GNA Skiers Excel at Rikert Eastern Cup – Valentine Wins the U16 6km and Schrupp Podiums in the U16 Sprint
Ripton, VT – January 29, 2017 – Gunstock Nordic Association – This weekend’s races were held in perfect conditions at the Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton, Vermont. Josh Valentine won his first NENSA Eastern Cup event with his best performance of the season. Josh’s victory was in Sunday’s U16 – 6km Freestyle Race where he covered the course in a blistering time of 13:21.1, beating standout U16 skiers from CSU, Stratton Mountain School, and Mansfield Nordic.
Another superlative performance on the day was Cal Schrupp's 10th-place finish with a time of 14:20.6.
Mary Kretchmer continued her string of strong performances by placing 15th in the Women’s 9km Freestyle race. Her time of 24:29.9 placed her 2nd within the U20 women’s category. Mary’s overall placing of 15th was especially impressive as she was racing against college and senior (23+) racers.
Saturday featured 1.5 km classic sprints where GNA grabbed its first podium of the weekend with Cal Schrupp placing 3rd in the U16 boy's sprint. Julie Deacon also had a strong performance, placing 11th in U16 girl’s race.
Overall, GNA had an excellent turnout for this weekend’s races with many skiers having personal-best performances. Scroll to the bottom to see some great photos from the event.
Sunday 1/29/17
Women’s 9km FS
Mary Kretchmer – 15th (2nd U20)
Men’s 15km FS
Mark Young – 67th (16th U20)
Zach Ennis – 74th (43rd U18)
Sander Valpey – 76th (44th U18)
Ian Daly – 86th (54th U18)
Girl’s U16 6km FS
Alex Paluszek – 18th
Catherine Stow – 22nd (3rd U14)
Heather Deacon – 24th
Julie Deacon – 41st (4th U14)
Boy’s U16 6km FS
Josh Valentine – 1st
Cal Schrupp – 10th
Mitchell Townsend – 36th (1st U14)
Saturday 1/28/17
Girls’s U16 Sprints
Julie Deacon – 11th
Boy’s U16 Sprints
Cal Schrupp – 3rd
Women’s Sprints
Mary Kretchmer – 22nd
Men’s Sprints
Josh Valentine – 27th
About NENSA’s Eastern Cup Races
The Eastern Cup Series has been on the race calendar since the early years of NENSA, and is considered NENSA’s signature race series, offering competition for BKL, Junior, Senior and Master skiers. Eastern Cup events also serve as the Junior National Qualifier races for the New England Junior National Team.
Josh Valentine
Cal Schrupp
Julie Deacon
Alex Paluszek
Heather Deacon
Catherine Stow
Mitchell Townsend
Zach Ennis, Mark Young, and Josh Valentine
Coach Nina and Don Kretchmer prepping the skis for Saturday’s Classic Sprints