STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Johnny Hagenbuch has yet another accolade to add to his blockbuster year.

The Sun Valley Community School junior has been nominated to the U.S. Ski Team’s Cross Country D team for the 2019-20 season. He is the first-ever nominated male athlete who will still be a high school student.

The ski team will formally name its athletes come fall, according to Jonna Mendes, program director for the Sun Valley Ski Academy at Community School.

This is just the latest in things that must be making Hagenbuch’s chest swell with pride. The Sun Valley Ski Foundation’s Nordic racer placed third in the 34-kilometer Boulder Mountain Tour, just an nnnnth out of first place, in February.

And he made American skiing history, winning America’s first ever under-20 cross country gold medal as part of the U.S. Men’s Junior Worlds Team in the 4x5-kilometer relay at the Junior World Championship in Lathi, Finland.

According to SVSEF Nordic Program Director Rick Kapala, Hagenbuch has the work ethic and drive common to all top-level cross-country skiers, applying himself to the best of his abilities, whether at team training or working out on his own.

Johnny and three other Sun Valley Community School students, including Sydney Palmer-Leger, Sophia Mazzoni and Bentley Walker-Broose, competed in the Junior World Cross Country ski championships in Finland. Eye on Sun Valley’s Michael David sat down with Hagenbuch and Palmer-Leger to learn about their experience there in this video interview.