Four Nordic skiers from Fairbanks placed among the top 20 on Wednesday in a classic technique sprint SuperTour race that kicked off the Yellowstone Ski Festival in Montana.

In a 1.4-kilometer sprint qualifier (meaning no head-to-head heats were contested), David Norris placed 11th in 4:11.27, Reese Hanneman was 14th in 4:12.91 and Tyson Flaharty took 17th in 4:15.64. All are members of the club Fairbanks Alaska Ski Team (FAST). Norris, 19, was the top Older Junior division skier by nearly 15 seconds.

FAST’s Werner Hoefler ranked 75th of 120 finishers.

Garrott Kuzzy of CXC won in 4:04.11.

For the women, Becca Rorabaugh, a West Valley High School graduate skiing for the APU Nordic Ski Center in Anchorage, placed seventh in 5:03.05.

Dasha Gaiazova of the Canadian National Team was first in 4:52.39 while APU’s Laura Valaas and Holly Brooks took second and fourth, respectively.

Lathrop graduate and APU skier Kate Arduser placed 39th of 110 finishers.

The season-opening festival continues with a SuperTour freestyle race on Friday (15 kilometers for men and 10K for women) and concludes with a classic race on Saturday (10K for men, 5K for women).

Prep wrestling

The Lathrop Malemutes downed the North Pole Patriots 38-30 in a high school wrestling match on Wednesday night at North Pole.

North Pole actually won seven of the 11 matches that were wrestled, but Lathrop took advantage of three forfeits to pull out the win.

Lathrop’s Trent Nichols (152 pounds) and Brandon Weise (160) registered pins, while Keegan Severns (189) won by technical fall and Steven Temple (140) won a decision. Jonnie Norln (125), Brandon Nichols (215) and Cole Foster (285) picked up forfeit wins.

Trent Sheperski collected North Pole’s only pin at 171. Chris Frazier earned a technical fall at 135 and Nick Coffell nabbed a major decision at 103. Patriots who won decisions included Adam Wood (119), Cody Decker (112), Dalton Barri (130) and Kevin Jutila (145).

The Mid Alaska Conference Championships are scheduled for Dec. 5 at North Pole.

ADMA postponement

Alaska Dog Mushers Association race Marshall Mike McCowan announced Wednesday that the first Challenge Series race of the year scheduled for Dec. 6 has been postponed for one week to Dec. 13.

In an e-mail to the organization’s members, McCowan said that 4 or 5 more inches of snow are needed before groomers are allowed to set trails in Creamer’s field.