Final day of state high school ski championships belongs to Service Cougars

Service High skier Zander Maurer finally got his state championship Saturday. Two of them.

Maurer, last year’s state Skimeister, didn’t win either of this week’s individual races at the ASAA state cross-country skiing championships at Government Peak, but he collected some hardware on the final day of competition.

Maurer anchored Service’s victorious boys relay team, a mammoth win of nearly two minutes that clinched the overall state championship for the Cougars.

The Cougars swept the team titles for the second straight season, triumphs that were punctuated by a sweep of Saturday’s relay races. The Service girls, fueled by a fast second leg from Skimeister Meredith Schwartz, cruised to victory in the 4x3.75-kilometer classic relay.

In the boys race, Maurer teamed up with Joel Power, Aaron Power and Elias Soule to breeze past the competition in the 4x5K relay. Their winning time of 57 minutes, 21.4 seconds put them nearly two minutes ahead of second-place West Valley (59:26.1).

Chugiak finished a distant third with a team that included Michael Earnhart, who won the individual races Thursday and Friday to dethrone Maurer as Skimeister.

Earnhart turned in Saturday’s fastest anchor time — 13:44.2, with Maurer clocking 14:00.2 for the second-fastest time — but it wasn’t enough to overcome the unsurmountable lead Service built through three legs.

The Service girls also won their relay decisively. The team of Schwartz, Neena Brubaker, Mina Hancock and Tatum Witter teamed up for a time of 52:15.9 to breeze past West, which was second in 52:53.6.

West’s relay team included Quincy Donley, who on Friday became a state champion by winning the girls freestyle race. Schwartz won Thursday’s classic race and finished third Friday to claim Skimeister honors.

In the three-day team standings, Service dominated.

The boys posted a total time of 3:21:17 to beat runner-up Chugiak (3:29:41) by more than eight minutes. The girls compiled a time of 3:39:50 to beat runner West (3:47:22) by more than seven minutes.

ASAA/First National Bank nordic skiing championships

Boys

Final team standings

1) Service 3:21:17; 2) Chugiak 3:29:41; 3) West Valley 3:32:20; 4) West 3:33:27; 5) South 3:39:58; 6) Colony 3:43:38; 7) Dimond 3:50:39; 8) East 3:53:43; 9) Kenai 3:55:41; 10) Soldotna 4:02:35; 11) Palmer 4:09:31; 12) Eagle River 4:09:38; 13) Valdez 4:37:04; 14) Lathrop 4:37:39; 15) Seward 4:46:25.

4x5-kilometer classic relay

1) Service 57:21.4 (Joel Power, Elias Soule, Aaron Power, Alexander Maurer); 2) West Valley 59:26.1 (Caleb Petersen, Josh Baurick, Eric DiFolco, Luke Buth); 3) Chugiak 1:00:49.0 (Porter Blei, Michael Connelly, Ry Allwright, Michael Earnhart); 4) West 1:00:58.0 (Cole Flowers, Murphy Kimball, Noah Goltz, Mark Eggener); 5) Colony 1:03:05.0 (Noah Hanestad, Simeon Ramirez, Garrett Streit, Jayden Rice); 6) South 1:03:19.3 (Ben Fischer, Nolan Miller, Kyle Fischer, Owen Young) 7) Dimond 1:05:26.7 (Noah Rygh, Owen Saltzman, Jared Gardiner, Jacob Johnson) 8) East 1:05:59.7 (Ethan Howe, Noah Rehberg, Eli Stierwalt, Gareth LeCrone); 9) Kenai Central 1:06:06 (Tyler Hippchen, Ben Boersma, Gregory Fallon, Jack Laker); 10) Soldotna 1:08:32.2 (Quinn Cox, Dylan Hogue, Ryder Geisler, Foster Boze); 11) Eagle River 1:11:30.3 (Alex Carl, Jack Molloy, Henry Michener, Keenan Vedros); 12) Palmer 1:12:47.1 (Jaxson Lee, Tom Merritt, Evan Taylor, London Lee); 13) Lathrop 1:15:31.4 (Jonathan Ebel, Harrison Riggs, John Haas, Ian Lee); 14) Valdez 1:21:57.4 (Chase Randall, Rafe Cathathurs, Jeffrey Prevost, Piers Shirk).

Girls

Final team standings

1) Service 3:39:50; 2) West 3:47:22; 3) Palmer 3:48:2; 4) South 3:55:37; 5) Dimond 3:58:01; 6) West Valley 4:03:10; 7) Eagle River 4:10:09; 8) Soldotna 4:14:12; 9) Kenai 4:19:44; 10) Chugiak 4:21:38; 11) East 4:22:42; 12) Colony 4:27:17; 13) Homer 4:27:25; 14) North Pole 4:41:48.

4x3.75-kilometer relay

1) Service 52:15.9 (Neena Brubaker, Meredith Schwartz, Mina Hancock, Tatum Witter); 2) West 52:53.6 (Sammy Legate, Tarja Latva-Kiskola, Natalie Hood, Quincy Donley); 3) Palmer 53:46.7 (Rosie Whittington-Evans, Aila Berrigan, Ellie Henneman, Katey Houser); 4) South 54:10.4 (Lucy Young, Maura Black, Maggie Keffalos, Robyn Miller); 5) Dimond 55:58.5; (Amaeli Kam-Magruder, Maria Cvancara, Sophia Cvancara, Emily Erickson); 6) West Valley 56:25.7 (Hjelle Personius, Leni Stolz, Hannah Delamere, Zarah Laker-Morris); 7) Eagle River 58:33.5 (Emily Walsh, Claire Nelson, Elizabeth Ruehle, Linnea Gray); 8) Kenai Central 1:00:08.8 (Jayna Boonstra, Gabriella Tews, Leah Fallon, Emily Moss); 9) East 1:00:51.4 (Marley Ireland, Mamie Johnson, Amei Gove, Jessie Horning); 10) Soldotna 1:00:54.7 (Erika Arthur, Jordan Ruffner, Jordan Strausbaugh, Katie Delker); 11) Chugiak 1:01:32.9 (Patricia Casey, Jillian Gavalya, Kaleigh Amundson, Kiley Dennis); 12) Colony 1:02:26.5 (Anna Bell, Nicole Bell, Lydia Bushey, Lucy Shea); 13) Homer 1:03:57.1 (Zoe Stonorov, Eryn Field, Frida Renner, Ireland Styvar); 14) North Pole 1:20:16.4 (Lia Castillo, Danielle Beks, Danika Dawley, Madeline Castillo).