{"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<\/a>

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

\"The<\/a>

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé girls Nordic Ski team members junior Lua Mangaccat, junior Siena Farr, freshman Sunna Shane, freshman Sigrid Eller, sophomore Kaia Mangaccat and senior Ida Meyer won the Academic Award at the 2025 ASAA Nordic Ski State Championships in Fairbanks. (Photo courtesy JDHS Nordic Ski)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

Top Crimson Bears female finisher was 37th place by sophomore Kaia Mangaccat (20:41.1 \/ 23:36.2) 44:17.3; 47th senior Ida Meyer (21:15.4 \/ 24:01.9) 45:17.4; 49th freshman Sigrid Eller (20:59.2 \/ 24:44.9) 45:44.1; 62nd junior Lua Mangaccat (21:45.4 \/ 25:47.8) 47:33.2; 63rd freshman Sunna Schane (21:36.1 \/ 25:57.6) 47:33.7; 78th junior Siena Farr (22:45.8 \/ 27:12.6) 49:58.4.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The JDHS girls team won the Academic Award with a 4.0 grade point average.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“I should probably highlight how hard everyone on our team was working to keep up and maintain our grades while skiing,” JDHS junior Siena Farr said. “All the people on our girls’ team, they work really hard and they always take really hard classes. It’s inspiring, like, you’ll see teams watching a movie together, but my teammates are in the corner grinding out three scholarship essays. That is really cool, something to look up to.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Farr said her best race was the classic 5K, “even though normally I am better at skate, because all of our workouts have been skate. It was a classic interval start, which was really nice. You wouldn’t get stuck behind people, and it was less likely that people would trip you and all that sort of stuff, which kind of happened to me in the 7.5K.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Farr said, “State is always really nice, especially for Nordic, we are kind of the underdog and everyone is really surprised that you’re from Juneau. I think that is cool. We get a lot of support. People are really nice to us…Our team is fun. I think definitely being up here with the team really lifts peoples’ spirits. A lot of things are really nice in Fairbanks, the weather is nice, the snow is nice, the racing is good. Being up here with the team really lifts your spirits and makes Nordic skiing just great.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Top 10 Girls Classic (5K) finishers were Service freshman Talia Smith in 17:10.5, Soldotna junior Tania Boonstra 17:21.4, West Anchorage senior Merridy Littell 17:28.2, SER sophomore Miya Kam-Magruder 17:29.0, SA sophomore Alise Elliott 17:33.5, SOHI senior Ariana Cannava 17:44.2, COL sophomore Elliot Sensabaugh 17:52.2, East junior Rosie Conway 17:52.4, WV sophomore Ellie Abrahamson 17:57.2 and Eagle River senior Elsa Henderson 17:57.5.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Top 10 Girls Freestyle (7.5K) finishers were Kam-Magruder 19:46.9, Smith 19:49.2, Sensabaugh 20:11.6, Boonstra 20:14.5, SER senior Talia Day 20:16.3, Conway 20:20.6, West Anchorage junior Olivia Soderstrom 20:20.6, Elliott 20:23.9, Abrahamson 20:28.2 and COL sophomore Isela Austin 20:28.6.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The girls All-State Team were Smith with a two-race total 36:59.7, Kam-Magruder 37:16, Boonstra 37:36, Elliott 37:57.4, Sensabaugh 38:03.9, Conway 38:12.9, Day 38:17.8, Abrahamson 38:25.4, Soderstrom 38:27, Cannava 38:27.8.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“I really enjoyed the skate 7.5K on Thursday,” JDHS junior Lua Mangaccat said. “Regions was our first big race this year and we did the exact same course on skate and that race was a little bit rough, but coming up and having a second chance on that course again and doing it a lot better this time I really enjoyed it…It is really cool this year, we have new uniforms that actually represent our school colors. And before when we would come up people would be a little confused with what team we were. But people started recognizing us, remembering us and cheering for us, that was pretty cool.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

She commented on the sport.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“In Juneau it is kind of rough sometimes because we don’t have consistent snow and we have to practice in the dark every day after school,” she said. “And it is a little hard to be motivated sometimes, but every time we come up here for a race it just reminds us of why we ski, because it is so much fun to ski in places like Fairbanks and Anchorage where they have the best ski trails and best competition.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Overall team placings were scored by adding the times of each individual on a team with the results of that team’s relay race on Saturday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The 4x3K Mixed Technique relay legs were classic, classic, skate and skate.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The JDHS boys relay of Lamb, Janes, Adkins and Wheeler placed 15th in 38:19.9.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\"The<\/a>

The All-State Nordic Ski team, from left, Service’s Jack Leveque, Colony’s Coby Marvin, West Valley’s Kieran Kaufman, Colony’s Gabe Black, Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Finn Lamb, West Valley’s Peter-John Bragonier, Lathrop’s Wells Wappett, West Valley’s Nathan Vandelugt, Colony’s Raven Spangler and South Anchorage’s Grayson Stanek-Alward at the 2025 ASAA Nordic Ski State Championships in Fairbanks. (Photo courtesy JDHS Nordic Ski)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

Top boys finisher was Colony (Spangler, Black, Marvin, Weston Sensabaugh) in 30:54.5 and West Valley (Basile Plattet, Vandelugt, Bragonier, Kaufman) in 30:54.8.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“There were a lot of guys I had been skiing with this season in different disciplines and I just had a really good weekend,” Lamb said. “Like today in the sprint, I started and I kind of knew that the West Valley starter and the Lathrop starter I wanted to beat. It was really cool to finish ahead of them.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The JDHS girls relay of Eller, L. Mangaccat, Meyer and K. Mangaccat placed 10th in 44:53.6.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Top girls finisher was Service (Day, Smith, Faith Harlamert, Kam-Magruder) in 37:39.7 and WV (Lilli Bond, Ingrid Baurick, Adah Decker, Abrahamson) in 38:11.7.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Service won the overall girls team championship in 3:09:01.4 with West Valley the runner-up in 3:16:05.7, among 24 teams. JDHS placed 10th with a total of 3:47:36.2<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Colony won the boys team championship in 2:38:00.1 with West Valley runner-up in 2:38:48.0. JDHS placed 13th with 3:07:13.2 out of 24 teams.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“The cool thing about Nordic ski racing is there is science to it,” coach McAllister said. “What’s the wax today, what are the snow conditions, what are the temperatures, what are the texture of the snow crystals. It is like doing this little dance with Mother Nature every morning when you go out there and try to do these ski races. When you come to a big race like state, you are also dancing that dance with all the other coaches who are out there putting their heads together, too, testing their own technical knowledge against one another…As a coach, it is not just your athletes that are being tested out there, it is also your own knowledge of the course and the strategy and the waxes and all that. I think that adds an extra layer of complexity.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The JDHS team is not like the larger Anchorage schools that have a fleet of coaches. The Crimson Bears athletes will pop out on the course to test wax at times.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“Ricky and I really dive into the technicality of the snow conditions and the temperatures and the humidity and what’s trending,” McAllister said of her assistant coach, Ricky Worl. “Is it getting warmer, colder, is it supposed to snow or get sunny? There is a lot going on so we do lean on the athletes for help.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Lamb said he has no secret fuel.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“I just eat a lot,” he said. “I think I have gone through over a quart of ice cream a night while I’ve been here. I have a one pint I am eating on right now. Ice cream and Swedish Fish is all I’ve got to say. Throughout the season, wherever I am training, I just bring packs of Swedish Fish because it is straight sugar and a lot cheaper than gels…And a lot of sleep.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Farr is partial to Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“Or probably more Cherry Garcia,” she said. “It’s the best fuel because lots of calories and it’s filling. I like to eat it, I will eat it and it makes me recover better, so that’s always nice. And a little bit of protein in there, too.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

L. Mangaccat said,” I always have gummies or gummy clusters or something like that before races. They’re just really good.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The team is not all sugar though as Worl shopped and cooked for the 12 skiers and coaching staff.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“We definitely eat things that are not straight sugar and ice cream,” McAllister said. “As coaches we prepare a balanced meal every day for these guys. A lot of these kids pre-race are looking at easily digestible oatmeal, bananas, apples and a lot of water and electrolytes. Not only is Nordic skiing an aerobic sport, but it is also a full-body sport..You are using your entire body. Arms, upper body, shoulders, core, legs and it is high endurance. So we fuel to feed that need.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“And then recovery we are looking at a lot of downtime, more hydration, some solid protein and complex carbohydrates. And we do not hold them back if they want more ice cream because fats, carbs and calories are really important…I would be remiss if I didn’t say that all of this could be done without my trusty sidekick Ricky Worl… He is a great complement to our coaching staff. Without Ricky’s cooking, I don’t know what we would do. He plans all our meals.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The JDHS athletes went back onto the course after awards.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“It was just great skis and it was so pretty,” Lamb said. “Abby had to pull me off the trails today. I was just skiing after races were done… I have to say that Abby and Ricky and our coaches blew it out of the water this weekend. Classic skiing wax is really important. The Thursday course for classic, it was a big factor and our coaches crushed it. And all the coaches back in Juneau, too, that helped wax before we left…Merry Ellefson, Wayne Carnes, Tristan (Knutson-Lombardo), Tim Blust, Anna Schumacher and Andrew Eller…It makes a big difference and it is hard to match these crazy Anchorage wax nerds but our coaches killed it this weekend.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Lamb said skiing means “having a goal to work towards and doing your best every day to move forward. Having ‘I want to do this’ in my mind and then every day you know what you are doing to get there. It feels like skiing is a platform and I enjoy being out there on the trails and stuff but I think what it means to me is it is an outlet, something that I can work towards, put one foot in front of the other. I can say I enjoy downhill skiing a little bit more, that type is so fun. Nordic skiing, I can go out on the trails for hours, I love being out there.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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