Park City Nordic Ski Club head coach Gordon Lange saw his squad go up against some of the best talent in the nation last weekend at the Soldier Hollow Super Qualifier.
The results were mixed, but he said his team is making strides.
“Aside from the Junior Olympics, this is probably the biggest race in the country,” he said.
Among 645 racers in two days at the Soldier Hollow cross-country course, Park City was one of many teams from six different divisions from all around the western United States.
Lange said his older teams struggled, while J2 boys and girls were solid and placed well.
He said he had three J2 girls and boys finish in the top 20 out of 100 racers in their respective races. He singled out Devon Dunmire, a first-year J2 girl who was Park City’s best girl during the Saturday 5K classic race.
“She was our best,” Lange said. “That was a pretty nice surprise.”
Also mentioned by the head coach was Kyle Beling, who Lange said was a standout and finished in the top 15 of his class
On Friday, the event featured the skate-sprint races around a 1.3-kilometer track. Young racers attempted to ski as fast as they could to qualify for the top 30; each separate heat took the top two qualifiers to advance to the eventual final rounds.
On Saturday, the distance races took place and the older age groups took center stage.
The course was a 15-kilometer track that Lange called “pretty much a man’s course.”
The older classes struggled due in large part to the larger field they were faced with. Of the 645 racers over the weekend, Lange said the bulk of the competitors were in that 14-and-older range.
He also said that almost every racer on his team is competing in an older age range, which makes it more difficult to compete consistently.
The head coach was proud to be one of the home teams represented among some of the country’s best and said Soldier Hollow was able to host a clean and successful event.
“Conditions couldn’t have been better,” he said. “Everything was so organized and everyone was handled so well. That’s a big race for (Soldier Hollow) and it’s not easy.”
The team was without star Tyler Smith, who is in Europe competing in the World Junior Championships, and Lange said while this year’s team isn’t as top-heavy as it has been in recent years, it’s a work in progress.
“We have some real depth,” he said. “Right now, we just have to develop those racers. I think it will come.”