Junior Nationals Preview

March 2, 2015

Junior Nationals returns to the west coast for 2015, and this season the Midwest brings one of their largest teams ever.

Location

The Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, California, just up the road west of Lake Tahoe, is located in the heart of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, at an elevation of roughly 7200 feet.  The club has extensive experience hosting Junior Nationals, with competitions as recently as 2005 and 2009, and offers 20K of ski trails. The town of Truckee is just 15 minutes east, with the major city of Reno, Nevada about 45 minutes away.  The ski club is located near Donner Summit, an area made famous by the Donner Party incident (now the site of Donner Memorial State Park).  Also located nearby is the premiere cross-country ski trails of Royal Gorge, as well as the other area ski club, Sugar Bowl Academy.

Current reports and photos from the Auburn Ski Club trails show very good conditions after snowfalls last weekend restored snow levels in an unusually low snowfall season.  However, warm weather has plagued the region this year, and long range forecasts indicate temperatures could soar into the 50s for the start of competition.

Events

Junior Nationals officially runs from Sunday, March 8th, to Saturday, March 14th.  The week is packed with events, including opening and closing ceremonies, mid-week awards, as well as social events.  Of course, at the heart are the races...

Monday, March 9th - Freestyle Sprints (qualifiers, heats)

Wednesday, March 11th - Freestyle Races, Interval Start

Friday, March 13th - Classical Races, Mass Start

Saturday, March 8th - Classical Relay Races, Mass Start

Review the full event schedule

Midwest Team

Vivian Hett, US Nationals, January 4, 2015
The Midwest squad is one of the largest on record, and contains enough talent to give New England a serious run at the overall Alaska Cup title.  In the U16 division, Erin Moening and Anna Johnson should be in medal contention in a number of events with Abby Jarzin and Kelly Koch providing some strong legs for the relay.  Anders Sonnesyn and perhaps Patrick Acton are the Midwest's best hopes in the U16, but will have stiff competition.  The U18 gals are very strong again this season, with Nicole Schneider, Margie Freed, Rocci Wolhk, Michaela Keller-Miller, and Micayla Batchlor leading the way.  However, two already legendary New Englanders, Katharine Ogden and Julia Kern, along with first-year U18ers Hailey Swirbul and Hannah Halvorsen, will make any podium steps well earned.  Zak Ketterson leads the boys U18 crew, and should be in the mix for medals in nearly all of his events.  Expect Minnesota and Wisconsin State champions Leo Hipp and Will Bodewes to be making some noise  as well.  Perhaps the strongest division for the Midwest team this season is the U20 women.  Vivian Hett narrowly missed selection to NCAAs in her first year at Northern Michigan, and given her excellent results last year, could earn her first National championship. Sarah Bezdecik has been one of the dominating Midwest skiers this season; look for her on the podium in at least the skate and sprint events.  A relay team with Hett, Bezdicek and perhaps Anna French could be the winning ticket.  For the U20 men, Ian Torchia will most likely bring home some hardware, perhaps even his second (and third?) Junior National titles.  Torchia is joined by Luke Brown (from Dartmouth), Sean Cork, Tamer Mische-Richter and Sam Boardman, who will all be hoping for some top finishes as well.  Perhaps upsetting some of those chances could be another Midwesterner, this year skiing for New England, Nick Gardner. (Ellie Hands, another Midwest skier will also be skiing for New England.)

A couple of factors could play a big role in the Midwest medal chances.  First, the courses are at 7200 feet elevation -- a big change for us Midwesterners.   Many of the top skiers have taken action on this, going out early, some as much as a week early, to get acclimated to the altitude.   The second big factor could be the snow conditions.  There is a strong potential for very warm and moist conditions (temps in the 40-50s, rain/snow), which may require specialty skis and waxes.  These are not typical conditions for the Midwest, and may give an advantage to the other regions that more frequently race in this type of snow.  Combating this, the Midwest team brings a veteran coaching staff, many of whom have raced in and prepped skis for all types of extreme conditions, and will work hard to provide the best boards come race day.

Check out the full Midwest squad and find more trip details on the Midwest Junior National website.

Resources

Coverage

After providing same day photo and video coverage from on-site at Junior Nationals competition the past four years, Skinnyski.com has not been included in the Midwest team plans for 2015.  We will be working from back in the Midwest to hopefully post same day updates and of course, results.

Past coverage:
Junior Nationals 2014
Junior Nationals 2013
Junior Nationals 2012