January -overview
Hello AWS athletes and parents!
2021 is off to an exciting start! Locally, athletes have skied in the first high school races of the season, raced the second Anchorage Cup, and wrapped up weekend two of "Not-Besh-Cups." Internationally, Gus completed all eight stages of the Tour de Ski in historic fashion.
In the opening High School race, AWS skiers went 1-2 for both men and women. Congrats to Alexander Maurer, Aaron Power, Meredith Schwartz, and Quincy Donley for their podiums! Rounding out the top ten for AWS were Mark (4), Cole (9) Elias (10), Neena (4), Sammy (5), Tatum (6), and Mina (8).
In the Anchorage Cup Classic 15k, Alison Arians placed 5th among a competitive collegiate and professional field while Zander placed 9th as the first junior in the men's field. Meredith and Quincy placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the 5k for women while Mark and Murphy finished 1st and 2nd for the men. In the 3k race, Miya won with Ilsa close behind in 2nd for women and Liam Dudley took 2nd place for men.
This last weekend was the Matanuska Nordic Series in place of Besh Cups 3 and 4. Saturday was a classic distance race and Sunday was a skate distance race. Here are some of our top results:
Saturday Classic:
Zander Maurer-2nd place U20
Aaron Power 1st place, Mark Eggener- 3rd place U18
Meredith Schwartz- 2nd place U18
Tatum Witter- 2nd place U20
Murphy Kimball, Elias Soule, Cole Flowers 1, 2, 3 U16
Sammy Legate1st place, Olivia Soderstrom (U14) 3rd place U16
Brynn Rathert- 3rd place U14
Jack Levegue-1st place U12
Reine Soule and Miya Kam-Magruder, 1st and 2nd U12
Sophie Kimball- 1st place U10
Sunday Skate:
Zander 3rd place U20
Aaron 1st place, Mark 3rd place U18
Meredith 2nd place U18
Tatum 2nd place U20
Elias 1st place, Murphy 3rd place U16
Sammy, Olivia, Heidi 1, 2, 3 U16
Brynn 2nd place U14
Jack 1st place U12
Miya 1st place U12
Sophie 1st place U10
We also want to recognize Alison for racing into the top ten overall for Seniors/U20/U18 both days and Ava Murphy for dominating the three Coca-Cola Classic alpine races at Alyeska. Also we would like to highlight that Olivia is a U14 racing up with the U16 class, so her performance over the weekend was particularly outstanding! She moved to Anchorage from Fairbanks mid-2020 and her commitment to skiing is clear. We are excited to see her career progress with continued hard work!
Over in Europe, Gus raced eight times over a ten day period during the Tour de Ski. Highlights include a personal best 8th place finish, steadily improving results, and a historic 18th place overall finish (best ever for US men). Now that the tour is over (and Jan has been able to sleep past 4 am for a few days), Gus is heading to Lahti for the next world cup race. Read his Tour de Ski recap blog here: https://www.gusschumacher.com/blog
Congratulations again to everyone who has raced already this year, we are looking forward to the High School and Anchorage Cup races this weekend!
-AWS Coaches
