Craftsbury in Cali: 2015 JNs

Orli Schwartz in the CL mass start. Photo - Chris Young

Last Updated: 19.Mar.2015

Editor’s note: We’ve been avidly following the progress of our three Craftsbury Juniors at the 2015 Junior National Championships. We reached out to Callie Young, Craftsbury U16 racer, to give us the recap of the event below. Thanks Callie and congrats to all our '15 Junior Nationals competitors.

Last week, Orli Schwartz, Phoebe Sweet, and I (Callie Young) headed for Truckee, California to compete at Junior Nationals. We left on the 6th and got home on the 16th. The weather in Truckee on most days was in the 60s and sunny making for some very slushy snow. The altitude also posed a challenge for skiers like us who had never raced at altitude.

The first race we had was a skate sprint where the top 30 people in each class qualified for the heats. It was a pleasant and sunny, but not too hot day and we were all so excited and nervous for our first race. Throughout all the Championship week Phoebe and I competed in the U16 category, while Orli raced in the U18 events in California. Unfortunately, none of us qualified. At the end of the day we were 37th (Phoebe), 46th (Callie), and 62nd (Orli.) With the first race jitters worked out, we were all very eager to improve our results.

The individual start skate 5k was next up. We raced in sleet, snow, and rain - actually an advantage for the New Englanders because we are used to all sorts of weather! In this race, all of our results improved tremendously. All of us finished in the top 31 in our categories with Phoebe 31st, Callie 28th, and Orli 25th making it a great day.

The last individually scored race of the week was the classic mass start; 5 and 10k for U16/U18s. Unlike the wide variety of stuff falling from the sky two days earlier, the temperature skyrocketed! It was probably around 70 degrees when we started! It was a mass start and it was crazy! Phoebe had an amazing race popping an 18th, while Orli and my results were less satisfying:  40th for me, and Orli 59th.

Racing ended with a relay, which was certainly the most fun competition for me. Our relay team didn’t have a great result, but I was really pleased with our effort and the race. Phoebe and I were on the same team which finished in 12th while Orli’s team finished in 20th. In the end when the points were tallied, New England took home the Alaska cup as the winning region!

You can find more information, full results, videos and photos at the Junior Nationals website.