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Middle Park shows progress at Vail race

Sky-Hi Staff Report
Two of Middle Park's Nordic ski racers lead a small pack of competitors along the course in Vail. Both the middle and high school competed in Vail over the weekend.
Courtesy photo |

It was an early start for the Middle Park High School Nordic Team on Saturday as they boarded the bus at 6 a.m. to travel to Vail for a mass start skate 5k.

Many of the best junior skiers in central Colorado came to sprint for the win in the large field of 136 men and 92 women.

The men’s team placed an impressive 4th out of 13 teams, led by sophomore Sebastian Brower in 11th with a time of 13:55 with freshman Alex Holinka hot on his heels in 13th (13:58). Sophomore Vinny Troccoli took 31st (15:03) and rounded out the team scoring. Also qualifying for state with strong performances were sophomore Kimo Sullivan (38th) and freshman Guy Granger (59th). Just missing the qualifying time but very close were Wil Cleveland (63rd), Aaron Sanders (66th) and Ethan Callarman (68th). Also racing well for MPHS were Isaiah Callarman, Eric Berry, Jeremy Peterson, Graydon Walker, Will Kuhns, Jonny Siefken and Evan Olsen.



Although several of the MPHS women were not racing due to illness or injury, the team came on strong for a 6th place finish out of 12 tough teams. Senior Emily Jensen finished fast in 14th with a time of 16:22 with senior Raelee Granger also making the top 20 in 17:10. Also qualifying for state and scoring for MPHS was junior Elizabeth Barker (27th). Missing the state qualifying time by a mere 2 seconds was freshman Maggie Barker (44th), followed closely by Katelyn Cimino and Selena Stoncius.

Head Coach Michael Lohman had words of praise for his team. “We had a tough week of training leading up to this race and I told the team we’d be training through it in preparation for races later in the season”, said Lohman. “Coach Cleveland and I are thrilled with the progress each athlete is making and know that their efforts will pay off later in the season”.



The team will be training hard this week at Snow Mountain Ranch in preparation for their home race, a mass-start skate 5K at Snow Mountain Ranch on Jan 27.


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