News & Stories

Loppet Nordic Racing Wins Second National Championship

Thirty four LNR athletes traveled to the Junior Nationals (aka JN’s), March 7-15, in Truckee, California. They were part of a 54 athlete team from the Midwest Region, which includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. For the first time, the Midwest fielded the largest team at the JN’s, with a total field size of some 500. The top Regions generally include New England, Rocky Mountain, Intermountain and Alaska. The Midwest coaches and athletes were definitely a little apprehensive going into these races, with very warm conditions and an altitude of 7200 ft, these were definitely not conditions we were comfortable racing in.

A group of 10 athletes traveled out to Truckee a week early with John Schneider to get a jump on acclimatization. Though the skiing worked out, it was a historically terrible snow year for Truckee where they typically have 8-10 feet of snow pack in March.

Racing kicked off with the Skate Sprint. LNR athletes had super results in the prelim, but as often happens in Sprints, crazy things happen and many our top athletes did not advance. Top LNR athletes were:

• Tamer Mische-Richter U20M, 9th
• Zak Ketterson U18M, 2nd
• Sarah Bezdicek U20F, 3rd
• Vivian Hett U20F, 4th,
• Kelly Koch U16 F, 10th.

Probably the very best day of LNR at Junior Nationals was the Skate Interval start race. Top Results included:

• Kelly Koch U16 F, 10th
• Nicole Schneider U18 F, 5th
• Abby Drach U18F, 6th
• Margie Freed U18F, 9th
• Zak Ketterson U18M, 2nd
• Vivan Hett U20F, 1st
• Sarah Bezdicek U20F, 4th
• Allison Ternes U20F, 5th
• Anna French U20F, 10th
• Luke Brown U20M, 4th

The Classic Mass Start was a challenge for the Midwest Team, and was definitely our worst day in the results. Klister skiing in 50F weather is something we’ll need to work on for the future. Notable results were:

• Luke Brown U20M, 8th
• Vivian Hett U20F, 2nd
• Anna French U20F, 4th
• Zak Ketterson U20M, 5th

The last day of racing was the Classic 3 x 2.5 Relays, and this went much better with Midwest Relays finishing well. Highlights included:

• 3rd Place U18 Women: Rocci Woelk (NordicWerks), Nicole Schneider, Margie Freed
• 1st Place U20 Women: Vivian Hett, Anna French, Caroline Brisbois (NMU)
• 4th Place U20 Women: Allison Ternes, Amanda Kautzer, Sarah Bezdicek
• 1st Place U18 Men: Mac FitzPatrick (CXC), Leo Hipp (NordicWerks), Zak Ketterson

One of the really fun aspects of Junior Nationals is the competition between the regions, and a real regional camaraderie develops over the week of racing. Mid West athletes finished in 2nd place, behind New England. This equaled last year’s placing at JN’s in Vermont, but with a much smaller points margin this year. The Midwest will be looking to take the top spot next year when the JN’s move to Telemark, Wisconsin.

Competition for the Club Championship is also an important honor at the JN’s, and one that LNR has figured prominently for the last 3 years. For the second year in a row, Loppet Nordic Racing won the Overall Club Championship at the Junior National Championships at Auburn Ski Club in Truckee, California. The LNR Women totally dominated the Women’s Club competition, easily winning the Women’s title. The LNR men finished second to APU, and in the Overall Club scoring, LNR won by a large margin over APU.

The LNR and Midwest coaching staff are looking forward to racing at home in 2016 at Junior Nationals at Telemark, Wisconsin.

Club Scoring at 2015 Junior Nationals

Loppet Nordic Racing Athletes on the Midwest JN Team

	Status	Registration Open	Starting 6/2/20	Starting 6/16/20	Starting 6/30/20
Tri-Loppet Off-Road Triathlon: Individual	Open	$50	$60	$65	$70
Tri-Loppet Off-Road Triathlon: Relay	Open	$30	$40	$45	$50
Du-Loppet Off-Road Duathlon: Individual	Open	$50	$60	$65	$70
Du-Loppet Off-Road Duathlon: Relay	Open	$30	$40	$45	$50