Homer Alaska - Sports

STAFF WRITER

Homer High School Assistant Ski Coach Megan Spurkland took the top prize at the Pia's Classic 30 km race in Anchorage last weekend.

Spurkland's win began with the aim of keeping up with Rachel Steer of Anchorage, a two-time Olympic biathlon competitor. That snowballed into a first place finish.

"My goal was to hang onto Rachel for 5 kilometers because that's about how long I was able to hang onto her two weeks ago. I was pretty close to her and then I dropped back to about fourth and then I thought that was it," said Spurkland.

She kept pace in fourth as Rachel pulled out of view.

"Slowly, I noticed that the girls in second and third were getting a little tired up the hills and I thought maybe they would fade and they did."

As Megan tucked safely into second place she kept up her pace.

"I was skiing in second and I started seeing Rachel. We caught up at about 14 km and chatted a little bit. I just kept skiing," said Spurkland.

With the realization dawning that she was in the lead, Spurkland hustled ahead, expecting to be overtaken at any moment by Steer.

"I didn't know whether she was back there and going to chase me and beat me at the end so I skied like she was right on my tail," she said.

Spurkland blew through the finish line with both a sense of surprise and relief, having beat Steer, claimed first place, and finished a grueling 30 km course over three loops around some of the steepest trails and fastest corners in the state.

To get ready for the race Spurkland skied classic all last week before taking the two days prior to the race off to rest up, a task which she said was made much easier by having to coach Homer's ski team in Colony.

Also putting on a strong performance at Pia's Classic was Diana Carbonell of Homer, despite losing her wax in the middle of the race.

"She had to stop in the middle or the race, get her skis waxed and then she passed everyone again and came in eighth overall and won her age group," said Spurkland.

"Jan Spurkland had a great race coming in ninth, Jens Klaar and Charlie Stewart and Jon Berryman all raced and had good results," said Spurkland of other Homer skiers.

Men 30 km Classic:

1) Trond Flagstad, 1:19:56.0; 2) Dylan Watts, 1:19:58.1; 3) Erik Mundahl, 1:22:19.2; 4) Bart Dengel, 1:22:38.6; 5) Eric Strabel, 1:22:41.1; 6) Tyson Flaharty, 1:22:54.9; 7) Bobby Miller, 1:24:20.9; 8) Chris Seaman, 1:24:36.8; 9) Jan Spurkland, 1:25:27.0; 10) Mark Brady, 1:27:02.2; 11) Paul Schauer, 1:28:35.8; 12) Adam Verrier, 1:28:41.2; 13) Adam Reimer, 1:29:11.4; 14) Seth Downs, 1:29:12.0; 15) Kjell Risung, 1:29:23.0; 16) Trond Jensen, 1:30:00.4; 17) Chet Fehrmann, 1:35:30.0; 18) Rich Suddock, 1:37:33.6; 19) Mikhail Glasionov, 1:38:31.1; 20) Mike Truskowski, 1:38:37.9; 21) Gary Holton, 1:41:40.4; 22) John Weddleton, 1:41:50.1; 23) Justin Nash, 1:43:43.6; 24) Jens Klaar, 1:43:44.3; 25) Michael Wheatall, 1:44:08.8; 26) Charles Homestead, 1:44:39.7; 27) Stacey Moon, 1:45:58.4; 28) Mark Smith, 1:46:23.4; 29) Tom Bronga, 1:46:44.3; 30) Dan Thorsness, 1:46:48.5; 31) Yuta Takagi, 1:46:50.1; 32) Fred Stutzer, 1:47:16.0; 33) Ray Koleser, 1:47:32.1; 34) Thomas Coolidge, 1:47:32.8; 35) Rick Rogers, 1:47:55.3; 36) Tom Smayda, 1:48:40.9; 37) Audun Mikkelson, 1:49:12.9; 38) Randy Kanady, 1:51:37.9; 39) Karl Volz, 1:51:55.6; 40) Travis Rector, 1:52:00.5; 41) Ed Strabel, 1:52:52.3; 42) Greg McDuffie, 1:53:03.2; 43) Craig Van Beusekom, 1:54:13.1; 44) Mark Paprocki, 1:54:45.1; 45) Gordon Wetzel, 1:55:50.8; 46) Ian Blake, 1:56:21.1; 47) Frank Cahill, 1:57:54.0; 48) Michael Besh, 1:58:34.0; 49) Gunnar Knapp, 1:58:46.3; 50) Randy Hessong, 1:59:21.9; 51) Paul Twardock, 1:59:41.7; 52) Mark Burson, 2:00:33.9; 53) Samuel Flora, 2:00:36.7; 54) Terry Kelly, 2:01:28.5; 55) David Robinson, 2:01:42.0; 56) Da vin Holen, 2:02:09.3; 57) Charles Treinen, 2:05:31.3; 58) Art Copoulos, 2:06:05.2; 59) Jon Berryman, 2:07:03.9; 60) Bob Platte, 2:10:59.9; 61) Niles Woods, 2:11:27.3; 62) Jeffrey Bannish, 2:13:18.2; 63) Mick Bakker, 2:22:51.5; 64) Ed Banas, 2:29:25.0; 65) Charles Barnwell, 2:31:16.0; 66) David Edmunds, 2:33:10.0.

Men 15 km Classic:

1) Tor Christopherson, 0:42:27.4; 2) Karl Schauer, 0:43:35.5; 3) Silas Talbot, 0:43:43.3; 4) Kyle Barnhart, 0:44:19.5; 5) Eric Ryan, 0:44:23.3; 6) Cole Talbot, 0:44:30.7; 7) Jan Buron, 0:45:34.1; 8) Sam Lindsey, 0:45:56.6; 9) Jason Lamoreaux, 0:46:43.1; 10) John Glen, 0:47:08.0; 11) Ben Arians, 0:47:09.0; 12) Bill Pearson, 0:47:11.8; 13) Jeremy Crawford, 0:48:04.8; 14) Carl Smith, 0:48:29.4; 15) Peter Mamrol, 0:48:29.6; 16) Austin Hess, 0:49:39.9; 17) Thomas Pease, 0:49:44.4; 18) Mark Strabel, 0:50:05.6; 19) Simon Gilliland, 0:51:03.4; 20) Ian Davis, 0:51:20.8; 21) Douglas Watts, 0:51:23.0; 22) Erik Gorman, 0:51:24.1; 23) Tim Samuelson, 0:51:44.3; 24) Hugh Cosgrave, 0:52:32.0; 25) Otto Gilbert, 0:53:55.7; 26) Jake Bassett, 0:54:02.8; 27) Bob Pintner, 0:54:09.1; 28) Dave Blanchet, 0:54:17.1; 29) Mark Hansen, 0:54:58.3; 30) John Wood, 0:55:47.6; 31) Lucas Thein, 0:56:33.9; 32) Michael Bramer, 0:57:47.1; 33) Barry Benko, 0:58:21.3; 34) David Doolen, 0:59:23.6; 35) Elias Rubin, 0:59:44.3; 36) Richard Mize, 0:59:46.9; 37) Peter Johnson, 1:00:45.8; 38) Brett Frazer, 1:01:03.5; 39) Spencer Sneed, 1:01:04.1; 40) Mike Vogel, 1:02:11.4; 41) Charles Wohlforth, 1:03:24.4; 42) Peter Sapin, 1:03:51.2; 43) Charlie Stewart, 1:04:14.4; 44) Matt Claman, 1:06:45.7; 45) Jeff Johnson, 1:07:09.2; 46) Stephen Livingston, 1:07:28.1; 47) Tom Hoosier, 1:07:30.5; 48) Chris Backstrum, 1:07:37.7; 49) Jaime Andersen, 1:09:11.1; 50) Seiji Takagi, 1:10:50.3; 51) Tom Livingston, 1:10:55.9; 52) Eric Egeland, 1:11:03.5; 53) Larry Ostrovsky, 1:11:06.3; 54) JR Patee, 1:12:20.1; 55) Rob Retherford, 1:14:27.9; 56) Ted Hoople, 1:14:44.1; 57) James Briggs, 1:14:53.5; 58) Stan Foo, 1:14:56.7; 59) Charles Gilbert, 1:15:44.7; 60) Sean Tanner, 1:16:55.0; 61) Curtis Wilson, 1:17:39.5; 62) Jay Holtan, 1:21:18.0; 63) Ian Rowe, 1:22:02.2; 64) Kevin Dow, 1:34:08.5.

Men 5 km Classic:

1) Jack Parke, 0:14:08.3; 2) Brandon Brewster, 0:14:37.3; 3) Thomas O'Harra, 0:15:47.3; 4) Alexander Schumann, 0:16:04.8; 5) Daniel Serventi, 0:17:06.4; 6) Max Robicheaux, 0:17:09.4; 7) Jay Wright, 0:17:14.6; 8) Michael Wise, 0:17:19.1; 9) Conner Truskowski, 0:18:15.9; 10) Zach Bassett, 0:18:39.9; 11) Luke Jager, 0:18:40.4; 12) Brett Egeland, 0:18:55.4; 13) Gus Schumacher, 0:18:59.6; 14) Paul Butera, 0:19:11.5; 15) Gillean Szweda Mittelstadt, 0:19:17.7; 16) David Frehulfer, 0:20:00.7; 17) Konrad Mittelstadt, 0:20:31.7; 18) Kenji Matsuoka, 0:20:57.9; 19) Steve Matsuoka, 0:20:58.3; 20) Scott Lawrence, 0:21:07.0; 21) Robert Kemper, 0:21:47.3; 22) Sebastian Szweda Mittelstadt, 0:25:05.1; 23) Ivan Hodes, 0:26:23.6; 24) Eric Schwalber, 0:26:45.1; 25) Reed Boeger, 0:28:09.8; 26) Ryan Ruppert, 0:28:50.6; 27) Ry Weddleton, 0:40:56.3.

Men 3 km Classic:

1) William Binnian, 0:13:31.4; 2) Bryce Pintner, 0:19:39.0; 3) Taylor Pintner, 0:22:43.9; 4) Rudy Schumacher, 0:28:58.6.

Women 30 km Classic:

1) Megan Spurkland, 1:44:25.5; 2) Rachel Steer, 1:44:59.2; 3) Davya Flaharty, 1:46:00.9; 4) Laura Gardner, 1:48:18.7; 5) Danielle Dalton, 1:53:39.0; 6) Haley Ohms, 1:53:50.8; 7) Melissa Gangl, 1:58:02.3; 8) Diana Carbonell, 1:58:50.8; 9) Ashley Van Beusekom, 1:59:37.7; 10) Liz Butera, 1:59:53.0; 11) Karen Bronga, 1:59:58.0; 12) Ellen Toll, 2:04:47.9; 13) Judy Kanady, 2:08:21.9; 14) Sheryl Mohwinkel, 2:12:43.5; 15) Chelsea Frehulfer, 2:18:11.2; 16) Diana Evans, 2:19:39.0; 17) Susanne DiPietro, 2:20:59.6; 18) Celia Rozen, 2:39:08.0.

Women 15 km Classic:

1) Kalysta Schmidt, 0:52:31.2; 2) Fiona Worcester, 0:52:38.3; 3) Nancy Pease, 0:53:30.2; 4) Mackenzie Kanady, 0:54:50.6; 5) Becky Butler, 0:54:52.2; 6) Jordan Pruszenski, 0:55:18.1; 7) Rebecca Mamrol, 0:56:56.8; 8) Elizabeth Embick, 0:57:17.9; 9) Aurelie Barnel, 0:57:38.7; 10) Eeva Latosuo, 1:00:21.5; 11) Mackenzie Wonders, 1:01:46.2; 12) Tamra Kornfield, 1:01:54.5; 13) Kristin Krom, 1:02:10.7; 14) Stephanie Dow, 1:02:11.5; 15) Kaleen Barnett, 1:02:59.4; 16) Shelly James, 1:03:24.9; 17) Amy Johns, 1:04:58.9; 18) Sandy Ford, 1:05:46.2; 19) Zoey Grenier, 1:06:42.8; 20) Ann Mize, 1:06:57.4; 21) Yukiko Hayano, 1:07:07.0; 22) Jill Showman, 1:07:30.2; 23) Klaar Leslie, 1:08:07.9; 24) Suzanne Wheatall, 1:08:37.3; 25) Danielle Lesko, 1:10:31.1; 26) Catie Bursch, 1:11:03.6; 27) Megan Baker, 1:11:57.2; 28) Joanna Menaker, 1:15:10.5; 29) Katlyn Meyers, 1:15:32.0; 30) Cynthia Decker, 1:17:49.2; 31) Lauri Bassett, 1:17:58.0; 32) Brook Evingson, 1:19:10.8; 33) Shelly Laukitic, 1:19:34.6; 34) Emily Binnian, 1:20:19.8; 35) Kathy Estes, 1:20:35.6; 36) Inger Hanson, 1:22:40.9; 37) Rose VanHemert, 1:29:10.1; 38) Maureen Pintner, 1:31:11.7; 39) Ann Binnian, 1:31:26.5; 40) Nicole Szarzi, 1:34:22.0; 41) Nancy Babb, 1:39:16.0; 42) Lynda Baker, 1:43:00.2.

Women 5 km Classic:

1) Celia Haering, 0:14:43.0; 2) Kasandra Rice, 0:14:46.6; 3) Kelsey Coolidge, 0:14:47.0; 4) Sarah Tegeler, 0:16:24.8; 5) MacKenzie Flynn, 0:16:51.5; 6) Sally Johnson, 0:17:20.9; 7) Lydia Blanchet, 0:17:31.7; 8) Taryn Hunt-Smith, 0:17:57.7; 9) Morgan Flynn, 0:18:05.6; 10) Jordan Smelker, 0:18:16.9; 11) Ana Jager, 0:18:23.9; 12) Erin Baker, 0:19:00.7; 13) Megan Neale, 0:19:12.0; 14) Morgan Michels, 0:20:01.3; 15) Rhianne Waggood, 0:20:07.9; 16) Zoe Xavier, 0:21:04.8; 17) Kim Rice, 0:21:49.1; 18) Berit Flora, 0:22:40.9; 19) Jenny Skaling, 0:23:10.7; 20) Karen Denkewalter, 0:24:39.9; 21) Jamie Evans, 0:24:58.0; 22) Diane Crawford, 0:25:10.4; 23) Margeret Denkewalter, 0:26:03.4; 24) Katherine Rawlins, 0:27:07.1; 25) Donna Dewhurst, 0:30:03.7; 26) Amy Schumacher, 0:30:58.8; 27) Lindsey Flagstad, 0:44:35.7.

Women 3 km Classic:

1) Vivi Grenier, 0:21:43.7.