Watch Laramie’s Abigail Whitman Talk About Realizing A Goal

The climb to the top for Laramie junior Abigail Whitman reached its peak with her first Nordic skiing state championship last Saturday.

After three consecutive runner-up finishes, which included last Friday’s classic race, Whitman broke through with a dominating performance in the 10Km freestyle on Saturday. She won the race by nearly a minute. Whitman’s time was 35:10.9 on the course at Beaver Creek Nordic Ski Area. Her margin of victory was 59.4 seconds.

KOWB’s David Settle had a chance to visit with the junior about winning the state title, the keys to her victory, the course, finally getting to the top of the podium, and more. Even Laramie head coach Rebecca Watson joined the conversation on Abigail Whitman and how things turned out for the Laramie teams in the video above.

Besides the title, Whitman came in second in last Friday’s 5Km classic by 1.5 seconds. She finished in 19:34.8.

As a team, the Laramie girls came in fifth place for the second consecutive year. They scored 116 points and were only six points out of fourth place behind Kelly Walsh. Unfortunately for LHS, no other girl placed in the top 20.

The Plainsmen were led by senior Sam Fay, who finished in the top seven in both races. Fay took fourth in the classic race and seventh in the freestyle race. Gus Kauffman placed 13th, while Nathan Kessler was 16th in the classic. Kessler added a 13th place effort in the freestyle race.

Laramie took fourth in the boys’ division with 150 points. That was 42 back of third-place Lander.

Jackson swept the team titles. They totaled 233 points in the girls’ division and won by a margin of 26. On the boys’ side, the Broncs’ team compiled 240 points and won by 23.