Hood River News

The Hood River Valley Nordic ski team traveled to Bend over the weekend for the first race of its winter schedule. Both HRV boys and girls teams placed third overall in the 5K Classic, held Saturday at Meissner SnoPark. The field consisted of racers from eight boys teams and 11 girls teams.

Leading the way for the HRV girls squad was Delia Dolan, who finished ninth out of 81 racers with a time of 22:16. Grace Grim and Althea Dillon rounded off the top three for the team in 14th and 18th place, respectively. Sam Wiley finished out front for the HRV boys with a 5K time of 17:33.5; good enough for eighth place out of 58 overall. Nils Engbersen finished 13th and Mason McDowell 25th to represent the only other HRV boys in attendance.

Conditions for the race started out clear and cold with sun breaks, but quickly deteriorated into driving wind and snow. Keeping warm both before and after the race became a high priority as both teams had to race in the worst of the storm.

The team competes in the Oregon High School Nordic Organization league and has six races between now and early March. The next meet will be Jan. 12 at Hoodoo Ski Area. The team then hosts a race at Teacup Nordic on Jan. 26. A complete team feature will run next week in the Hood River News.

Saturday race results

Girls (81 total):

Delia Dolan, 9th

Grace Grim, 14th

Althea Dillon, 18th

Eva Kahn, 23rd

Denali Emmons, 26th

Lauren Robinson, 27th

Miranda Starr, 31st

Naomi Greenwald, 45th

Maddie Ticknor, 59th

Ellen Hudon, 64th

Boys (58 total):

Sam Wiley, 8th

Nils Engbersen, 13th

Mason McDowell, 25th