Minnesota’s Jessie Diggins ripped through the field in the last leg of the J1 girls relay to lead her three-woman team to a first place in the final day of competition at the 2008 Cross-Country Junior Olympics. Diggins posted the best time, by 30 seconds, of anyone – J1 or OJ – on the 5 km course.
Minnesota’s Jessie Diggins ripped through the field in the last leg of the J1 girls relay to lead her three-woman team to a first place in the final day of competition at the 2008 Cross-Country Junior Olympics. Diggins posted the best time, by 30 seconds, of anyone – J1 or OJ – on the 5 km course.
    Diggins moved up four or five places during her leg giving the Midwest a 30-second victory.
    Team Alaska, however, holds the point advantage for the week-long team competition and will take home the Alaska Cup trophy, which has had a four-year stay in New England.
    The Kincaid Park course was fast again Saturday, as nighttime temperatures cooled into the teens and the daytime highs stayed below freezing. Organizers had the 3 km (for J2s) and 5 km courses in top condition for the final race of the week.
    The individual highlight of the week goes to Scot Patterson, a J2 skier from Anchorage, who took home three gold medals. Patterson won both J2 distance races and his team took the sprint title in their age group. He also earned a silver in the individual sprint.
    Preliminary results show Alaska with almost a 200-point advantage over New England in the team competition. The Intermountain team was a distant third.
    Complete results are available at www.anchoragenordicski.com/jo2008.
    Next year’s Junior Olympics cross-country event is scheduled to return to Truckee, California.