The Yukon's cross country ski team is confusing the rest of Canada. Just what is going on up north that keeps producing so many national level athletes?

Dahria Beatty, 16, Knute Johnsgaard, 18, and Janelle Greer, 17, were announced as members of the Canadian National Cross Country Junior Ski Team by Cross Country Canada Thursday afternoon.

"I was really excited to be nominated to the team,” said Beatty earlier this morning, adding that she was happy to be there with the skiers she trains with. "Not only me, but also Janelle and Knute were named to the team.”

The three skiers will join a team of 14 Canadian athletes – a totally unprecedented move for any club, let alone the Yukon.

"People in the south must be wondering if we've got something funny in the water up here,” said Claude Chabot, executive director of the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club.

For the past four years the Yukon has been contributing a junior skier to the national team. For three years in a row two Yukon skiers have made the team, but this is the first time so many have made it.

"It's a huge deal,” Chabot said. "We're getting new kids consistently being named to the national team.”

Chabot attributes that consistency to fabulous facilities and great coaching at the hands of Alain Masson, head coach for the Yukon Ski Team.

"It's wonderful,” Masson said. "It's great recognition for the program.”

It doesn't hurt that the Yukon boasts an extra few months to its ski season every year.

With the three skiers standing out on a national stage, Chabot said it raises the profile of the entire club.

"If you get a few successful kids, they kind of bring up the whole level,” he said.

Masson said the three skiers are also learning that they are at the top of their game.

"It's a great recognition. It just sends them the message that they are one of the best junior skiers in the country,” he said.

Masson said that also translates back to the club.

"I think it's great for everyone,” he said.

Both Chabot and Masson agree that Johnsgaard, Beatty and Greer act as role models for the younger generation of skiers.

"We can be assured that there will be another generations, just with those people as role models,” Chabot said.

"It provides role models and mentoring to the younger skiers coming up behind them,” Masson added.

The mentoring will help younger skiers see a future in their sport, even if they are from the north.

"It just shows that it's something that can be done if you're based in the Yukon,” Masson said.

Beatty said that the nominations prove that goals can be accomplished at any time for athletes.

"When they've achieved something, it's not always when you expect,” she said.

Beatty said younger skiers should try to train without watching their competitors too closely.

"You kind of just have to focus on how you're improving,” she said. "You just have to keep training and having fun.”

Beatty added that taking lessons from races that don't go well is another key to success.

Not only does it tell the athletes they can succeed, Masson said it proves to the Yukon sporting community as a whole that it is worth investing in young athletic talent.

"It proves that with great quality programs that it is possible to develop great athletes out of the Yukon,” he said. "It's great for the sport community.”

Now that they are on the junior national team, the three skiers will have more travel options, and will see competition in more early-season races.

"If you're from Whitehorse you might go to one or two Outside races early season,” Chabot said.

He said the nomination is a recognition of their talent, and will give them a huge boost in training.

They will train with their peers at a number of great sessions.

"That kind of ups the benefit as well,” Chabot said. "It's exciting stuff.”

This summer they will have access to glacier training camps, where they will see snow and receive training during the off-season.

Once the summer is over, Beatty will return to Whitehorse to train under Masson with the Yukon Ski Team. Greer will head to Canmore, Alta. to train at the Alberta World Cup Academy, and Johnsgaard will relocate to Quebec City to train at the Pierre Harvey Training Centre.

Beatty said she has enjoyed training and improving with Johnsgaard and Greer.

"Part of it is we all train together,” she said. "Having them as partners makes you a better skier.”

That partnership has seen all three have major success in national competitions, like the Haywood Ski Nationals held in Whitehorse in March.

"We've proven that we're able to compete at the national level,” Beatty said.

She said she will miss her partners as they split off to train elsewhere, but is looking forward to the opportunity to ski with other great local skiers.

"I'll definitely miss having Janelle to train with, but also there's other fast skiers in Whitehorse that I can train with,” Beatty said. "There's still people that I can train with.”

All three skiers had great success at the Haywood Ski Nationals, but Chabot said it was their performance all season that helped them earn their spot on the team.

"It certainly helped,” Chabot said of the nationals.

Greer was put out of the Nationals after a team gold with Beatty following a brutal crash that broke several of her fingers.

Beatty said she has achieved her goal of making the national junior team years ahead of what she thought was possible.

"This is always something that I've hoped to do,” she said.

Now that she has achieved what she set out to do ahead of schedule, Beatty is already looking forward to her next step.

She hopes to make the junior national team for a few more years and earn a place on the national junior team that will be sent to the Junior World Championships again. Once she has aged out of the junior team, her goal is to make it onto the Canadian National Ski Team and join fellow Yukoner Graham Nishikawa.

In other Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club news;

Nishikawa and David Greer have been offered places at the Pierre Harvey Training Centre again for the coming season, and Emily Nishikawa has been invited back to the Alberta World Cup Academy. Jeff Wood will be moving his training to the Callaghan Valley Development Centre in B.C.

The training centres are a part of Cross Country Canada's national ski team program. Skiers invited are those that have the potential to move onto the senior national team.