Thomas O'Harra of East and Lydia Blanchet of West warded off cold weather and a big field of skiers to claim victories Saturday when high school racing made its Girdwood debut with the Service Snowball skate race.
The wins for O'Harra and Blanchet came in the season's first race, which was moved from Service High to Moose Meadow in Girdwood because there isn't enough snow in Anchorage to create a race course.
A field of 358 racers competed in zero-degree weather. They made one trip around a two-kilometer loop, something most varsity skiers managed to complete in just a few minutes.
O'Harra topped the boys in 4 minutes, 13.1 seconds, beating South's Eric Backstrum by 2.4 seconds. Blanchet enjoyed a 7.1-second margin over runnerup Sarissa Lammers of Chugiak, finishing in 5:01.7.
Service Snowball
2 kilometer freestyle
Moose Meadow, Girdwood
Boys
1) O`Harra, Thomas, East, 4:13.1; 2) Backstrum, Eric, South, 4:15.5; 3) Ramey, Tanner, South, 4:19.6; 4) Loeffler, Henry, West, 4:26.6; 5) Hess, Austin, Service, 4:27.1; 6) Takagi, Seigi, South, 4:28.7; 7) Walters, Troy, South, 4:29.0; 8) Parke, Jack, Service, 4:29.8; 9) Farr, John, East, 4:30.3; 10) Serventi, Daniel, Grace, 4:30.7; 11) Bassett, Jake, Service, 4:31.1; 12) Volz, Jacob, West, 4:34.2; 13) Loan, Alex, Chugiak, 4:34.4; 14) Schulz, Garth, Service, 4:38.5; 15) tie, McPhetres, David,Chugiak, and Brewster, Bryant, South, 4:41.0; 17) Timmons, Will, Eagle River, 4:43.6; 18) Frank, Skyler, East, 4:46.9; 19) Muffoletto, Matthew, Service, 4:47.1; 20) Shayer, Eli, West, 4:47.9; 21) Robicheaux, Max, East, 4:48.1; 22) Truskowski, Conner, Service, 4:48.4; 23) Fletcher, Adam, South, 4:52.6; 24) Schemme, Lucas, Service, 4:57.1; 25) Mans, Will, West, 4:59.1; 26) Claman, Ben, West, 5:00.2; 27) Butera, Paul, West, 5:02.8; 28) Mclaughlin, Luke, Grace, 5:06.6; 29) Denton, Kelson, Dimond, 5:09.3; 30) Hall, Roan, Chugiak, 5:10.6; 31) Biegel, Davey, South, 5:12.1; 32) Dennis, Nathan, Chugiak, 5:13.5; 33) Bickford, Riley, West, 5:19.5; 34) Sorensen, Tim, Chugiak, 5:22.3; 35) Warner, David, Chugiak, 5:23.2; 36) Eller, Andrew, Grace, 5:26.4; 37) Ashley, Hayden, East, 5:30.1; 38) Cvancara, Luke, Dimond, 5:31.3; 39) Huntington, Caleb, Chugiak, 5:33.4; 40) Cosgrave, John, Grace, 5:48.3; 41) Eckmann, Karl, Grace, 5:52.0; 42) Ripley, Alex, Dimond, 5:58.9; 43) Cvancara, David, Dimond, 5:59.8; 44) Roohi, Zayn, Dimond, 6:00.6; 45) Perry, Iain, Dimond, 6:03.6.
Girls
1) Blanchet, Lydia, West, 5:01.7; 2) Lammers, Sarissa, Chugiak, 5:08.8; 3) Mahlen, Tsaina, South, 5:09.5; 4) Hoefler, Janie, South, 5:10.4; 5) Hunt-Smith, Taryn, Service, 5:14.5; 6) Harkte, Sam, Chugiak, 5:22.8; 7) Jager, Ana, East 5:24.3; 8) Stevens, Hannah, Eagle River, 5:28.1; 9) Spencer, Ann, Service, 5:32.1; 10) Flynn, Morgan, East, 5:38.8; 11) Graham, Grace, East, 5:43.1; 12) Trujillo, Anna, Grace, 5:47.0; 13) Darnell, Anna, South, 5:54.9; 14) Xavier, Hannah, Service, 5:56.2; 15) Arnold, Elle, Grace, 5:59.6; 16) Denton, Kinsey, Dimond, 6:06.0; 17) Decker, Emily, West, 6:10.4; 18) Trujillo, Claire, Grace, 6:11.6; 19) Fink, Megan, East, 6:12.2; 20) Megan, Neale, East, 6:12.5; 21) Bembenek, Irene, South, 6:13.8; 22) Ritter, Aimee, West, 6:17.3; 23) Gellert, Carlie, West, 6:19.4; 24) Applegate, Cheyenne, Grace, 6:20.1; 25) Okeson, Alex, Service, 6:21.9; 26) Wood, Jade, South, 6:23.9; 27) Zafren, Rachel, Service, 6:24.9; 28) Arthen, Kate, Chugiak, 6:30.9; 28) Rowe, Kayla, Grace, 6:30.9; 30) Fleischman, Jojo, West, 6:32.5; 31) Xavier, Zoe, Service, 6:33.1; 32) Way, Taylor, West, 6:38.0; 33) Booher, Hannah, Chugiak, 6:39.3; 34) Schoff, Heather, South, 6:40.4; 35) Mohl, Paige, South, 6:41.4; 36) Wallace, Maggie, Chugiak, 6:51.9; 37) Connely, Annie, Chugiak, 6:52.5; 38) Culver, Lauren, Service, 7:05.6; 39) Zyatitsky, Karina, West, 7:08.2.
