{"id":116296,"date":"2025-02-23T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/lamb-gives-jdhs-cross-country-ski-team-historic-finish-at-state-tournament\/"},"modified":"2025-02-23T21:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T06:30:00","slug":"lamb-gives-jdhs-cross-country-ski-team-historic-finish-at-state-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/lamb-gives-jdhs-cross-country-ski-team-historic-finish-at-state-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Lamb gives JDHS cross-country ski team historic finish at state tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Finn Lamb had a historic three-day competition during the 2025 ASAA\/First National Bank Alaska Nordic Ski State Championships at Fairbanks’ Birch Hill Recreation Area, which ended Saturday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Everybody had a good weekend,” JDHS coach Abby McAllister said. “It was basically three days of good racing with great conditions in Fairbanks. Just fantastic energy and good trails, and it’s hard to ask for more…Everybody is stoked and exhausted.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Placing in sixth and 10th for two individual race awards, Lamb’s combined time earned the Crimson Bears their first, top-10 All-State Team skier with his overall fifth-place standing.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I wasn’t really expecting it,” Lamb said of his all-state honor. “I came into this weekend thinking I would be pretty happy with a single top 10, but then to get fifth in the overall is really exciting…It was really fun. It was good to race some of these guys that I have been racing all season. At first I was a little bit disappointed when I heard it was in Fairbanks, but it is so nice. The facility is nice and the crowds are great and the trails are sweet. I was just glad to be here and race.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Lamb placed sixth in Thursday’s Open 5-kilometer Classic Interval Start with a time of 14 minutes 41.8 seconds, slightly over a minute behind Service sophomore race winner Jack Leveque in 13:33.7.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I feel a lot stronger in classic and I think there is something about individual start races where it is just your pace,” he said. “It is all in your head. Sometimes you see people.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Nordic Ski team at the 2025 ASAA\/First National Bank Alaska Nordic Ski State Championships at Fairbanks Birch Hill Recreation Area. (Photo courtesy JDHS Nordic Ski team)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Lamb started ninth in the interval starts, two minutes behind the leaders, but worked to be the first across the line.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“That was exciting,” he said. “I really like that race. Individual, classic, pretty straightforward and a lot of mental pacing.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
On Friday, Lamb placed 10th in the Open 7.5K Freestyle Mass Start with a time of 17:12.9, again just over a minute behind Leveque’s winning 16:07.0.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Lamb’s combined race totals of 31:54.8 for the two stages earned fifth place on the All-State Team and he said it was great to share with a team.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“It is really exciting,” he said. “Racing on my own versus with a team is definitely different. It is fun to have people to go cheer with for the girls and get together to warm up and have people to keep you accountable and talk through the races. And it is always great to see people at the finish line. You finish into a big corral and people are clapping. And you see your teammates come in and you give them a hug and talk about their race.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“And there is also a lot of testing your skis beforehand and seeing the course together; we preview the course the day before we race. We think about strategy with all your teammates and you go ski through…I think the team was really a good atmosphere this year. We were coming together from last year and just to have everyone here…We only got to race once before state and I think everyone really made the best of it. It was really fun to see everybody be competitive and get excited about racing.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The top 10 male All-State Team were:<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
1st Leveque (classic 5K 13:33.7 \/ freestyle 7.5K 16:07.0) combined time 29:40.7; 2nd Colony senior Coby Marvin (14:21.4 \/ 16:24.6) 30:46.0; 3rd West Valley junior Kieran Kaufman (14:18.3 \/ 16:46.4) 31:04.8; 4th COL junior Gabe Black (14:27.4 \/ 16:59.4) 31:26.8; 5th Lamb (14:41.8 \/ 17:12.9) 31:54.8; 6th WV senior Peter-John Bragonier (14:52.7 \/ 17:05.5) 31:58.3; 7th Lathrop senior Wells Wappett (14:50.1 \/ 17:08.5) 31:58.6; 8th WV junior Nathan Vandelugt (14:50.9 \/ 17:15.1) 32:06.1; 9th COL sophomore Raven Spangler (14:58.8 \/ 17:11.2) 32:10.1; 10th South Anchorage junior Grayson Stanek-Alward (14:54.6 \/ 17:33.2) 32:27.8.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Other Crimson Bears boys finishers included 45th place for senior Ferguson Wheeler (16:31.7 \/ 19:38.0) 36:09.7; 71st senior Corder Janes (17:52.2 \/ 21:36.5) 39:28.8; 80th freshman Landon Adkins (18:42.7 \/ 22:37.5) 41:20.2; freshman Caleb Schane (20:44.7 \/ 24:50.1) 45:34.8; 102nd senior Finley Hightower (22:18.7 \/ 25:24.2) 47:43.0.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“State was a satisfying cumulation of what we’ve been working on all season,” JDHS senior Ida Meyer said. “Despite falling short on snow, our team really built up on resilience and grit. We’d even hike a mile and a half up Eaglecrest, Nordic skis in hand, to ski on the smallest bit of snow Juneau had to offer. We’ve truly been able to find the joy in the little things, like the scarce amounts of snow we had, which made it feel so much more special for us to come to Fairbanks.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Fairbanks had fantastic Nordic trails and an amazing community that groomed them, set up the race, and even gave us Oreos at the finish line. I’m proud of our team for finishing the season with some solid races, especially after lacking races with as many competitors as we had at state. I couldn’t be more thankful for my coaches who worked so hard to do everything from waxing our skis to ensuring each of us were well-fueled and healthy to race.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t