The Hood River Valley High School Nordic ski team competed at the OISRAN (Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association Nordic) high school Nordic championships held at Mount Bachelor near Bend on Feb. 24-25. Skiers from 14 teams across the state competed in a 5K skate race on Friday afternoon, then a 4K classic-style race on Saturday morning, followed by varsity and JV three-member team relay races.
In the girls’ 5K skate race, senior Katen Rench took sixth place, with a time of 17:35. The other HRV girls in order of finishing were Hazel Haspela, Thea Brevard, Vivian Olson, Zoe Todorov, Tally Godkin and Sadie Smith.
In the boys’ 5K skate race, junior Fergus Waag took second place, with a time of 13:43, less than a second behind winner Reed Zuepper of Summit High School in Bend. The other HRV boys in order of finishing were Ashton Gilbert, Elliot Hawley, Logan King, Cooper Wood, Seb Clarkson, Colin Gerald, Fin Van Rutledge and Sullivan Jones.
In the boys’ 4K classic race, Waag finished in sixth place with a time of 15:01. The other HRV boys in order of finishing were Gilbert, Clarkson, Gerald, Wood, Hawley, Van Rutledge, King and Jones.
In the girls’ overall results (skate and classic races combined), Rench finished 10th out of 80 skiers. In the boys’ overall, Waag finished 4th, and Gilbert finished 11th out of 66 skiers. The top 15 combined finishers took home medals.
In the varsity relays, HRV girls finished seventh out of 11 teams, and the HRV boys’ team finished fourth out of nine teams. The JV HRV boys’ team came in fifth out of 12 teams.
In combined team results, the HRV team finished an impressive fourth overall, behind the three Bend teams: Summit, Bend and Mt, View. This was the final race of the season for the Nordic ski team, and the last high school race for graduating seniors Thea Brevard, Todorov, Olson, Smith, Godkin, Ivy Parker, Wood, Hawley and Kadin Mitchell.
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