greenberg, Summer Bentley, Jonah Gorman, Ivan Ivanov, Matthew McIntosh, Matias Citarella, Timothy Craddock, Orrin Slover
U18 and U20: Amelia Circosta, Alexandria Taylor, Beth McIntosh, Annelies Hanna, Ruth Krebs, Ava Schneider, Frances Tucker, Gillian Fairfax, Nyla Scott, Sarah Glueck, Elsa Sanborn, Julia Thurston, Kiera Stabile, Anika Leahy, Tabor Greenberg, Anders Linseisen, Miles Miner, Aidan Jacobus, James Underwood, Oliver Swabey, Tyler Watt, Abrahm Geissinger, Quinn McDermott, Ellis Slover, Micah Bruner, Greta Kilburn, Clara Lake, Caroline Tarmy, Maddie Hooker, Virginia Cobb, Mirra Payson, Luke Rizio, Benjamin Lewis, Aaron Power, Sage Grossi, Nico Hochanadel, Jack Lange, Finegan Bailey, Joseph Graziadei, Caleb Zuckerman
The New England trip leader this year is again Justin Beckwith, with Matt Boobar the head coach. Other New England staff include Olivia Ester, Adam Terko, Mia Shifrin, Audrey Mangan, Evan Kendall, Andy Rightmire, Rob Rothe, Alex Jospe, Anna Schulz, Colin Rodgers, Avery Ellis, and Chris City.
Intermountain
Here is the final points list for this year’s Intermountain team.
And here is the coaching and support staff:
Midwest
Here is this year’s athlete roster for the Midwest.
Coaches here include: Trip Leader: Julia Curry, Loppet Nordic Racing; Head Coach: Siiri Morse, Duluth XC; Head of Wax Service: Max Anderson, Mora Ski Club; Wax Staff: Joe Haggenmiller, Terra Del Nord; Matt Clarke, Team Birkie; Brian “Speedy” McCollor, Minneapolis Ski Club.
Age-group coaches include: Ellen McCarthy (U16 girls), Piotr Bednarski (U16 boys), Vivian Johnson (U18 girls), Chris Harvey (U18 boys), Liz Peterson (U20 girls), and Deno Johnson (U20 boys).
Alaska
Here are this year’s Team Alaska nominees:
And here is the coaching staff:
Head Coaches: Anson Moxness and Karina Packer
Staff Coaches: Ben Buck, Jan Buron, Erik Flora, Branden Fontana, Naomi Kiekintveld, Eliza Rorabaugh, Eric Stabel, Jordan Tanguay, Tegan Thorley, Jesse Wilkins, Jenny Kimball (apprentice coach)
Rocky Mountain
Here are this year’s nominees for the Rocky Mountain division. Note that some athletes, represented by strikethroughs in the Google Doc, are included on this list as having qualified, but declined the nomination.
Here is the coaching staff for this year’s team. I was going to say that Rocky Mountain has more cumulative World Cup starts on its staff than any other region, but after some quick math I think that Liz Stephen + Jennie Bender > Sophie Caldwell Hamilton + David Norris, so I’m giving the edge here to Intermountain. Team Alaska is presumptively first in the category of total World Cup starts by current athletes, on the theory that Murphy Kimball (1) > the field (0).
Anyway, here is this year’s Rocky Mountain coaching staff:
Pacific Northwest
Here are this year’s nominees and clubs from the Pacific Northwest (as per here):
U18/20 Men: Parke Chapin, MBSEF; Quinten Koch, PVNT; Silas D’Atre, PVNT; Zachary Schockey, MBSEF; Catcher Kemmerer, MBSEF; Fergus Waag, TeaCup; Emmet Bondi, MVNT; Toby Spencer, MBSEF; Isaac Pooler, Spokane Nordic; Will Mowry, MBSEF.
U18/20 Women: Delaney Jackson, MBSEF; Piper Widmer, MBSEF; Sophia Capozzi, MBSEF; Kirsten Jarmin, PVNT; Louisa Lamarre, MBSEF; Isabel Menna, PVNT; Khloe Laughlin-Hall, MBSEF.
U16 Men: Aidan Sands, MVNT; Ben Kaufman, MBNT; Kian Reid, PVNT; Micah Saugen, PVNT; Olaf Saugen, PVNT; Irving Stoller, MBSEF; Tarin Worden, PVNT; Aaron Pooler, Spokane Nordic; River Ferguson, MVNT; Kolston Breaux, PVNT.
U16 Women: Caroline Menna, PVNT; Adeline Loewen, PVNT; Freyja Leitheiser, MBSEF; Maddie Carney, MBSEF; Wylie Smith, MVNT; Alida Burt, MBNT; Kaia Vrbata, MBSEF; Avery Houghton, PVNT; Ava Burrington, MVNT.
And here is this year’s Pacific Northwest coaching staff:
Team Lead/U18U20 Women: Heidi Loewen, PVNT
U18/20 Men: Raleigh Goessling, MVNT
U16 Men: Gabe Norby, PVNT and Colin Sands, MVNT
U16 Women: Lydia Youkey, MBSEF
Head Wax Tech: Pete Leonard, MVNT
Wax Techs: Pierre Niess, PVNT; Reitler Hodgert, MBSEF; Kelly Ryan, TeaCup; Adam Tuff, Momentum
Team Cooks – Danica Ready, MVNT and Christie Saugen, PVNT
Far West
Here are this year’s nominees for Far West (as per here):
This year’s coaching staff for Far West includes Team Leader Bernie Nelson, of ASC Training Center; Head Coach David Sinclair, of Sugar Bowl Academy; Gus Johnson, of ASC; Quinn Lehmkuhl and Julien Bordes, of Tahoe Endurance; Mike Karch and Kathi Kirkeby, of Mammoth Nordic; and Ben Higgins, formerly of Mammoth Nordic.
High Plains
Here are the nominees for this year’s High Plains team. Look for athletes outlined in blue on the spreadsheet.
Great Lakes
I’m still a little fuzzy on Great Lakes athletes for this year, to be totally honest; given the snow situation in the Midwest this “winter,” athletes from this region were still contesting JNQ races through last Sunday. The best I can tell you for Great Lakes this year is to start with the names listed here, but also to read that against the list of declines given here. If you focus on names highlighted in yellow, green, and orange on the first of these links, that should get you an accurate sense for Great Lakes.
Update, March 8: Here is this year’s roster for the Great Lakes region.
Coaching staff for this year’s Great Lakes team includes:
Trip Leader: Scott Putman, Ashwaubenon Nordic Ski Team
Head Coach: Ross Williams, Superiorland Ski Club
Trip Coaches: Mary Eloranta, Peak Nordic; Ethan Goss, Vasa Ski Club; Jacob Huseby, MadNorSki; Andrew Johnson, Chippewa Valley Nordic; Nicolas Reckinger, Bay Nordic; Jordyn Ross, Vasa Ski Club; Gowtham S, Michigan Tech/Copper Country Ski Tigers; and David Slette, Superiorland Ski Club
Middle Atlantic
Here are this year’s nominees for the host region Mid-Atlantic team (look for athletes highlighted in green). Mid-A coaches this year include Jason Hettenbaugh, Matt Bellizzi, and Kellin King.
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in year one of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year two of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter to American cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, this season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
