Becca Rorabaugh, Sammy Legate and Oskar Flora pulled off sweeps in the two-race Matanuska Nordic Series last weekend at Hatcher Pass.
Racing on the Government Peak Recreation Area trails, Rorabaugh — who at age 31 is a masters-level skier — posted convincing victories in both senior women’s races, winning the 10-kilometer classic on Saturday by nearly 80 seconds and the 5-kilometer freestyle on Sunday by 24 seconds.
Legate won both races for U16 girls, and Flora won both races for U14 boys.
Tyler Kornfield and Kai Meyers each picked up a senior men’s win. Kornfield beat Meyer by 6.4 seconds in the 10K classic, and Meyers skied to a 23.2-second victory over Thomas O’Harra in the 10K freestyle. Claiming third place was Forrest Mahlen in the freestyle race and O’Harra in the classic race.
In the women’s races, runner-up honors went to Hannah Halvorsen in the classic race and Anna Darnell in the freestyle race. Darnell added a third-place finish in the classic race, and Garvie Tobin was third in the freestyle race.
The senior races also included U20, U18 and masters skiers. Tobin and Katey Houser swept the women’s U20 and U18 titles, respectively — Tobin was fourth overall in the classic race, and Houser was fifth overall in the classic race and fourth overall in the freestyle race.
For the men, Aaron Power was the top U18 skier in both races, grabbing ninth place overall in each of them. Peter Hinds and Garrett Butts each claimed a U20 win, with Hinds placing fourth overall in the classic race and Butts placing fourth overall in the freestyle race. Seth Downs was the top master each day.
The races were held in lieu of the annual Besh Cup series, which was canceled this season because of COVID-19.
Skiers head to Fairbanks at the end of the month for a Jan. 30-31 race series at Birch Hill.
Matanuska Nordic Series
Top 3 finishers
Saturday classic race
Men’s 10K overall — 1) Tyler Kornfield 27:57.4; 2) Kai Meyers 28:03.8; 3) Thomas O’Harra 28:05.4.
Top U20 finishers (with overall finish) — 4) Peter Hinds 28:32.2; 5) Zander Maurer 28:57.5; 6) Garrett Butts 29:01.5.
Top U18 finishers (with overall finish) — 9) Aaron Power 29:44.0; 11) Porter Blei 31:28.2; 14) Mark Eggener 32:00.8.
Women’s 10K overall — 1) Becca Rorabaugh 32:03.8; 2) Hannah Halvorsen 33:22.8; 3) Anna Darnell 33:27.1.
Top U20 finishers (with overall finish) — 4) Garvie Tobin 34:47.1; 7) Tatum Witter 35:31.0; 8) Annie Gonzales 35:55.5.
Top U18 finishers (with overall finish) — 5) Katie Houser 35:23.3; 6) Meredith Schwartz 35:27.3; 10) Emily Erickson 36:39.9.
U16 boys 5K — 1) Murphy Kimball 15:39.2; 2) Elias Soule 15:43.2; 3) Cole Flowers 16:02.9.
U16 girls 5K — 1) Sammy Legate 17:45.3; 2) Marley Ireland 18:08.4; 3) Olivia Soderstrom 18:39.5.
U14 boys 5K — 1) Oskar Flora 16:07.9; 2) Logan Cuddy 17:05.6; 3) Kieran Kaufman 17:30.4.
U14 girls 5K — 1) Zoe Rodgers 19:50.2; 2) Mia Stiassny 20:15.0; 3) Brynn Rathert 20:27.1.
Sunday freestyle race
Men’s 10K overall — 1) Kai Meyers 24:25.4; 2) Thomas O’Harra 24:48.6; 3) Forrest Mahlen 24:53.3.
Top U20 finishers (with overall finish) — 4) Garrett Butts 25:08.8; 6) Peter Hinds 25:29.0; 8) Zander Maurer 25:52.5.
Top U18 finishers (with overall finish) — 9) Aaron Power 26:29.5; 10) Porter Blei 27:00.7; 15) Mark Eggener 27:42.0.
Women’s 5K overall — 1) Becca Rorabaugh 13:40.6; 2) Anna Darnell 14:04.5; 3) Garvie Tobin 14:35.2.
Top U20 finishers (with overall finish) — 3) Tobin; 6) Annie Gonzales 14:53.4; 8) Tatum Witter 15:13.3.
Top U18 finishers (with overall finish) — 4) Katie Houser 14:47.9; 5) Meredith Schwartz 14:51.1; 9) Natalie Hood 15:13.8.
U16 boys 5K — 1) Elias Soule 13:30.5; 2) Owen Saltzman 13:51.4; 3) Murphy Kimball 13:53.8.
U16 girls 5K — 1) Sammy Legate 15:05.4; 2) Olivia Soderstrom 16:13.0; 3) Heidi Schumacher 16:14.2.
U14 boys 3.75K — 1) Oskar Flora 10:35.2; 2) Logan Cuddy 10:53.9; 3) Kieran Kaufman 11:32.7.
U14 girls 3.75K — 1) Madelin Lowen 12:48.1; 2) Brynn Rathert 13:02.7; 3) Merridy Littell 13:16.1.