Huskies’ Nordic ski teams finish first, second at Snow Mountain Ranch races

The Battle Mountain Huskies Nordic teams got back on the winning track at a mass-start skate race near Granby on Saturday, with the girl’s team claiming its second victory of the season and the boys finishing second behind Steamboat Springs.

Both Battle Mountain teams won the season-opening classic races in Steamboat on Jan. 13 but dropped off with a deeper field of club racers at their home skate meet at the Vail Nordic Center on Jan. 20 — the girls finishing third and the boys taking fifth.

This past Saturday, Jan. 27, with many of the club racers at Steamboat, the Huskies charged hard at Snow Mountain Ranch — the home course for Middle Park High School.

Battle Mountain’s Lizzy Harding was second in the 5K race with a time of 17 minutes, 18.79 seconds behind Steamboat’s Annika Malacinski (17:01.88). Battle Mountain’s Grace Johnson was fourth (17:42.91), and Lizzy’s sister Naomi Harding rounded out the scoring for the Huskies (top 3 on the team) by finishing fifth (17:53.65).

On the boy’s side, Parker Rodeen was the top Husky in sixth with a time of 16:08.09, followed by David Reilly in ninth (16:34.84) and Nick Williams in 10th (16:36.88). Steamboat’s Wyatt Mortenson won the race with a time of 15:25.31.

Next up for the Huskies is a same-day pursuit at Aspen with 3K classic in the morning, followed by a 5K skate in the afternoon.