The state high school ski championships ended Saturday with the West Eagles sweeping the team titles for the second straight year — and with lots of close battles on the boys side of things.
While the West girls coasted to victories in both Saturday's relay race and the overall team standings, things were far more tense and complicated for the West boys.
The Eagles entered the day trailing Service by 13.8 seconds. And though they didn't win Saturday's relay — South edged them by six seconds — they beat Service by 36 seconds to more than make up the gap in the team standings.
As it turns out, all three Anchorage schools had something to cheer about at the end of the three-day meet.
West repeated as state champs. South, sparked by a powerful final leg from Hunter Wonders, won the relay race. And Service boasted the state Skimeister in the form of Gus Schumacher, who won the meet's individual races Thursday and Friday.
West's Molly Gellert earned the girls Skimeister crown — she won Friday's freestyle race decisively after finishing a close second in Thursday's classic race — and she delivered again Saturday.
West trailed Chugiak and West Valley after the first leg of the relay, but Gellert's blazing second leg put the Eagles in the lead for good. Maggie York, last year's Skimeister, sealed the win with a swift anchor leg.
Behind West, skiers from Chugiak and West Valley waged a fierce fight for second place.
Chugiak prevailed by five-tenths of a second thanks to Emma Nelson's anchor leg — she outdueled West Valley's Kendall Kramer by 2.9 seconds.
Chugiak also prevailed over the Wolfpack in the team standings. The Mustangs enjoyed a three-day advantage of about 30 seconds over West Valley to take home the second-place trophy.
The team championship was the third straight for the West girls, who won the relay by about 20 seconds and the team title by more than three minutes.
ASAA/First National Bank state skiing championships
Girls
Team scores
1) West 3:03:14.1; 2) Chugiak 3:06:26.5; 3) West Valley 3:06:58.3; 4) South 3:15:23.9; 5) Service 3:20:47.4; 6) Colony 3:27:11.5; 7) Kenai 3:30:02.8; 8) Palmer 3:31:59.3; 9) Dimond 3:32:41.8; 10) East 3:37:14.7; 11) Lathrop 3:39:08.6; 12) Grace 3:40:30.2; 13) Homer 3:42:20.9; 14) Soldotna 3:45:04.0; 15) Valdez 3:55:09.8; 16) Seward 3:56:19.5; 17) Eagle River 4:02:45.3.
4x3K mixed-technique relay
(Classic, classic, freestyle, freestyle)
1) West 39:29.1 (Aubrey LeClair 10:32.5; Molly Gellert 10:55.9; Alejandra Legate 9:22.6; Magdalen York 8:38.1); 2) Chugiak 39:50.6 (Heidi Booher 10:21.4; Emma Sees 11:48.1; Adrianna Proffitt 8:58.5; Emma Nelson 8:42.6); 3) West Valley 39:51.1 (Jenna Difolco 10:17.8; Emma Jerome 11:41.1; Maggie Druckenmiller 9:06.7; Kendall Kramer 08:45.5); 4) South 41:28.6 (Abby Amick 10:28.0; Kaylee Heck 11:57.4; Hannah Armbrust 9:51.6; Maggie Meeds 9:11.6); 5) Service 43:28.8 (Caitlin Gohr 11:03.2; Garvee Tobin 12:13.3; Adeline Wright 10:00.5; Nadia Dworian 10:11.8); 6) Colony 43:52.5 (Annika Hannestad 10:28.4; Cathelyne Powers 12:35.7; Alyson Kopsack 10:05.6; Bella Block 10:42.8); 7) Palmer 44:35.3 (Rya Berrigan 10:29.4; Amy Baxter 13:21.6; Anahelene Taylor 10:48.9; Ruby Woodings 9:55.4); 8) Kenai 44:41.7 (Katie Cooper 11:51.3; Ithaca Bergholtz 13:22.1; Maria Salzetti 10:05.5; Riana Boonstra 9:22.8); 9) Lathrop 45:44.3 (Tjarn Bross 11:01.7; Clare Hanneman 12:51.0; Abigail Arens 11:30.2; Lupua Oba 10:21.4); 10) Dimond 46:09.0 (Abigail Luiken 13:54.6; Ruth Cvancara 11:14.0; Jasmine Langmann 10:13.1; Liesel Von Imhof 10:47.3); 11) East 46:33.2 (Annie Gonzales 11:00.5; Sarah Freeman 12:53.8; Rachael Schick 11:06.6; Ariana O'Harra 11:32.3); 12) Grace Christian 47:06.0 (Charlee Demintieff 11:59.2; Laura Ellis 13:07.4; Anna McLaughlin 11:12.4; Abigail Beveridge 10:47.0); 13) Homer 47:35.6 (Katia Holmes 12:20.3; Katie Davis 13:09.0; Mia Alexson, Homer, 11:14.9; Autumn Daigle 10:51.4); 14) Soldotna 48:39.1 (Kellie Arthur 12:07.7; Hannah Delker 14:25.1; Molly Erickson 11:09.5; Cameron Blackwell 10:56.8); 15) Valdez 49:49.0 (Rylee Norris 11:32.4; Taylor Huston 14:06.3; Angie Alfaro 12:20.2; Caitlin Connell 11:50.1); 16) Seward 50:00.2 (Ruby Lindquist 11:45.7; Emma Armand 15:21.0; Emmalee Moore 12:24.7; Sadie Lindquist 10:28.8); 17) Eagle River 51:41.0 (Myah Smith 12:54.4; Ashley Walsh 14:39.9; Kestrel Gilliam 12:50.8; Madeleine Taylor, 11:15.9);
Boys
Team scores
1) West 3:50:49.0, 2) Service 3:51:12.0, 3) South 3:52:10.9, 4) West Valley 3:59:20.9, 5) Dimond 4:11:49.7, 6) Grace Christian 4:14:29.6, 7) Chugiak 4:15:17.3, 8) Soldotna 4:16:23.8, 9) Colony 4:19:48.2, 10) Lathrop 4:20:43.2, 11) Palmer 4:25:27.8, 12) Kenai 4:26:34.9, 13) Homer 4:39:47.714) Eagle River 4:46:31.3; 15) Wasilla 5:17:26.7; 16) Valdez 5:38:46.3.
4x5K mixed-technique relay
(Classic, classic, freestyle, freestyle)
1) South 49:19.6 (Hamish Wolf 12:51.4; Andrew Hull 13:29.3; Kai Meyers 11:59.9; Hunter Wonders 10:59.0; 2) West 49:25.6 (Noah Ravens 13:08.2; Sam York 13:16.7; Tristan Wiese 11:56.4; Luke Jager 11:04.3); 3) Service 50:02.3, Zach Bassett 12:52.3; Eli Hermanson 14:07.0; Canyon Tobin 11:56.0; Gus Schumacher 11:07.0); 4) West Valley 51:17.5 (Ben Koenig 12:47.5; Ben Keener 14:27.7; Ari Endestad 12:17.3; Ti Donaldson 11:45.0); 5) Soldotna 54:10.6 (Jeremy Kupferschmid 13:59.7; Addison Downing 14:16.0; Joshua Shuler 13:27.8; Koby Vinson 12:27.1; 6) Dimond 54:38.9 (Bryce Pintner 13:51.8; Micah Barber 15:11.4; George Cvancara 12:29.2; Jack Wright 13:06.5); 7) Chugiak 54:56.2 (Brian Wing 13:27.3; Miles Dennis 14:21.8; Max Beiergroslein 12:58.4; Quinton Perham 14:08.7); 8) Grace Christian 55:24.4 (Trent Fritzel 13:30.7; Avi Johnson 15:04.7; Aiden Gannon 14:13.8; Luke Fritzel 12:35.2); 9) Colony 56:00.5, (Tracen Knopp 12:50.9; Elic Cowan 15:58.2; Gavin Block 12:40.7; Bradley Grover 14:30.7); 10) Lathrop 56:30.9 (Logan Mowry 13:04.6; Andrew Hanneman 15:28.6; Daryn Espinosa 14:38.5; Jonathan Burrell 13:19.2); 11) Kenai 57:02.8 (Karl Danielson 13:14.9; Eric Kempf 15:40.5; Trevor Debnam 14:26.6; Patrick Michel 13:40.8; 12) Palmer 57:15.0 (Josiah Alverts 13:16.1; Reese Qualls 16:38.7; Joseph Walling 13:36.2; Jeremy Houston 13:44.0; 13) Homer 1:00:02.0 (Jacob Davis 15:05.1; Denver Waclawski 17:09.3; Tadhg Scholz 14:10.5; Caleb Rauch 13:37.1); 14) Eagle River 1:02:04.6 (Torsten Renner 14:46.9; Nick Carl 16:49.6; Curtis Bay 15:00.4; Christian Baldridge 15:27.7); 15) Valdez 1:10:45.6 (Ben Swanson 15:05.9; Josten Carlson 20:41.9; Colton Prevost 18:08.2; John Banner 16:49.6); 16) Wasilla 1:11:21.1 (Abel Ravencraft 16:26.0; Andrew Bashor 22:03.3; Braden Brunnhoelzl 17:40.7; Taft Stiener 15:11.1).