South Wolverines girls claim CIC ski title

The pair blazed through their relay legs to help South gain so much ground that when it came to the anchor leg of the race, Marion Woods needed only a super effort, not a super-human one, to carry the Wolverines to victory.

Hoefler, skiing the scramble leg, and Mahlen, skiing second, posted the fastest times for the first and second legs of the girls 4x3.3- kilometer relay to lift South to a big enough victory in the race that the Wolverines were able to vault past first-day leader Service in the team standings and repeat as the CIC champs.

The Service boys also repeated, although they didn't need dramatics to do so.

Powered by a swift scramble leg from Skimeister John Glen, the Cougars won the relay decisively to expand their first-day lead in the team standings.

Glen, Jack Parke, Forest Tarbath and Matthew Muffoletto registered a time of 47 minutes, 44.6 seconds to win the boys 4x4.3-K relay by almost a minute over Chugiak.

Chugiak, in turn, used its second-place relay effort to overtake South in the final team standings and finish second. South, second in the team standings after Friday's individual races, was fourth in the relay to slip to third overall.

The battle in the boys race was for Skimeister honors. Glen edged Chugiak's Isaac Lammers by a slim 5.6 seconds in the 10-K freestyle, but Lammers wasn't able to cut the deficit in the relay. Glen's scramble leg of 11:35.8 was 2.5 seconds faster than Lammers' anchor leg of 11:38.3, making Glen the second straight Service skier to claim Skimeister honors. Silas Talbot, now graduated, won it last year.

Woods all but secured her Skimeister title Friday with a dominant win in the girls 7.5-K freestyle.

But she and her teammates trailed Service by 45.2 seconds going into Saturday's relay. Hoefler shaved 19 seconds off the deficit with her scramble leg and Mahlen sliced another 35 second off it with her second leg.

The Wolverines lost a little ground on the third leg, thanks to Service's Taryn Hunt-Smith, who skied the fastest time in the third leg. Even so, South led by 35 seconds when Alex Cress tagged off to Woods for the final.

That meant Woods needed to beat Service anchor Anna Price by 10 seconds, and she did that and more. Her split time of 9:41.6 was the fastest of the race and was 33 seconds faster than Price.

South finished the relay in 39:54.9, with Service second in 41:02.9. That gave South a final margin of about 23 seconds over Service in the team standings.

Cook Inlet Conference ski championships

Kincaid Park

Saturday's results

Skimeisters --John Glen, Service; Marion Woods, South.

Team scores

Boys -- 1) Service, 2:35:50.0 (two-day total time); 2) Chugiak, 2:37:40.7; 3) South, 2:38:04.7; 4) East, 2:41:45.5; 5) West, 2:42:00.2; 6) Dimond, 2:53:30.5; 7) Eagle River, 2:54:55.0.

Girls -- 1) South, 2:12:54.8; 2) Service, 2:13:17.6; 3) Dimond, 2:18:11.7; 4) East, 2:21:00.1; 5) West, 2:21:04.1; 6) Chugiak, 2:23:33.1; 7) Eagle River, 2:31:16.8.

Boys 4x4.4-kilometer relay -- 1) Service, 47:44.6 (John Glen, Jack Parke, Forest Tarbath, Matthew Muffoletto); 2) Chugiak, 48:41.2 (Alex Loan, Robert Colles, David McPhetres, Isaac Lammers); 3) East, 49:04.5 (Skyler Frank, John Farr, Jacob Wahry, Thomas O'Harra); 4) South, 49:21.0 (Eric Backstrum, Seiji Takagi, Troy Walters, Tanner Ramey); 5) West, 49.52.8 (Doug Watts, Henry Loeffler, Eli Shayer, Jacob Volz); 6) Dimond, 52:08.5 (Patrick Nagel, Matthew Falconer, Kelson Denton, Cameron Brailey); 7) Eagle River, 52:17.6 (Will Timmons, Alec Smith, Evan Fisher, Ben Smith).

Girls 4x3.3 kilometer relay -- 1) South, 39:54.9 (Janie Hoefler, Tsaina Mahlen, Alex Cress, Marion Woods); 2) Service 41:02.9 (Mykaela McMullen, Mira Hopkins, Taryn Hunt-Smith, Anna Price); 3) East, 42:13.5 (Grace Graham, Jager Ana, Rebecca Farr, Mackenzie Flynn); 4) Dimond 42:23.4 (Savanna Desatoff, Shannon Petersen, Sara Falconer, Sarah Freistone); 5) Chugiak, 43:26.6 (Sam Hartke, Kate Arthen, Shannon Casey, Sarissa Lammers); 6) West, 43:33.3 (Celia Haering, Lydia Blanchett, Jojo Fleishman, Erin Baker); 7) Eagle River, 43:54.7 (Jackie Klecka, Brenna Wheeler, Evdokyia Hail, Hannah Stevens).

Mucha, Michael nab Region III wins

Soldotna's Bree Mucha and Luke Michael each earned victories in classic races Saturday at the Region III nordic ski championships at the Tsalteshi Trails in Soldotna.

Michael's victory helped the Soldotna boys claim a team title, while the girls team title went to Grace Christian.

Mucha, who also won Friday's freestyle event, won the girls Skimeister award. Palmer's Schyler Knopp, who was third Friday and second Saturday, was the boys Skimeister.

Region III nordic ski championships

Tsalteshi Trails in Soldotna

Skimeisters -- Schyler Knopp, Palmer; Bree Mucha, Soldotna.

Saturday's classic results

Boys 10-K -- 1) Luke Michael, Soldotna, 30:55; 2) Schyler Knopp, Palmer, 30:59; 3) Abe Meyerhofer, Colony, 31:02; 4) Dillon Jensen, Soldotna, 31:10; 5) Daniel Serventi, Grace Christian, 32:09; 6) Aube Strickland, Palmer, 32:18; 7) Travis Cooper, Kenai, 32:19; 8) Jonas Wikstrom, Soldotna, 32:45; 9) Luke McLaughlin, Grace Christian, 32:54; 10) Brandon Schafer, Colony, 33:01.

Girls 7.5-K -- 1) Bree Mucha, Soldotna, 22:57; 2) Anna Trujillo, Grace Christian, 27:37, 3) Claire Trujillo, 28:35; 4) Elle Arnold, Grace Christian, 28:37; 5) Sadie Fox, Soldotna, 29:19; 6) Taylor Ostrander, Kenai, 29:21; 7) Marie Schmidt, Homer, 29:23; 8) Olivia Pfeifer, Kenai, 29:58; 9) Mady Gerard, Homer, 30:00; 10) Hannah Smith, Palmer, 30:01.

Friday's freestyle results

Boys 5-K -- 1) Jonas Wikstrom, Soldotna, 14:26; 2) Andre Lovett, Homer, 14:21; 3) Schyler Knopp, Palmer, 14:38; 4) Dillon Jensen, Soldotna, 14:42; 5) Daniel Serventi, Grace Christian, 14:48.5; 6) Abe Meyerhofer, Colony, 14:49; 7) John Snelders, Valdez, 14:56; 8) Parker Sorenson, Homer, 14:58; 9) Aube Strickland, Palmer, 15:05; 10) Brian Rowe, Homer, 15:06.

Girls 5-K -- 1) Bree Mucha, Soldotna, 15:43; 2) Anna Trujillo, Grace Christian, 17:16; 3) Kaya Morelli, Homer, 17:16; 4) Marie Schmidt, Homer, 17:22; 5) Elle Arnold, Grace Christian, 17:36; 6) Mady Gerard, Homer, 17:42; 7) Claire Trujillo, Grace Christian, 17:47; 8) Emily Merioles, Valdez, 17:52; 9) Sadie Fox, Soldotna, 17:53; 10) Brittney Anderson, Colony, 18:01.