A handful of local skiers made the trip up to Kincaid Park in Anchorage to compete with the state’s best cross-country racers in race one of the 2014 Besh Cup season.
Saturday consisted of a freestyle sprint format on a shorter-than-usual 875-meter course.
In the women’s U16 heats, Alaska Nordic Racing’s Addison Gibson from Kenai finished fourth in the “A” final, behind winner Molly Gellert of Alaska Winter Stars. Kenai’s Riana Boonstra finished 22nd.
In the men’s U16 “A” final, Karl Danielson of Kenai finished second to overall winner Gus Schumacher. In the men’s U16 “B” final, Soldotna’s Jeremy Kupferschmid finished sixth to claim 12th place overall. Kupferschmid races out of the Kachemak Nordic Ski Club. Also, Soldotna’s John-Mark Pothast placed 14th.
Soldotna’s Sadie Fox finished 13th in the morning’s qualifying round in the women’s U18 and older field, but could not manage to advance out of the quarterfinal heats. Soldotna teammate Hannah Pothast ended up 37th in the same field, and Kenai’s Lindsay Floyd finished 43rd.
Kenai’s Travis Cooper finished 39th among the men’s U18 and older field, failing to advance out of the qualifying round. Soldotna’s Levi Michael followed with a 46th-place finish, Kenai’s James Butler finished 61st and Kenai’s Liam Floyd was 67th.
