Finally first: Jace Peters wins Colorado state Nordic ski title | VailDaily.com
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Finally first: Jace Peters wins Colorado state Nordic ski title

Vail Mountain School battles Summit and Battle Mountain's Alpine skiers carry team to second-place finish

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Jace Peters leads out the boys 5-kilometer mass start at Friday's state ski meet. Peters went on to win the race by 24 seconds.
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily

On the final day of his last prep Nordic ski race, Jace Peters finally realized his hard-earned return on a disciplined physiological investment.

“This has been eight, nine years. Ever since middle school, I’ve been looking towards the opportunity to compete at a state meet. And then, I wanted to be No. 1,” Peters said after winning the boys individual classic mass start at the Frisco Nordic Center, his first ever state title. Peters placed second overall in the state cross-country race last fall, had a second-place in the classic mass start last season (and has been third and fourth in Nordic as well), was second in skimeister state as a freshman and has been an all-state runner in both track and cross-country multiple times throughout his Lake County career.

The endless pavement pounding and late-October sessions spent skiing in tire tracks up Hagerman Pass — and, yes, all of the runner-up finishes — ended up being totally worth it.

“Finally, finally, after years and years of training — every day, week-in, week-out, all-year long — finally, making it happen today means so much. Hours and hours come to fruition in a 16-minute race,” he said.

Of course, in every Quenton Cassidy fantasy, the John L. Parker Jr. trademarked “trials of miles” must climax a certain way: with a beautiful race. Peters did just that, relaxing with the top-10 through 1k before dealing every opponent an authentic gut-check with his furious, lung-busting surge up the 5-kilometer course’s first major A-climb.

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Peters after putting on a huge move in the first 1.5-kilometers of Friday’s mass start.
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily

“I was going to go 15-seconds, sprint-pace, on that hill and that’s what I did,” Peters said of his Martin Johnsrud Sundby-like breakaway on Buzzsaw. “I looked back and I had a gap on them, and I decided to just go and take it.”

From there, he kept the pedal on the gas, distancing the field by 15 seconds at the top of the course.

Peters reaches the course high-point all-alone.
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily

“I was hurting,” Peters said. “I think being in first and having a state of getting a state championship was able to keep me going.” Summit’s James Sowers would move past Steamboat’s Griffin Rillos — both athletes who have beaten Peters in earlier-season races and would finish second and third, respectively — but even with Peter’s small fall heading down the steep s-turns of Hanimal’s Trail — the Lake County senior swooped away on M’Rezy’s’ gradual double-pole section. He was rewarded with ample space to savor his picturesque 24-second win.

“Praise God,” Peters said when asked how he felt after finishing. “He’s the one whose given me the ability to do this — everything I’ve done or accomplished is going to glorify Him.”

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Vail Mountain boys come up just short in boys Nordic team title

Josiah Horning and Will Brunner battle up a steep climb at the Frisco Nordic Center during Friday’s mass start classic race.
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily

At the start of the season, Vail Mountain School’s Cyrus Creasy, Will Brunner and Mason and Owen Cruz-Abrams had a goal of winning the boys Nordic team state title. After Thursday’s first day, they trailed Summit by just seven points. On Friday, they were head-hunting green guys.

“Just staying strong through all the hills the entire time was super important,” said Brunner, who passed two Summit athletes coming up an early hill on the Buzzsaw portion of the course. “It was just a matter of determination and sticking with it,” added Creasy before Mason Cruz-Abrams interrupted, “And then some deliberate downhill skiing was key. It got sketchy coming down those switchbacks.”  

That’s VMS in a nutshell: a close-knit group of friends who can ski hard and finish each others’ sentences.

“I think it’s the best cross-training in the world and being able to actually do a sport for my school — that’s super important to me,” said Brunner, who runs for Battle Mountain in the spring and fall.

“I love reppin’ the blue and white. I think that’s super important and balancing Nordic with running in the winter is fun. I love racing with these boys; I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

In the end, Creasy took seventh, outstretching Brunner at the line by 0.4-seconds, to lead the Gore Rangers.

Will Brunner and Cyrus Creasy pull each other along at the high-point of the 5k course during Friday’s mass start classic state ski race.
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily

“I saw Will pass me and I was like, ‘I gotta stay with him,'” Creasy said. “I was honestly just hoping to pull some better points than yesterday. Today, I felt a lot better and in the right mood and right vibe and I just left it out there.”

The elder Cruz-Abrams was 11th and little brother Owen gained valuable experience with an impressive 22nd-place finish.

“I felt like I was able to get with the group and stay with the group. Grind the downhills, pass some kids — I felt like it went really well,” Owen Cruz-Abrams said. Still, VMS would finish 12 points behind the Tigers for second. Even falling short of their year-long goal, Mason Cruz-Abrams was thrilled to finish his prep career with his pals.

“It’s great,” said Mason, who will head to Harvard to ski in the EISA next year. “I’m lucky that I’m going to continue doing this for four more years, but it means so much to me to come here and put it all out here for the team. Great way to go out as a Gore Ranger.”

Mason Cruz-Abrams finished his Gore Ranger career with an 11th-place finish in the classic mass start race at the Colorado state ski meet.
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily

“I’m super proud of all of these guys. They put their heart and soul out there,” said head coach Shawn Ellenbaum. “They’re super pumped, they’re fun guys, they’re so respectful and they love each other and they get out there and give it their all. I see it every day at school, too — they study hard, they’re student-athletes — these are some of the best kids around.”

Huskies take second-place in overall Alpine/Nordic team score

Battle Mountain finished second as a team in the combined Alpine and Nordic ski race after Thursday and Friday’s races.
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily

Andrew Conley took sixth overall in the slalom on day 2 of the state Alpine meet at Copper Mountain on Friday, leading three Huskies into the top nine.

“He had one of his best high school races in slalom,” said head coach Erik Gilbert. “Second run was great.”

Henry Regrut placed seventh and Cricket Byrne finished ninth for the Huskies, who were second overall in the Alpine team scores, just four points behind Steamboat Springs. Those points helped Battle Mountain finish second in the overall team (combined Alpine and Nordic) race for the second straight season, just 20 points behind Summit.

“They carried us,” Nordic coach Jeff Apps said of the Alpine skiers.

“Today played out really well. I don’t think we could have asked our kids to do better,” Gilbert added. “They all showed up and supported each other.”

In the Nordic race, senior Kyle Ross got tangled up in the mass start, but was able to muster a 38th-place finish. As the snow temperature rose from 7 degrees to 23 degrees in the hour between girls and boys races, coaches scrambled to make kick-wax adjustments.

Miles McKenzie led the Huskies with a 14th-place finish, with Finn Sullivan coming in 23rd and John McAbbe rounding out the scoring in 25th. Ethan Barber was the top Eagle Valley skier, pushing his way into 12th as the Devils finished 10th as a team. Kai Skellion and Tyler Blair finished 24th and 40th, respectively.

An Eagle Valley skier prepares to descend a sweeping s-turn at the state ski meet on Friday.
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily

Top-30 individual Alpine and Nordic results, plus full team scores from day 2 can be found on VailDaily.com.

Colorado state Alpine meet – Day 2, slalom

Top 30

Pl  Bib  Class Team    Name                Run 1         Run 2        Result 
________________________________________________________________________________
1   461  Sr    SSP   Colin Kagan           47.92 (1)     45.24 (1)   1:33.16 (1) 
2   185  Sr    MID   Sebastian Wiser       48.32 (2)     46.00 (3)   1:34.32 (2) 
3   195  Jr    MID   Garrett Gillest       48.56 (4)     46.85 (4)   1:35.41 (3) 
4   409  Jr    SUM   Alex Elsig            48.52 (3)     47.24 (5)   1:35.76 (4) 
5   411  Sr    SUM   Michael Cheek         51.81 (5)     49.98 (8)   1:41.79 (5) 
6   17   Sr    BMH   Andrew Conley         53.30 (9)     49.31 (6)   1:42.61 (6) 
7   65   Sr    BMH   Henry Regrut          52.97 (8)     49.86 (7)   1:42.83 (7) 
8   469  Sr    SSP   Erik Sandvik          52.47 (7)     50.81 (11)  1:43.28 (8) 
9   12   Sr    BMH   Michael 'Cricket'     54.10 (12)    50.04 (9)   1:44.14 (9) 
10  989  So    DUR   Holden Bronson        54.00 (11)    51.45 (12)  1:45.45 (10)
11  200  Sr    MID   Micah Byrum           55.00 (14)    50.54 (10)  1:45.54 (11)
12  965  Jr    DUR   Ian Fehr              54.59 (13)    51.69 (14)  1:46.28 (12)
13  910  Jr    NED   Dylan Kelly           55.48 (15)    51.49 (13)  1:46.97 (13)
14  391  Fr    VMS   Carter Pierce         57.03 (20)    53.53 (15)  1:50.56 (14)
15  81   Sr    CCH   Parker Scott          57.19 (21)    55.13 (18)  1:52.32 (15)
16  913  Jr    NED   Nicholas Bigelow      59.39 (23)    55.95 (19)  1:55.34 (16)
17  9    Sr    BMH   Gavin Brewster      1:00.81 (29)    54.69 (17)  1:55.50 (17)
18  50   So    BMH   Keelan Losa         1:00.13 (27)    56.21 (21)  1:56.34 (18)
19  914  So    NED   Finn Mutuc          1:01.81 (35)    56.02 (20)  1:57.83 (19)
20  919  So    NED   Cole Gjertson         59.69 (25)    58.17 (26)  1:57.86 (20)
21  7    Jr    BMH   Sawyer Blair        1:00.50 (28)    57.71 (25)  1:58.21 (21)
22  987  So    DUR   Dane Englund        1:01.17 (30)    57.58 (24)  1:58.75 (22)
23  36   Jr    BMH   Michael Hoyos       1:02.06 (40)    56.92 (22)  1:58.98 (23)
24  467  Jr    SSP   Wyatt Graves        1:01.70 (34)    57.45 (23)  1:59.15 (24)
25  418  Sr    SUM   Jackson Campbell    1:01.87 (38)    59.76 (28)  2:01.63 (25)
26  470  So    SSP   Quinn Skinner       1:01.93 (39)  1:01.57 (30)  2:03.50 (26)
27  19   Sr    BMH   Phillip D'Andrea      56.51 (17)  1:08.95 (31)  2:05.46 (27)
28  34   Jr    BMH   Samuel Higbie       1:01.83 (36)  1:23.30 (36)  2:25.13 (28)
29  120  Fr    EVH   Cayden Spiegel      1:24.91 (47)  1:21.25 (33)  2:46.16 (29)
30  121  Jr    EVH   Zach Higbee         1:27.32 (49)  1:21.34 (34)  2:48.66 (30)
Colorado state Nordic meet – Day 2, 5k classic mass start

Top 30

Place, name, School, Time, Points
1 Jace Peters LCHS 16:11.4 – 60
2 James Sowers* SUM 16:35.5 – 59
3 Griffiin Rillos* SSHS 16:52.9 – 58
4 Gray Barker MPHS 16:53.0 – 57
5 Evan Morrison EHS 17:10.0 – 56
6 Josiah Horning LCHS 17:18.8 – 55
7 Cyrus Creasy VMS 17:19.1 – 54
8 Will Brunner VMS 17:19.5 – 53
9 Carter Niemkiewicz SUM 17:21.7 – 52
10 Roan Varble SUM 17:32.4 – 51
11 Mason Cruz-Abrams VMS 17:43.8 – 50
12 Ethan Barber EVHS 17:53.3 – 49
13 Trace Fondy PSD 17:56.9 – 48
14 Miles Mckenzie BMHS 18:01.3 – 47
15 Ewan Gallagher MPHS 18:01.5 – 46
16 Parker Osborn SUM 18:06.3
17 Christian Skowron SUM 18:26.3
18 Brody Henning SUM 18:34.2
19 Jaren Peters LCHS 18:36.4 – 45
20 Jonah Mocatta SUM 18:36.9
21 Kyle Vogelbacher MPHS 18:54.9 – 44
22 Owen Cruz-Abrams VMS 18:55.8
23 Finn Sullivan BMHS 19:01.8 – 43
24 Kai Skellion EVHS 19:04.8 – 42
25 John McAbbe BMHS 19:07.8 – 41
26 Connor Frithsen SSHS 19:08.1 – 40
27 Campbell Forkner PSD 19:13.2 – 39
28 Shane Griffith PSD 19:14.4 – 38
29 Connor Larson BMHS 19:17.4
30 Cade Shortridge PSD 19:23.2

Colorado state ski meet – team scores

Overall

School Skate Classic GS Slalom Total
Summit 161 162 147 154 624
Battle Mt. 149 131 163 161 604
Middle Park 146 147 140 167 600
Steamboat 128 132 173 155 588
Nederland 88 85 118 137 428
Vail Mt. School 154 157 45 47 403
Lake County 147 160 88 0 395
Clear Creek 83 80 97 121 381
Evergreen 112 87 126 0 325
Eagle Valley 122 127 26 47 322
Durango 0 0 141 143 284
CRMS 77 102 76 0 255
Poudre 121 125 0 0 246
Aspen 42 35 96 0 173
Platte Canyon 0 0 94 0 94

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