Surprise Stadium is annually the site of one of the most unique cross-country races of the high and middle school Nordic season.

Last Friday that tradition was renewed, as more than 177 student-athletes competed in the Truckee Sprints.

Racing around Truckee’s football field, North Tahoe senior Jake Hacker managed the course and the touch-and-go downhill section — that often wipes racers out as they re-enter the stadium — better than anyone else to claim first place in the finals.

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Hacker won the annual sprint event by more than 2 seconds, crossing the finish line with a time of 1 minute, 23 seconds. Teammates Benjamin Cutler (1:25.9) took fifth, Sven Halvorsen (1:31.3) was 10th, and Leyton Roberts (1:39.7) was 15th.

The Sugar Bowl Academy cross-county team had a strong showing in Truckee as well, with Matteus Sokulsky taking second place with a time of 1:25.1. Teammates Pascal Wettermark followed closely behind with a time of 1:25.8 to finish in fourth place, while Walker Rawlinson was 11th with a time of 1:37.5.

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Logan Selander led sprint hosts, Truckee, with a time of 1:26.3 to finish in sixth place. The Wolverines also had Matthew Deluna (1:28.7) finish eighth and Aiden Gustafsson (1:37.9) take 12th place.

On the girls’ side, Sugar Bowl standout senior Hayden McJunkin added to a high school career that’s seen first-place finishes across multiple sports, cruising to a first-place finish by more than seven seconds with a time of 1:39.6.

Truckee’s Keira Scott led a strong contingent of Wolverines with a second place, reaching the finish line in 1:46.7. Teammate Samantha Rost was fourth with a time of 1:48.8, and was followed by Sonny Strusinski in fifth with a time of 1:49.9. Truckee’s Hannah Hammond (1:50.2) and Maggie Cooke (1:50.7) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, to give the Wolverines five skiers in the top 10.

North Tahoe had a pair of skiers among the top finishers on the day. Kalena Steves took eighth place with a time of 1:52.2, and Lucy Tieslau took 10th place with a time of 1:53.8.

High school Nordic racing will head to Mammoth this weekend for the annual Mammoth Classic.

Justin Scacco is a staff writer with the Sierra Sun. He can be reached at jscacco@sierrasun.com