After a month of practice in and out of the snow, the Homer High School Cross-Country ski team will get its first taste of competition this season starting Friday at the Homer Invite.

Coming into the 2009-2010 season off one of its best state showings in the past 15 seasons and judging from the strength of last year's JV, Coach Jan Spurkland hopes for a repeat this season.

"We did lose a large part of our varsity team from last year to graduation. We only have two returning boys from the 2009 state team, and three returning girls. That being said, however, this year's team looks quite strong and we expect to see results on par with how we placed last year," said Spurkland.

Calling on a squad totaling 33 athletes certainly helps the situation.

Spurkland takes this year's changes in stride, citing the constant rotation of skiers from freshmen to seniors as all a part of the game, but pointed out that many area teams face the same situation.

All the Kenai Peninsula teams should be rather similar this year, making for some exciting racing, said Spurkland.

In addition to teams on the Kenai Peninsula, Region III includes larger schools in Wasilla, Palmer and Valdez, with which Homer is not as competitive.

According to Assistant Coach Megan Spurkland, "We have the most competition from Kenai, Skyview, Soldotna, Seward and Nikiski, the smaller players, but maybe the up and coming schools. The big contention in our region usually comes down to Homer, SoHi, Skyview and Palmer."

Last year the boys managed to place ninth at state and the girls finished seventh. This year Spurkland expects another pair of top three finishes at Regions and top 10 at State.

Coaches have been impressed so far with the team's performance in practice, but have yet to hazard a guess to the overall potency of the Mariner skiers going into the season.

Ski fans should keep an eye out this year for Andre Lovett and Kevin Rowe on the boys team as well as returners Frannie and Maggie Bursch and Marie Schmidt on the girls team.

For those looking to support the ski team and hit the trails themselves, there will be a 5K skate race at 2 p.m. Saturday to help raise cash for the team.

Ryan M. Long can be reached at ryan.long.@homernews.com.