South High Skier Places Well at Junior Olympics

Karina Packer Takes Silver Home from Kincaid Park

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – Mar. 10, 2008– Anchorage, Alaska’s Karina Packer still has four more years of solid Junior Olympic competition in front of her, but she hasn’t wasted any time in winning her first medal at this year’s 2008 Junior Olympic Cross Country Ski Championships at Kincaid Park.

The South High School student placed second in the J2 girls 1.2 KM classic sprint race today. Besting

Packer was the lone Alaskan in a final heat that included four girls from New England and one girl from the Mid-Atlantic team.

“At the start I was looking around and I felt intimidated by all the New England girls around me,” says Packer. “But then I just said ‘OK, no pressure’ and I went out and did it.”

During a sprint classic race, competitors speed through course in an all-out head-to-head dace to the finish. It was a grueling day of competition, with racers sprinting in multiple heats throughout the warm winter day.

An exuberant Packer says she was surprised by her sprint performance.

“Until now I thought I was better at distance events,” says Packer. “But, I did well on a similar sprint course in Homer this winter.”

The fifteen-year-old trains year-round with the Alaska Winter Stars in Anchorage.

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