The Durango Nordic Ski Club took 26 skiers to historic Soldier Hollow, Utah, to compete in an event that featured more than 700 of the best youth nordic skiers in the west.
The Soldier Hollow Super Qualifier was held Jan. 30-31 at the 2002 Olympic venue for cross country skiing and biathlon, and some local Olympic dreamers had a weekend to remember.
Durango’s Kiri May won a gold and silver medal in the under-10 girls division, and Halle Moore won bronze in the U12 girls race to highlight an impressive week for the local skiers.
“The Soldier Hollow Super Qualifier is always a really fun event,” head coach Gary Colliander said in an email to The Durango Herald. “The race brings in teams from as far away as California, Oregon and Washington, giving our athletes a whole new field of skiers to race against.”
No matter what competition she’s facing, May has been a machine in the U10 girls 1-kilometer races. May won two golds in the previous event in Steamboat Springs and added a third consecutive win in Friday’s action at Soldier Hollow. She came up just short in Saturday’s race, but still pocketed a silver medal.
Moore finished in fifth in the U12 girls race Friday and followed up with bronze medal performance Saturday.
Moore’s brother, Logan, also had an impressive weekend finishing fifth in the U14 boys race Saturday. His result was the top boys finish of the weekend for Durango. He also finished seventh in Friday’s U14, race while Wiley Corra finished sixth. Corra finished seventh in Saturday’s race, two places behind Moore.
All competitors in the U16 age groups and older raced in qualifiers Friday. In U18 girls, Katja Freeburn, Maggie Wigton and Marit May were Durango’s qualifiers and finished sixth, ninth and 20th, respectively. In the U16 girls race, Carter Reiter finish 52nd, Cecilia Compton took 56th, Alma Wolf was 57th and Carmen Hall was 60th.
For the U16 boys, Cobe Freeburn finished 40th and Luke Tichi placed 71st.
Ethan Craig finished 15th for the U14 boys, and Jordan Taylor came in 14th for the U14 girls. Georgia Mynatt took 15th and Ruth Holcomb crossed in 30th. Fred Reiter was 16th in the U12 boys event, while the U12 girls had four top-20 placers in Moore (5), Carter Taylor (9), Ruby May (12) and Rose Reiter (20). Taylor finished fifth in Saturday’s race closely behind Moore, who finished third.
For the U10 boys, Andre Craig had 10th- and ninth-place finishes.
Durango Nordic’s final two races will be Feb. 20-21 in Vail and Feb. 27-28 in Aspen.
jfries@durangoherald.com
