Durango Nordic Ski Club’s Jack Purcell (U18M) and Janelle Dingler (U16F), earned places on the Rocky Mountain Junior Nationals team and will be racing against teams from across the country new week in Cable, Wisconsin.
Durango Nordic’s youth race team is decades in the making. Several Olympians and many other great athletes and people have grown up in our youth programs and raced for the team. Purcell and Dingler are continuing this legacy.
“It’s been my goal all year to qualify for nationals,” Purcell said. “I’m super excited to be going to Cable to be able to test my skills against skiers from across the Nation!”
Both Purcell and Dingler joined the race team during the 2022-2023 season. Purcell started with the youth cruisers program in sixth grade (now a junior at Durango High School) which was a great feeder to the race team. New to Durango in 2022, Dingler (now a freshman at Durango High School) started dry land training with the race team before ever being on a pair of Nordic skis. She caught the racing bug during her second year with the team.
Beside Purcell and Dingler, the Durango Nordic Ski Club Race team includes eight other athletes who all train together while ranging from nine to 17 years old.
The mixing of ages on the race team is unique to Durango Nordic. This speaks to a high degree of comradery and teamwork and sets up a great experience for older athletes to mentor those who are younger, while the younger ones strive to perform like the older team members.
Durango Nordic head coach, Abe Ott, has spent his life participating in Durango Nordic youth programs and joined the coaching staff as assistant. He stepped into the head coach position in November.
In a year with limited on-snow training options, Abe helped keep the team motivated. He will be joining Purcell and Dingler in Wisconsin serving as the assistant glide coach for the Rocky Mountain Junior Nationals Team. Sarah Olson joined Durango Nordic as the assistant coach in November. She also brings an incredible legacy on skis having grown up in Minnesota where she skied for the Loppet Foundation and her high school, and then went on to ski for the University of Fairbanks.
Durango Nordic’s practices begins in November and the team seeks out snow where and when possible, including participating in regional competitions leading up to the Junior National Qualifying (JNQ) races.
Race team training isn’t restricted to snow though. Dry land training keeps the athletes in great physical shape, maintains their endurance and skiing technique, and keeps the camaraderie growing throughout the year. Dry land training includes running, weight training, stretching, and roller skiing.
For more details on Durango Nordic youth programs and to follow Purcell and Dingler’s experience at Junior Nationals, visit durangonordic.org or follow Durango Nordic Ski Club on Facebook and Instagram.
