By Gavin Kentch
Intermountain has won the Alaska Cup, annually awarded to the top-performing regional team at Cross-Country Skiing Junior Nationals, for the second time in nearly twenty years and the third time in its history. It came out on top of the 10 regions competing at 2025 Junior Nationals, which were held at Soldier Hollow from March 10–15.
Intermountain last took home the crown in 2007, and before that in 1998. 2007 Junior Olympics, as they would have been called at the time, were also held in Soldier Hollow. 1998 JOs took place in McCall, Idaho (cite: this fine resource).
Through two of four race days at this year’s JNs, Intermountain and Alaska were dead even in the team standings with 529 points apiece. Perennial champion New England sat in third, with 460 points. Intermountain then dominated Friday’s mass start skate races to stretch their lead to 74 points over Alaska and 201 points over New England.
Saturday’s classic mixed relays brought much of the same: 380 points for Intermountain (ft. victories in two of the three races held that day, both U20 and U18), 290 points for Alaska, and 270 points for New England. The result was a comfortable overall victory for Intermountain, more than 150 points up on Alaska and 300 points ahead of New England.
Here are the final standings for this year’s Alaska Cup competition (link):
I reached out to Will Wicherski, Nordic Program Director at Jackson Hole Ski & Snowboard Club and trip leader for this year’s Intermountain crew, for comment on the team’s success. I’m going to editorialize here that you should read this whole thing, and closely, particularly the final paragraph. Yes, head coaches praising the strength of the team when asked for comment is somewhat of a trope; it’s not a bad concept (it is, in fact, a good one), just a recurring one.
But I think it’s worth thinking about the particular dynamic of team competition at Junior Nationals specifically: Athletes come together from across a not-small geographic region, and for one week compete on behalf of the same team, rather than against each other while representing different clubs, the status quo for basically all the rest of the season. A 15-person coaching and service team similarly gels, in this case from 11 disparate clubs, to put skis on course for seven championship races in six days. For 60 athletes. That’s pretty special.
Anyway, enough from me. Here’s Wicherski on this year’s team:
“Intermountain’s success this year didn’t come out of the blue, but you are right that it is exciting for our division to win the Alaska Cup. It is the culmination of years of hard work from all the clubs in our region in developing athletes and building expertise in both athletes and coaches. We have gotten second place the last two years running and we were leading until the final race in Fairbanks [in 2023], so it was great for everything to come together in Soldier Hollow.
“This year Intermountain had a special group of athletes and staff, and many of our top racers had been a part of those near misses the last few years. We had four individual national champions and two national champion relay teams, which were composed of athletes from all over Intermountain.
“Beyond results, the key pieces of our support staff have also been at the last four JNs together, so we have been able to build a strong core of staff that trusts and supports each other and the athletes to create a great environment to perform at their best.
“Aside from the hard work and dedication of the athletes, I am proud of the ability of the Intermountain staff and athletes to come together without ego and seamlessly transition from competitors to teammates. Our strength lies in the large number of clubs in our region all doing a fantastic job producing athletes and pushing each other to perform, and I think that is an essential component to our success.
“The Alaska Cup is like any competition; it can be gamed out and you can maneuver to maximise points or strategically select skiers, but in the end it is a great competition that creates a shared goal for an entire team to work towards and rally around. Our team of 75 athletes and coaches all came together this week in a beautiful way and accomplished something rare for Intermountain. We didn’t really talk about the Alaska Cup much until the night before the relay, and we didn’t spend the whole week chasing points and putting pressure on the team. But what I saw on relay day was something special — so many athletes dug deep for their teammates and for Intermountain in some brutal conditions and persevered when others gave up.
“Our wax staff worked tirelessly to produce skis in super tricky conditions all week but especially during the relays (32 and snowing, ice transitioning to slush, intermittent blazing sun) to give the athletes the tools to succeed. Our age group coaches worked hard all week, but in particular on mass start day our age group coaches gave out ten poles and two skis to kids who broke them, then did a fantastic job selecting the relay teams for the next day.
“That is where the value of the Alaska Cup lies — it helps a team of people push beyond themselves and work hard to achieve a common goal. It is not the work of one club or athlete or coach but a cohesive team effort from all components of the team — athletes, service staff, age group coaches, families, chefs, and all supporters.”
Three other team trophies are also awarded at JNs, based on cumulative points scored by athletes with that club, high school, or divisional affiliation. The top USSS club overall this year was Bridger Ski Foundation, with Alaska Winter Stars second and Alaska Pacific University third. The top USSS club for women was Loppet Nordic Racing. For men, the top USSS club was Alaska Winter Stars.
Next, the Roger Weston Award goes to the top high school boys and girls teams. (Again, athletes race for their division throughout the week, not their high school, but points are separately scored for this.) Schools in Truckee, Tahoe, and Anchorage dominated these podiums. On the women’s side, North Tahoe High School won the Roger Weston Award, followed by Truckee High School and Anchorage’s Service High School. For men, South Anchorage High School took the crown, followed, again, by Truckee and Service.
Finally, section 61.5 of the nordic comp guide contemplates a “Small Division Award (Name TBD).” Per subpart 61.5.1, “The award will be given to the team with the highest Alaska Cup Points total among those declared as a Small Division.” A Small Division is in turn defined as having a basic quota of 18 male and 18 female entrants (as opposed to 25 and 25 for a Large Division), sec. 52.4.2; a division must formally “inform the Organizers of its status as a Large or Small Division at the time of the Final Entries” for JNs, sec. 52.6.2.3.
I have just told you everything that I know about the Small Division Award (Name TBD). Based on my reading of the rosters list, I would classify Far West, High Plains, and Mid-Atlantic as small divisions at this year’s races (and maybe also Great Lakes; getting a little bogged down in basic quota vs. prequalifier math vis-à-vis team size here, sorry). Far West ranked highest of all of these on the overall Alaska Cup points list, in sixth, above at least one and maybe two large divisions. I therefore unofficially bestow upon Far West the 2025 Small Division Award (Name TBD).
You can find detailed Alaska Cup results here, and details on other team awards here.
In conclusion, here are some photos from last week’s races. All are from Drew Palmer-Leger (here is his site), via Intermountain.
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