Skiing

Anchorage's Schumacher skis to another gold medal at Junior National championships

Anchorage's Gus Schumacher struck gold for the second time in two races at the U.S. Junior National cross-country ski championships Wednesday in Lake Placid, New York.

Schumacher, an Alaska Winter Stars and Service High skier, won the Under-18 boys' classic sprint race on the Mount Van Hoevenberg trails.

He was the only medalist for Team Alaska, which advanced four skiers to the age-group A finals and seven to the B finals.

Canyon Tobin, an Alaska Pacific University club member who skied in the same final as Schumacher, placed fourth, the second best finish by an Alaskan.

Posting fifth-place finishes were George Cvancara of Alaska Nordic Racing in the U16 boys final and Jenna DiFolco of Fairbanks XC in the U18 girls final.

Of the seven Alaskans who made it to the B finals, two of them won their races to claim seventh place overall — U20 skiers Hunter Wonders and Maggie York. Both train at APU.

Wonders was one of three Alaskans in his six-man B final. Tracen Knopp of Alaska Nordic Racing and Logan Mowry of Fairbanks XC placed third and fourth, respectively, in the final to claim ninth and 10th place overall, respectively. The top six places in a sprint race are determined in the A final; places seven through 12 are determined in the B final.

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Other top-12 finishes for Team Alaska included Eli Hermanson of AWS (8th in U16 boys), Andrew Hull of AWS (11th in U18 boys) and Kendall Kramer of Fairbanks XC (12th in U16 girls).

The championships began Monday with four medals for the Alaskans. Among them was a gold medal for Schumacher in the U18 10-kilometer freestyle race and silver for Wonders in the U20 10K.

Competition continues through Saturday.

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