West High sweeps boys and girls relay races to win Alaska ski championships for 2nd straight year

Both the West High boys and girls cross-country ski teams used first-place finishes in Saturday’s relay races to repeat as ASAA Division I state champions at Kincaid Park.

It was the first time in five years on the girls side and six years on the boys side that a team other than Service was able to successfully defend their state overall team title.

“It seems like in all the state (meets) we’ve done, our first day is not amazing but we do good,” West senior Murphy Kimball said. “In the mass start, we just blow it open in the team score and everyone has amazing races, and then in relays, we just do amazing again.”

The Eagles girls team beat out perennial powerhouse Service for the top spot by finishing with a mark of 36:13.7 in relay race, nearly a minute faster than the Cougars’ second-place time of 37:06.2.

“We knew this was going to be hard — all of our competitors are so good,” West junior Piper Sears said.

West’s girls returned every member of last year’s title-winning relay team, and the Eagles were highly motivated to send their lone graduating compatriot out on top.

“It was so bittersweet,” said senior Berit Meyers, who skied the fourth and final leg. “I was trying to make sure to not get caught and make my team proud.”

Heading into Saturday, West junior Merridy Littell was full of confidence after surprising herself with a first-place finish in the classic 7.5K mass start race Friday.

“I knew we were coming into the day behind Service, so my entire goal for the day was to put in as much time against whoever was from Service or South, who was also within striking distance,” she said. “I wasn’t anticipating having a win. I was struggling on some of the uphills but I knew I had to stay with that lead pack and somehow I ended up at the front at the end.”

[West skiers take top spots in classic races at Alaska state cross country skiing championships]

Last year, the Eagles boys team won the state title despite coming up short in the relay race to Service by a single second (47:36-47.37). This year, they brought back the same group — except this time around, the group of seniors was determined to not let it go down to the wire. They won by nearly a full minute.

“Throughout the race at least for me, I was pushing the whole time because I didn’t want to leave anything to chance,” West’s Hatcher Menkens said.

Their mark of 30:17.0 was 49.1 seconds faster than Colony, which came in second with a time of 31:06.1 and over a minute faster than Service, which finished third with a 31:36.3.

“I was like this is the last one, got to go out hard and finish strong,” West skier Blake Hanley said. “I knew that I could tag off to Murphy and the boys would keep rolling.”

Cole Flowers didn’t feel any pressure as he skied the Eagles’ fourth and final leg for the race after Hanley and Kimball gave the team such a large lead during their blazing first two laps.

“These guys all had the hard part, I just had to take it to the finish (line),” Flowers said.

Hanley completed the first lap in 7:26.6, which was nearly 11 seconds faster than the next closest skier, while Kimball’s 7:05.7 was the fastest anyone covered the 3K course in the entire event.

“When Blake tagged me, I just started to hammer and knew it was only 3K, so I just made the skis work,” Kimball said. “I thought I heard them behind me, so I got scared in the middle and started hammering the rest.”

At the Division II level, Kenai Central pulled off a clean sweep of the team titles as well. It marked the fourth straight for the Kardinals girls team and the third title in the last four years for the boys. Their relay teams finished in 11th place overall for the girls and sixth for the boys.

Soderstrom, Flagstad take home Skimeister honors

The Skimeister award is given to the skier with the lowest combined times of the two individual races at state, and this year, the two honorees hailed from Service and South High.

For the second year in a row, Service sophomore Olivia Soderstrom earned the prestigious honor after winning Thursday’s freestyle 5K with a mark of 14:49.7 and coming in sixth in Friday’s classic 7.5K with a mark of 23:47.6, for a combined time of 38:39.3.

“This week, I didn’t know what to expect. I was sick all week, and I just showed up on Thursday hoping for a podium and ended up doing pretty well,” she said. “Yesterday, I knew I wasn’t going to win but I did my best to stay with the lead group and in contention for Skimeister, and I did, so I’m happy with it.”

Although he was narrowly edged out for first place in both boys races on Thursday and Friday, South High sophomore Vebjorn Flagstad was still excited to be named Skimeister for the first time after cracking the top 10 as a freshman.

“It’s amazing, I just got more consistent,” he said. “I’m super happy that I was able to be consistent even if I didn’t win.”

His second-place finish time of 12:37.1 in the 5K freestyle combined with his dramatic runner-up finish time of 19:34.9 in the 7.5K classic produced a mark of 32:12.0, and has him motivated to be even better moving forward.

“I’m hoping to get some at-state victories in the future,” Flagstad said.

Alaska state cross country skiing championships

At Kincaid Park

Thursday

Freestyle 5K

Girls (Top 10)

1. Olivia Soderstrom, Service, 14:49.7; 2. Mia Stiassny, South, 14:57.2; 3. Miyana Kam-Magruder, Service, 15:02.6; 4. Piper Sears, West, 15:08.0; 5. Merridy Littell, West, 15:17.4; 6. Tania Boonstra, Soldotna, 15:35.9; 7. Berit Meyers, West, 15:48.9; 8. Alise Elliott, South, 15:52.2; 9. Haley Finch, Service, 15:52.8; 10. Elliot Sensabaugh, Colony, 15:57.2

Boys (Top 10)

1. Oskar Flora, Service, 12:35.7; 2. Vebjorn Flagstad, South, 12:37.1; 3. Cole Flowers, West, 12:41.3; 4. Weston Sensabaugh, Colony, 12:54.2; 5. Elias Oswald, Service, 12:55.7; 6. Hatcher Menkens, West, 13:01.9; 7. Wells Wappett, Lathrop, 13:03.1; 8. Oliver Wright, West, 13:03.7; 9. Jack Leveque, Service, 13:13.4; 10. Blake Hanley, West, 13:15.4

Friday

Boys

Mass start classic 7.5K

Division I (overall) top 10

1. Murphy Kimball, West, 19:34.8; 2. Vebjorn Flagstad, South, 19:34.9; 3. Cole Flowers, West, 20:00.2; 4. Coby Marvin, Colony, 20:05.3; 5. Blake Hanley, 20:13.4; 6. Oskar Flora, Service, 20:13.5; 7. Logan Cuddy, 20:15.3; 8. Miles Numme-Worrell, East, 20:15.6; 9. Jack Leveque, Service, 20:30.5; 10. Gabriel Black, Colony, 20:30.6.

Division II podium

1. Gregory Fallon, Kenai, 21:34.0; 2. Jody Goodrich, Homer, 21:59.6; 3. Jack Laker, Kenai, 22:23.7.

Girls

Mass start classic 7.5K

Division I (overall) top 10

1. Merridy Littell, West, 23:41.6; 2. Piper Sears, West, 23:42.1; 3. Tania Boonstra, Soldotna, 23:43.6; 4. Miyana Kam-Magruder, Service, 23:43.9; 5. Elliot Sensabaugh, 23:47.3; 6. Olivia Soderstrom, Service, 23:47.6; 7. Mia Stiassny, South, 23:48.6; 8. Alise Elliott, South, 24:08.1; 9. Maya Tirpack, South, 24:48.6; 10. Berit Meyers, West, 24:51.8.

Division II podium

1. Emily Moss, Kenai, 27:03.0; 2. Daisy Walker, Homer, 27:19.3; 3. Isla Crouse, Kenai, 27:53.0.

Saturday

Girls

4 x 3K Mixed Technique Relay

Top 10 overall

1. West 36:13.7; 2. Service 37:06.2; 3. Soldotna 38:18.0; 4. South 38:20.6; 5. Colony 39:26.2; 6. West Valley 40:22.0; 7. East 40:30.5; 8. Chugiak 41:05.6; 9. Juneau-Douglas 41:35.6; 10. Dimond 41:50.5

Boys

4 x 3K Mixed Technique Relay

Top 10 overall

1. West 30:17.0; 2. Colony 31:06.1; 3. Service 31:36.3; 4. South 32:08.8; 5. West Valley 32:41.6; 6. Kenai 33:35.0; 7. East 33:53.1; 8. Dimond 34:12.5; 9. Chugiak 34:47.8; 10. Eagle River 34:55.4

[Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of the skier in the first photo. The photo shows Cole Flowers, not Murphy Kimball, of West High.]