Homer skiers top Soldotna racers by four seconds </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 10:08 PM on Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Homer skiers top Soldotna racers by four seconds

By Aaron Selbig
Staff Writer

So what does a ski team do when they want to hold a relay race at night? Bust out with the tiki torches, of course.
As dusk settled on Lookout Mountain Friday night and dozens of high school skiers got geared up in the parking lot, the 3-kilometer relay course had already been lit with softly glowing tiki torches, providing enough light for the relay racers to see what they were doing as they made their way around the course and handed off round, brightly colored necklaces at the start of each leg.

Photographer: Aaron Selbig, Homer News

Homer's Denali Critchett begins her leg of a team relay race at the Homer Relays Feb. 6 at Lookout Mountain.

"In the varsity relay, darkness had settled in and the timers had to squint to identify the skiers as they flew through the lap area," said Homer assistant coach Megan Corazza.
The co-ed Homer varsity relay team, made up of Emma Laukitis, Maggie Bursch, Jack Anderson and anchor Will Anderson, took first place in the Homer Relays, narrowly defeating second-place Soldotna by just four seconds.
On Saturday, the Homer team headed into more traditional and familiar territory -- a 5km Classic race for the girls and a 10km Classic for the boys -- but found themselves a bit shorthanded.
"Much of the team was battling the flu and various ailments," said Corazza. "Quite a few of our team didn't start or didn't finish because of sickness and injury."
As a result, the Mariner boys had only a mediocre showing among the five competing schools, finishing fourth behind Soldotna, Skyview and Kenai with a team time of 2:58:13.
Jack Anderson led Homer with an individual time of 46:58.5, good enough for eighth place.
The Homer girls fared better in Saturday's classic races, winning in the overall team standings with a team time of 1:30:17.
Bursch finished third overall with a time of 21:47.3 while Jaclyn Arndt was right on her heels to finish fourth with a time of 21:56.4. Frances Bursch, Marie Schmidt and Molly Warburton finished seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.
"Parents on the trails said that the Homer girls were just like little non-stop machines on the long, hard hills of the course," said Corazza.
Up next for the Homer ski team is a Saturday trip up to Skyview for the regional meet at Tsalteshi Trails.
Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaron.selbig@homernews.com.