Day One: Mass-start duathlon races at Frisco Nordic Center
Spencer Lacy gaps the J3 field leaving the stadium, while Michael Ward steps up during the skate, passing Matt Ogier to take second … Tad Elliott takes the J1/OJ race, with Ian Havlick and Colin Struthers claiming second and third … Cully Brown tops the class for J5, with Joel Sawyer closely behind … Mason Lacy holds off Tyler Reinking to take third in J2, while Scott Lacy keeps Rogan Brown just behind him to take the win … Kerrigan owns the J6 class, turning in a fast time … Casey Ward drops the hammer during the skate leg, passing Eric Meyer for the Senior men win; Andrew Kastning takes third while simultaneously dominating the RMN coaches’ event … Sepp Kuss overcomes a fall at the start to finish third in J4, just behind Max Scrimgeour, while Gino Pastore takes the win …
Molly Newman, Mary Rose and Paige Elliott finish 2-3-4 within two seconds of each other in the J2 race, with Hannah Hausman taking the victory … Robyn Kresge and Emily Patterson chase hard in the J4 race, but Lucy Newman holds them off for the win … Olivia Rose has no competition in the J5 race, but settles for taking out a couple of boys … Annie Wilson, lone Senior woman, gets all the glory … Hannah Smith sits during the classic portion and explodes during the skate to win the J3 girls, while Michaela Frias and AliciaRose Pastore battle it out for second and third; two hours later, Hannah’s father Rich Smith races while hundreds of other parents stand idle … Jamie Woelk owns the J1/OJ race, with sisters Brittany and Briana Perkins filling the rest of the podium …
Day Two: Interval-start classic races at Gold Run Nordic
Alexi Lainis gives Cully Brown and Joel Sawyer some company on the J5 podium, finishing third behind the duo who went 1-2 the day before … Scott Lacy holds off Rogan Brown for the second day in a row, while Mason Lacy narrowly (4/10th of a second!) takes third from Tom Sawyer; Leadville represents, with Chris Lange old-school double-poling his way to 5th … Back from college, Sylvan Ellefson wins the J1/OJ race over Ian Havlick, with Colin Struthers third; Sam Tyler, out all last season with a knee injury, apparently back in business with a top-10 finish … William Kerrigan continues his dominance of the J6 class with a time that would put him in the mix in the older J5 race … Dirk Grimm jams his way to the win for Senior men, with UNM coach Fredrik Landstedt less than four seconds out; Mark Iverson third … Rich Smith once again races — why don’t you? … In the battle of cool names, Gino Pastore tops Max Scrimgeour and Fritz Carpenter to win the J4 race, with Wolfie Virostek coming back from a tough one the day before to take 6th …
Haleigh Armstrong takes third, joining Jamie Woelk and Brittany Perkins on the steps; don’t call it a comeback, but Ashley Quiggle takes 6th … Lauren Jortberg gives Olivia Rose a run for her money in the J5 race, but comes up just short … Karlie Moore comes in off the radar to take the J2 race over Paige Elliott and Mary Rose; top-8 finishers within a minute of each other … Elena Breed led the classic leg of the J3 duathlon but had to settle for fourth after the skate; today she wins. Jessica Jortberg matches her sister with a second, with Hannah Smith third … Dori McNeil comes into the picture for J4s, taking second, while Tanya Petach takes a step up from yesterday’s finish for third; Lucy Newman goes two-for-two … Kim Roush takes the Senior women race as the only entry; again we must query: “Rich Smith races — why don’t you?”