The 2023-2024 Mt. Hood Nordic Junior Race Team Season was an exciting one! Athletes from the Pipeline and Team Programs trained hard all season and many were traveling to regional race events almost every week. Here are some recaps and memorable moments from the 2023-2024 season.
One of the highlights of the season was the core of our Race Team Program - Ashton Gilbert, Fergus Waag, and Jayvin Lemieux competing for Hood River Valley High School at High School State Championships in Bend. The trio won the classic race, were 2nd in the skate race and 3rd in the relay. They were the 2nd place overall boys team. Overall their individual results were 2nd Place (Fergus), 5th Place (Jayvin), and 8th Place (Ashton). Quite the accomplishment when competing against much larger teams!
In the Regional US Ski and Snowboard Junior National Qualifier Series our athletes traveled and competed hard on challenging courses. Both Jayvin and Fergus qualified for Junior Nationals in Lake Placid NY! This is an incredible accomplishment by itself, particularly for Jayvin, a first year U16. Fergus had a terrific Junior Nationals, placing 23rd and 37th in the distance races for U18s from across the country.
Often one of the most fun events of the year is OISRAN High School Relay Race at Mt. Hood Meadows. It was a beautiful day on Mt. Hood, made even better by the team of Caitlyn Lemieux and Mira Shaw (both in middle school!) placing 3rd place in the high school race! Caitlyn and Mira, along with their Pipeline Teammates Björn Swanson and Rogan Lemieux also raced well in the U14 and U10 categories and had a lot of travel fun at the Regional JNQ races in Bend, Methow, and Spokane. It is exciting to see these younger athletes traveling and racing together at these larger regional events!
Our Wednesday Afternoon Pipeline Group had regular attendance this season from athletes on the Cooper Spur Alpine Team (CSAT). Pep Olsson, Dara Goldstein and Roan Lovejoy made huge strides in their Nordic skiing this year with all three placing on the podium in the xc portions of their combined events. Just this past weekend Roan finished 1st in the U10 boys, Pep 1st in the U10 girls and Dara 4th in the U10 girls XC portion of the MBSEF May Day Race!
It really felt like there was a highlight every weekend with our growing and young Pipeline Group, particularly as they filled the 5K fields at the Teacup Classic and Glides of March. The racing at our local events grows more competitive every season and it is a great training ground for our junior athletes as they move up through the ranks at a regional level.
Although it is hard to pick out one outstanding performance, the Mt. Hood Nordic Coaches would like to recognize Ashton Gilbert as the Teacup Junior Athlete of the Year. Ashton was a new addition to the Team Program this year. The work he put in to improve throughout the season really paid off and his results at OISRAN High School Races and regional JNQ Races were outstanding. Ashton will be graduating this year from Hood River Valley High School and we wish him the best in all his future endeavors. Congrats on a great season!
Already looking forward to next season!
