Sixteen Far West Junior racers traveled in early March to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to compete in the USSA Junior Olympics. The annual event, which took place in Ishpeming, is a series of four races in six days, and offers the top junior competition in the country. These races are the end of a long road for Far West junior skiers, who have trained specifically for a year, and then qualified among many racers in our region for a spot on the Far West team.

Traveling to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan might as well have been a trip to another continent for our young skiers. We had definitely arrived in the Great White North: land of mining, farming, Great Lakes, and snowmobiling. An uneventful trip by air to Duluth was followed by a five hour drive along the shore of Lake Superior to Ishpeming, during which I overheard a few comments about the flatness of the terrain. After the first day of training on the race courses at Suicide Bowl, this opinion changed.

The Junior Olympic events kicked off with the sprint races, which took place on an exposed golf course near Marquette on Monday, March 5. We had trained on the 1 km course the day before and found it relatively flat and technically unchallenging. Race day served the 350 competitors a whole new set of challenges. A brisk, steady 30 mph wind was blowing lake effect snow sideways and showing no sign of letting up. Far West skiers carefully planned warm-ups to stay warm and motivated for the all-out sprint effort while snow piled up on the course. Two Far West skiers proceeded to the next round: Natalie Joffe in the J2 Girls event and Ian Case in the J1/ OJ Boys event. Natalie and Ian both skied well in their semi-final heats, but each managed only to qualify for the finals in the consolation round. Despite the continuing blizzard, Natalie and Ian skied aggressively in their final heats, each taking the lead for much of the race. Ian came out in the medals with a 7th place finish in the OJ category and Natalie was 12th in her race. Other great Far West results include our performance in the J1 Boys race. Even without qualifying beyond the preliminary round, Nick Sterling, Tony Bozzio, and Dana Mosman placed 11th, 13th, and 15th respectively. In the J2 Boys race, Philip Violett was the top Far West finisher in 26th place and Jessica Ford was our top J1 girl in 48th.

Wednesday, March 7 dawned clear and cold for the freestyle races at Suicide Bowl. Nestled beneath the two ski jumps, this ski area offers excellent cross country ski terrain. The race courses feature a long, gradual climb out of the stadium, followed by a number of short, steep ascents and descents, and end with some long, run-out downhills. The J2 Boys ran their 5 km race first, with Intermountain Northern making an impressive showing by placing 3 skiers in the top 4. Phillip Violett was the top Far West finisher again, taking 28tth place, 1:24 behind first place finisher Bret Bedard from New England. The J2 girls were up next, skiing the same course as the boys. Far West's Natalie Joffe skied a strong race to finish 14th, one minute behind Midwest's Courtney Dauwalter. Kara LaPoint was 23rd, a good finish considering she was suffering from a chest cold. Both Joffe and LaPoint are first year J2's and show great promise in ski racing. In the J1 Girls race, Jessica Ford, now a second year J1 skiing for UNR, placed a respectable 15th and was the top Far West finisher. Over the two lap, 10 km course, Ford was 1:59 behind Intermountain's Kristina Trygstad-Saari. J1 and OJ Boys skied a tough 7.5 km course twice for their 15 km event. Far West J1 skiers did not show the speed they exhibited on Monday during the sprints. Dana Mosman had a solid finish in 32nd, just over 2 minutes out of the top ten. This age group offers a competitive field, and the fastest boys were flying over the 15 kim course. In the OJ race, Ian Case also discovered the depth and speed of the field, finishing 17th, 2:18 behind winner Ben Crawford of the Alaskan powerhouse team.

The individual classic races took place on the same 5 km course on Friday under cloudy skies and gradually warming temperatures. Rode Multigrade violet was the Far West kick waxing team's wax du jour, and was used alone or as an ingredient on every Far West skier's skis. The J2 Boys went first again in near perfect classic skiing conditions. The course was fast and times were tight, with Alaska's Espen Haugen capturing the win by 2 seconds. Phillip Violett moved up in the results to 23rd, 1:07 out of first place. Conditions remained stable for the J2 Girls race, and Natalie Joffe, confident after two solid finishes in the previous races, blasted out of the start with her eye on the win. Early splits proved that she was having a great race, and she kept the pace for 5 km, coming home in 5th place, less than a second out of fourth, and 3 seconds out of the top three. Kara LaPoint skied an outstanding race as well, taking 11th place, only two seconds out of the top ten (medals are awarded for the top ten). It was a thrill to watch these two girls race; they had great focus and pushed themselves from start to finish. I should mention that Kaelin Kiesel, from the Intermountain team, won the race by 41 seconds, a huge margin in a 5 km event.

In the J1 Boys 10 km classic race (2 laps on the 5 km course), Tony Bozzio picked up the pace and put his good classic technique to work to take a 15th place finish. This was a good result for Tony, who missed the top ten by just 16 seconds. A minute behind Tony was Scott Hill, who finished a disappointing 27th. Scott was recovering from being sick the week before and was struggling to regain his early season form. Zach Hill of Alaska took the win by 34 seconds over New England's Ryan Foster. Jessica Ford again led the Far West charge in the 10 km J1 Girls race, taking 19th place in a super tight race. An Alaskan skier once again rose to the top in this race with Paige Brady taking first place honors. The Boys OJ 10 km event was commanded by yet another Alaskan, Jesse Carlstrom, who won in 29:17. Far West's Ian Case, who was two seconds out of the top ten after the first lap, ended up 13th. Case, who has had problems finding the right pair of classic skis, was racing on a pair of skis he had never skied on before. There were some tough lessons for Far West skiers to learn at this year's JO's. The warm-up had to be good, no matter what, and you had to be on the right pair of skis. On top of that, you had to start fast and ski hard up and over every single hill. Ian was poised to have a great JO race, but would have to wait for the relay.

Saturday, March 10 was relay day. We were all excited about the possibilities of being competitive in several relays, and had put our best teams together. The heat of head to head competition has in the past stimulated Far West skiers and teams to great races. Athletes and coaches alike were hoping that this day would be no exception. Fifteen J2 Boys teams pushed the pace on an overcast, 25 degree morning. Andrew Van Blarigan skied the classic style scramble leg and hung in there to tag off to Phillip Violett in 11th place. Phillip skied a solid second classic leg to post the ninth fastest leg time and handed off to first year JO skier Joachin Goodpaster, who skied the daunting 3.8 km (it was straight up for 2km with some nasty steep sections) skate loop to bring the team home in 10th place. The Far West team was two minutes out of the top 5 (medal) places.

One of the most exciting races of the day for Far West was the J2 Girls 3x5 relay. With Natalie and Kara improving with every race, we knew they would be competitive. These two first year J2 girls teamed up with Truckee's Lindsay Collins, who was skiing her first Junior Olympics in Ishpeming. Kara skied the first leg and clung to the lead pack like her life depended on it, coming into the tag in 6th position, just 19 seconds behind the leader. The top 6 skiers had opened a 49 second gap over the rest of the teams. Natalie was fired up and ready for the challenge, skiing a great second leg to move the team up a couple of spots. Lindsay gave the skate leg everything she could, but Far West slipped to 6th place, one place out of the medals by 40 seconds. This relay was one of the high points of the 2001 JO's for Far West.

The J1 Boys field was mixed with the OJ Boys field for the 3x5 relay, bringing 44 starters to the line. This was one race where you weren't going anyplace unless you started very fast. Our two teams (Tony Bozzio, Dana Mosman, and Scott Hill for the J1 race and Ian Case, Nick Sterling, and UNR skier Casey Watson for the OJ race) were ready for the challenge. Unlike the day of the classic race, the sun never came out and we never had to change our Rode Multigrade wax, which had great kick all day long. We had good skis. Ian had one of the best races of his career, looking great on his skis and very focused. He skied up front from the start and was the first OJ to the tag, 8 seconds ahead of the very strong New England team. I have never seen Ian ski classic so well, it was a great day for him. Nick and Casey put in solid efforts, but the competition was fierce in this race, and we wound up 15th. Meanwhile, in the J1 race, Tony Bozzio had a superb race, tagging off to Dana in 5th place, just 18 seconds behind the New England leader. Tony's classic technique clicked, and he skied a tremendous leg for the Far West team. Dana skied the second classic leg, taking advantage of the gap Tony had created for him before tagging off to Scott who skated the big hills of the final leg. This was a great race for Dana, who skied the 6th fastest leg time, and we had a very good chance at a medal at this point. We were all holding our breaths while Scott worked his way around the skate course, but when he came out of the woods, we counted 5 J1 skiers ahead of Scott. They missed the medals by 13 seconds!

We always come back from JO's wiser and with much more experience. This year was no exception. We were only 16 skiers in comparison to the 48 or more that most of the nine teams brought. We took our very best skiers to this competition and had some excellent performances. We brought home two medals and were very close to medals a few times. Some of our athletes came home happy, others disappointed in their performances. As a coach, I am very hopeful about the future for Far West. We can be competitive with the best in the country, even with a smaller group of skiers. Our younger skiers like Kara LaPoint and Natalie Joffe have shown great promise. These two have another season in the J2 age group, as do JO first timers Joachin Goodpaster and Nicky Henriques. There are many younger skiers behind this group. There is no doubt in my mind that the competition at JO's is getting tougher, but we have made great progress in the last five years of Junior Olympic competition, and there is no reason for us not to be looking forward to seeing one of our Far West juniors on the winners podium in the near future. Let's all work together to keep the Far West momentum going!