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Durango Nordic finds the podium

Brown brothers go 1-3 in 10K

Despite spotty snow conditions in Southwest Colorado, the Durango Nordic Ski Club brought an impressive showing of athletes to the season’s first Junior National qualifier at Snow Mountain Ranch near Winter Park last weekend. Seventeen Durango skiers traveled to the races.

“It was awesome to see how the number of kids participating really grew going into this race,” said the club’s head coach, Gary Colliander. “I think it was a great learning experience, and watching the interaction between the older and younger kids was really neat.”

Hosted by the Boulder Nordic Junior Racing Team, the event featured races on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s race, held in crisp, cold weather, was an interval start freestyle race.

Durango native Rogan Brown, visiting home for the holidays, won the 10-kilometer race for the older male skiers. His younger brother and University of Vermont teammate, Cully Brown, received third overall in the same race. Charlie Greenberg finished 11th in the U18 boys division.

The older girls completed a 5K race. Anna Fake skied to fifth place in the U18 division. Avra Saslow was ninth, and Maggie Wigton was 19th. In the U16, Katja Freeburn finished seventh, and Marit May was 13th.

In the U14 and U12 division, athletes skied 3 kilometers. For the U14 boys, Cobe Freeburn finished 10th, Logan Moore was 11th, and Luke Tichi was 18th. In the U12 boys, Wiley Corra and Ethan Craig claimed the top of the podium in first and second, respectively.

In the U14 girls, Carmen Hall finished 17th in her 3K race. In the U12 girls, Halle Moore was eighth, and Ruby May was 11th.

In the U10 girls, Kiri May received second in her 1K race.

Sunday’s mass start classic races started early and saw increasingly heavy snowfall throughout the day. Windy conditions and cold temperatures, however, were not the only challenges faced by skiers. Several moose on the trail in the morning had coaches and athletes worried, but the animals eventually were driven into the woods by race officials and volunteers.

Rogan Brown finished second overall and first for the senior men. Cully Brown was fourth overall, the second U20 male. Greenberg skied to 14th place for the U18 boys. All three raced a 10K.

Also racing 10K, Fake finished seventh for the U18 girls. Saslow was 13th, and Wigton was 15th.

In the U16 girls division, Katja Freeburn and Marit May raced a 5K. Katja Freeburn climbed onto the podium with her second-place finish. Marit May was sixth.

In the U14 and U12 division, athletes skied the same 3K loop they completed the previous day. Cobe Freeburn was sixth, Logan Moore was 10th, and Tichi was 16th for the U14 boys. In the U12 boys division, Corra received another gold medal. Craig finished third.

Hall was 14th in her 3K race for the U14 girls. In the U12 girls, Ruby May was seventh and Halle Moore was eighth.

In spite of the sideways snow and fierce winds, Kiri May skied to third place in her 1K for the U10 girls.

Four Corners Timing, a local timing business that traveled to Snow Mountain Ranch to time the various races, further represented Durango.

The next Junior National qualifier will be held at the Durango Nordic Center on Jan. 17-18.

“We’ll take a small break for the holidays and then focus on consistent training leading up to our own race,” Colliander said. “I think it’s something everybody is really looking forward to.”

heraldsports@durangoherald.com



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