A first in the history of Nordic skiing for Kenai Peninsula skiing, in one of the largest cross country ski competitions in Alaska, the Lynx Loppet, two peninsula girls finish first and second in the combined scoring in a field of over 140 female skiers.
Soldotna High School’s Ariana Cannava and Kenai Central’s Emily Moss battled each other and the state’s best in the two-day competition which included both freestyle and classic races.
SoHi’s Ariana Cannava topped the girls field with a combined time of 57 minutes, 36 seconds. Cannava finished the 7.3 kilometer classic race on Friday in first place with a time of 28:08.1 and finished Saturday’s 8.2K Freestyle leg in 29:29.2, holding off Kenai’s Emily Moss, who posted a 28:32.1 on Friday and a 29:22.3 in Saturday’s Freestyle to post a combined time of 57:54.4. Cannava wins the Lynx Loppet with Moss in second, a difference of 17.1 seconds in the two-day combined time.
The SoHi girls place fifth in the team scoring and the Kenai girls finish sixth overall. Service and Dimond finish one-two in the girls team scoring.
The boys team title goes to Service with the Kenai Kardinal boys finishing second overall and SoHi third in the team scoring.
In the boys competition and in a field of nearly 200 skiers, Kenai’s Jack Laker was second overall with a combined time of 46:53. Service’s Skyler Amy posted a combined time of 44:34 for the boy’s individual title. Soldotna’s Andrew Cox placed ninth at 50:01 and Kenai’s Chase Laker placed 10th at 50:05.