Cowgirls First and Cowboys Second in Opening Nordic Ski Races

Both University of Wyoming Nordic ski teams opened the 2024 season with strong efforts by placing first and second, respectively, last weekend in the two days of competition hosted by Colorado Mesa University (CMU) at Snow Mountain Ranch in Colorado.

The Cowgirls took the opening 15km classic race with a team low seven points, followed by Colorado State University’s (CSU) 32; Western Colorado University (WCU) was next with 34; CMU had 43; the U.S. Air Force Academy placed fifth with 47; and sixth went to Colorado College at 48 points.

The UW women were led by Erica Meyers, of Minneapolis, Minn., who won the day by more than three minutes. UW teammate Krisanna Andrews, of Laramie, was second.

Also placing for the Cowgirls were Sammy Veauthier, of Casper, fourth; sixth went to Annie Miller, from Minneapolis; Shayla Babits, of Lander, took eighth; Grace Erholtz, of Baxter Minn., placed 10th; one place behind her was Wren Hybertson, of Boulder, Colo.; Doris Yan, of China, was 15th; and Casper’s Izzy Brown took 19th. Additionally, Lugi “Lucky” Chen placed 24th; Meilin “Mei” Li was 26th; Jialing “Ella” Liu took 29th; and Chenwan “Wendy” Wu was 34th. All are from China.

Kaj Taylor, of Palmer, Alaska, led the Cowboys in the 15km race, placing third overall.

“It was a warm day, and the course was slightly long. Our skiers showed their fitness by collectively skiing better on the second lap than they did on the first lap,” co-head Coach Rachel Watson says. “Kaj Taylor was in the lead pack for over 10 kilometers, and he skied tactically better than the other skiers, sitting in second and benefiting from the slipstream. While Kaj ultimately placed third, it was his tactical skiing that warranted him a podium finish.”

Overall, the Cowboys were second with 26 points, finishing behind WCU’s 11. The two teams were followed by Colorado College’s 31 points; CMU had 33; Air Force recorded 56; Denver University had 64; and CSU notched 68.

The rest of the Cowboys placing on the day were Laramie’s Spencer Canen, 11th; 12th went to Sean Kraemer, from Conifer, Colo.; Laramie’s Austin Quillinan took 13th place; China’s Zerun “Zion” Tian was 21st; Litian “Willy” Bai was 22nd; Chenyu “Jayden” Jiang took 26th; Xiaoyang “Leo” Liu placed 28th; Ethan Dowalter, of Fredricktown Ohio, was 29th; and one place back was Beier “Bell” Chen, of China.

Day two of competition was a 1.2km sprint that involved four rounds for the top skiers: the qualifier, quarterfinals, semifinals and the final race. UW’s team swept gold in the race, with Miller claiming the women’s title and Taylor the men’s championship.

“It was a long day of racing. The qualifier was at 10 a.m., and the gun didn’t go off for the final until after 1 p.m. The stamina of our athletes was evident,” co-head Coach Christi Boggs says. “We were elated that our top skiers qualified for the final and -- both on the men’s and women’s side -- it was impossible to predict the winner until the last 20 meters.”

She says Taylor skied a smart race, staying in second until the final downhill and then managing to gap the field by almost a ski length at the end. Miller was sitting in third place coming down the final downhill. However, she worked the downhill while others were resting, and she overtook first and second before the finishing stretch, Boggs adds.

Final UW women’s results were Veauthier in fifth; Meyers placed sixth; Erholtz was 10th; Andrews finished 15th; Hybertson came in 19th; Brown was 22nd; Yan took 24th; Chen finished 30th; Li was one place behind her teammate in 31st; Liu took 33rd; Ruixi “Bettie” Jin was 34th; and Wu took 37th.

The Cowgirls won the final day’s race with eight points. WC was next at 31; Colorado College scored 39; CSU had 41; Air Force recorded 43; and CMU totaled 44 points.

Individually for the Cowboys, Quillinan was 13th; Kraemer placed 24th; Canen finished one place behind his teammate; Tian, Liu, Jiang and Bai finished 29th through 32nd, respectively; Dowalter placed 36th; and 38th place went to Chen.

Final men’s scores were WCU with nine; UW scored 34; CSU had 35; CMU finished with 43; Colorado College scored 48; and Air Force placed sixth with 48.

“This intense weekend was really only possible through team effort. Our coaching and tech-support teams did all of the athlete support and ski preparation, and we had been commissioned by CMU to time the race,” Watson says. “We were so lucky to have our volunteer wax technician, Bryan Overcast, and our assistant coach Andrew Siegel. It took all of us to make this the professional and successful season opener that it was.”