March 04, 2015 – Central Cross Country Ski Association (CXC) and the Midwest Junior Committee is pleased to announce this year’s Midwest Junior National Team that will be competing in the USSA Cross Country Junior National Championships hosted by the Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, California March 8th-14th.

Team CXC in action © CXC

2015 Midwest Junior National Team list here. (PDF)

After a strong US Senior Nationals the Midwest pre-qualified many athletes adding to the USSA quota of 21 boys and 21 girls allowed per team. Leading this year’s team are World Junior Championship qualifiers and Northern Michigan University freshman Vivian Hett and Ian Torchia.

Also qualifying for US Ski Team trips to Europe were Abigal Drach, Nicole Schneider, Mack FitzPatrick, and Zak Ketterson who raced in Sweden as part of the U18 Nations Cup trip. Amanda Kautzer, last year’s U16 sprint champion, recently returned from representing the USA at Biathlon’s World Junior Championships in Minsk, Belarus will be competing as a U18 this year.

From a team perspective the Midwest team looks to build upon last year’s 2nd place in the Alaska Cup points. Girls high school champions Wayzata HS will be tough to beat again with 4 girls named to this year’s team. Loppet Nordic Racing, last year’s boys and girls club champion, looks to repeat again with 34 athletes on the team.