Each year, at the end of the competition season, some of the best junior ski jumpers and Nordic combined athletes in the U.S. come together for the Junior National Championships. The location for this event rotates between the regions of the Nordic skiing world in the U.S., bringing the best skiers from the Rocky Mountain, Intermountain, Central, Eastern and Alaskan divisions to compete for the title of the best in the country.

This year the east’s best skiers, most of whom spring from the Lake Placid NYSEF program, achieved a first by sweeping the podium in both boys ski jumping individual events — U-20 and U-16 age groups — and the team jumping event.

Wilmington native Henry Loher, 15, was the winner of the U-16 event and the overall winner of the event. Loher was followed by NYSEF skiers Max Fey of Lake Placid and Eli Larkin of Plattsburgh in the U-16 event.

Loher had the longest jump of the day, with a 67 meter jump on the K-65 meter hill which was shortened to only one round due to heavy, unpredictable winds.

From left, NYSEF’s Mitchell Penning, Schuyler Clapp and Jack Kroll stand atop the U20 ski jumping podium at the Junior National Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. (Provided photo — Colin Delaney/NYSEF)

The U-20 event was won by NYSEF’s Schuyler Clapp, of Hanover, New Hampshire. Mitchell Penning, a NYSEF and a Lake Placid Northwood School athlete from Toronto, Ontario placed second followed by Jack Kroll of Northwood School and NYSEF, in third.

In the team jumping event, the following day, the east’s boys triumphed with the team of Loher, Fey, Larkin and Clapp. The second east team of Penning, Larkin, Duncan Van Dorn of NYSEF and Eli Mansur of Lebanon, New Hampshire placed third. Loher once again had the long jump of the day with a 66.5 meter jump.

There was also a team Nordic combined event, which saw the number one east team take the gold medal in the U-16 division with local NYSEF skiers Fey and Van Dorn winning. In the older U-20 age group, Kroll and Clapp won the gold medal.

NYSEF Coaches Colin Delaney and Larry Stone provided the management and coaching of the eastern jumping and Nordic combined team.

During the team’s time away, NYSEF coach Jay Rand stayed on the home front, continuing training for the weekly development program of local future stars at NYSEF’s home facility.

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National juniors

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NYSEF ski jumpers and Nordic combined athletes competed in Salisbury, Connecticut from Feb. 22 to 26, against 49 of the best athletes from around the country at the National Championships for skiers under 20 years old.

Skiers from as far away as Alaska, Utah, Colorado and the midwest gathered in the east at Satre Hill in Salisbury, Connecticut to determine both the boys and girls national champions in ski jumping and Nordic combined. Six of the 13 person eastern team train with NYSEF.

Lake Placid native Kai McKinnon was the lone female competitor on the team and brought home the lion’s share of the medals with three silver medals in women’s U-16 special jumping, Nordic combined, team Nordic combined events and a gold in the women’s team event.

Penning placed 11th in the jumping event and Kroll was close behind in 13th. Penning, Kroll and McKinnon train with NYSEF in the winter term program.

Other locals who qualified for their first Junior National Championships were Van Dorn in 20th, Loher in 21st and Larkin in 24th. Kroll, Van Dorn and Loher also competed in the Nordic combined event and placed 12th and 13th, respectively. Loher placed 17th.

Van Dorn also competed in the team jumping event on the number one east team, which placed fourth along with Kroll and Penning. Larkin and Loher competed on the second east team which ended up eighth.

Kroll brought home a silver medal in the Nordic combined team sprint event with Angelo Goodwin from New Hampshire. Penning and Van Dorn garnered eighth in that event followed by Loher on the ninth place team.

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Norwegian open

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In spite of unseasonably warm temperatures leading up to this year’s annual Norwegian Open Ski Jumping Event in Lake Placid on Saturday, nearly 40 jumpers ranging in age from 5 to 16 took part. A variety of eastern clubs were represented including girls and boys from New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and New York.

Most of the snow had melted away on the inrun of the K20 ski jump so the remaining snow was removed and the porcelain track used for summer ski jumping was put into play. Young jumpers slid down this track gaining speed for flight, but still landed on a snow covered landing hill that state Olympic Regional Development Authority crews had prepared. Truly a first time experience for some.

In the girls U12 class, NYSEF’s Leila Fey and Anna Gavula placed second and third, respectively, while the NYSEF’s Wyatt Jeffery took second

and Henri Gaboriau placed third in the U12 boys event.

NYSEF’s Tomasz Hertel took the gold in the boys open class with fellow NYSEF jumper Gregory Bertasso rounding out a podium finish in third.

The U10 girls and boys classes had the largest number of jumpers with strong group finishes. The top NYSEF girl was Adalina Weibrecht in second, Willow Howe was third, Juliet Wright was fifth and Isabelle Szczech was sixth. On the boys side, Alex Gavula and Will Scanio tied for fifth place, while Nick Politi just one point behind in seventh. One single K10 NYSEF Jumper Oliver Garrity placed first in the U10 Class.

On the K48 jump, the NYSEF boys earned a clean sweep with Loher winning gold, folowed by Larkin, earning second place and Will Coffin in third. Kroll won the U20 Class slamming down the highest point total of the day.

The NYSEF ski jumping program will continue once again in June on artificial surfaces.