Hunter Wonders of South High collected Alaska's first victory at this week's U.S. Junior National cross-country skiing championships in Stowe, Vt.
Wonders struck gold Friday in the 5-kilometer, mass-start freestyle race in the boys U-16 age group. He won by a margin of 5.7 seconds with a time of 12 minutes, 59.2 seconds.
It's the second medal in three races at the Trapp Family Lodge for Wonders. He claimed the silver medal in Monday's 5-K classic race.
Marion Woods of Anchorage earned Alaska's only other medal Friday by grabbing second place in the U-20 women's 10-K race. Her time of 30:53.5 put her 6.2 seconds behind the winner.
Team Alaska produced six other top-10 finishers in Friday's six races:
• Jack Consenstein of Anchorage placed seventh (13:03.5) and Benjamin Koenig of Fairbanks finished 10th (13:16.0) in the U-16 boys race won by Wonders.
• Hannah Stevens of Eagle River placed fifth (31:13.1) in the U-20 women's race.
• Thomas O'Harra and John Farr, teammates at East High, finished fourth and ninth, respectively, in the U-18 boys 10-K race. O'Harra's time of 25:53.2 put him 9.3 seconds behind the winner; Farr's 26:23.7 put him 39.8 seconds behind.
• Anna Darnell of Anchorage took 10th place in the U-16 girls 5-K in 14:59.8, 37.7 behind the winner.
Alaska's top finishers in the U-20 men's 15-K was Anchorage's Daniel Serventi, who placed 12th. Its best finish in the U-18 girls 10-K came from Eagle River's Sarissa Lammers, who placed 29th.
Anchorage Daily News