Harwood’s Ava Thurston brings home gold

March 16, 2022  |  From Waterbury Roundabout and Times Argus staff reports 

Teachers and coaches at Harwood Union High School put up a banner in downtown Waterbury to salute Ava Thurston on her return from the Junior National Competitions. Photo by Gordon Miller

Ava Thurston skis in the 5K freestyle race on the first day of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Junior National Championships in Minneapolis. Photo by Skinnyski.com

Harwood sophomore Julia Thurston skis in the 5k freestyle U16 race on the first day of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Junior National Championships in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy SkinnySki.com

Ava Thurston waves a New England banner for her relay team at the Junior National Cross Country Ski Championships. Photo by SkinnySki.com

Mansfield Nordic Club skiers at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Junior National Championships in Minneapolis March 7-12. L-R top row: Coach Sara Falconer, Ava Thurston of Waterbury, Coach Adam Terko, Anders Linseisen of Shelburne, Virginia Cobb of Westford. Bottom, L-R: Club alum Julia Oliver, Hattie Barker of Underhill, Julia Thurston of Waterbury, Emma Page of Underhill. Photo by Kristen Barker

Harwood Union senior Ava Thurston of Waterbury skis a recent race at Trapp Family Lodge. At last week's U.S. Cross Country Ski Junior National Championships in Minneapolis, Thurston skied to first place in all three of her individual races and her relay team claimed a gold medal as well. Photo by Gordon Miller

Harwood sophomore Julia Thurston of Waterbury skis in a recent relay race at Trapp Family Lodge. Thurston and her sister Ava were Harwood's two Nordic skiers at the Junior National Championships in Minneapolis last week. Julia finished 10th in a 5k classic race and her relay team placed 7th. Photo by Gordon Miller

It was a clean sweep last week in Minneapolis for Harwood Union’s Ava Thurston at the 2022 U.S. Ski and Snowboard Junior National Championships. 

The Waterbury senior skied to first place in her three individual races and the northeast relay team she anchored led the pack in the under-18 mixed relay category. 

The national cross country ski competition started Monday, March 7, with the 5-kilometer freestyle event where Thurston placed first in the under-18 category by nearly a minute out of 136 racers. 

Her winning time was 14 minutes, 18.9 seconds, an eye-popping margin in a field filled with athletes from elite programs across the country. Wheelock, Vt., competitor Nina Seemann, who skis for Dartmouth College, wound up second to Thurston in 15:13.3.

Harwood senior Ava Thurston skis in the U18 5K freestyle race on the first day of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Junior National Championships in Minneapolis. Photo by Skinnyski.com

Thurston headed to Minneapolis after collecting her eighth individual Vermont Nordic skiing state championship. Last year, she placed 14th at junior world championships in Finland and she’s consistently been one of the fastest under-20 skiers in North America.

Thurston continued her top-tier performance on Wednesday in a field of 97 skiers for the classic sprint competition. She won the under-18 qualifying race by nearly two seconds, at 3:33.59 seconds. Thurston won her quarterfinal heat by a whopping five seconds, crossing the line in 3:35.87 and shaved her semifinal run down to 3:28.59. 

In the final heat, she sped toward the inside lane and quickly opened up a gap on the rest of the field. She led by a few seconds at the top of the biggest climb and double-poled across the finish line with a hefty six-second margin of victory at 3:26.58.

On Friday, Thurston topped close to 100 skiers in the 10K classic mass-start. She crossed the finish first in the distance race with a time of 27:41:5, a half-minute ahead of the second-place skier. 

Saturday’s relays matched up skiers by region. Thurston’s New England team outskied 42 other teams from the Midwest and Alaska, finishing in 29:33:3; the second-place Midwest team completed the 3K course in 30:16:6. 

Relay teammates with Thurston were fellow Mansfield Nordic Club teammate Hattie Barker of Underhill who attends Mt. Mansfield Union High School, and Stratton Mountain School skiers Jack Lange and Finegan Bailey.

Barker had an impressive third place in the individual skate race, finished 23rd in the classic sprint, and came in 17th in the classic mass start.

Harwood Nordic skiers and sisters Ava and Julia Thurston of Waterbury, at Trapp Family Lodge in February. Photo by Gordon Miller

Waterbury’s second skier at the national competition was Harwood sophomore Julia Thurston, younger sister to Ava, who also brought home All-American (top 10) honors in her first Junior Nationals trip. She finished 10th in the U16 girls classic mass start with 74 racers in contention, notched 19th in the individual skate, and 26th in the classic sprint. Her relay team also placed 7th among 36 teams. 

Another Mansfield Nordic Club skier, Anders Linseisen of Shelburne, took home a 5th place finish in the U16 boy's classic sprint, achieving All-American status in his first trip to Junior Nationals. Linseisen also took home a 25th in the individual skate race and a 16th in the classic mass start.

Mansfield Nordic Club finished the Junior National Championship ranked as the sixth strongest club in the country, with the women's team finishing 3rd overall. In both of these categories, MNC was the top team from New England. 

The club noted that Ava Thurston’s sweep was a first in Junior Nationals racing since Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins achieved the feat in 2011 at the same venue.

On Monday, a banner went up on the posts by the Waterbury municipal offices on North Main Street celebrating Thurston’s top-notch performance. The banner sits at the corner of Dac Rowe Park where she has skied often with her family since she was a child.