Peninsula high school skiers were able to start their season with the End of the Road Challenge on Saturday at the ski trails at Lookout Mountain in Homer.
The meet featured skiers from Homer, Kenai, Soldotna and Nikiski. Official results were not available as the Clarion went to press Saturday night, but should be available for publication in the Monday sports section.
The Soldotna boys had the top team time, while Homer was second and Kenai was third. On the girls side, the Kardinals won by putting four skiers in the top five, while Soldotna was second.
Both the girls and boys varsity did a five-kilometer mass start freestyle.
Koby Vinson of Soldotna won the boys race, edging out Kenai Central’s Karl Danielson. Kenai coach Brad Nyquist said the two were trading off throughout the race, and Vinson took the decisive edge on a downhill near the finish. Jeremy Kupferschmid of Soldotna finished third.
The girls race belonged to Addison Gibson of Kenai Central, who won a duel with teammate Riana Boonstra. Homer’s Autumn Daigle took third, while Katie Cooper of Kenai was fourth and Ithaca Bergholtz was fifth.
