The Yukon is proving that size doesn't matter at this year's Haywood Ski Nationals in Duntroon, Ontario.

With one of the smallest teams at nationals, the territory has accumulated a total of six medals and is currently in fifth place in the division standings with 295 points.

"That's usually where we've always finished. Because we are a small division compared to B.C., Alberta, Quebec and Ontario we have no hope of finishing much higher than that," said Alain Masson, head coach of the Yukon Ski Team. "We don't have that many skiers here competing compared to a lot of other clubs, but all the skiers we have are all competitive, so that makes a big difference."

Mother Nature is proving to be difficult early on at the 2009 nationals. The warmer weather and wet conditions forced organizers to limit Wednesday's competition to just the senior and junior mens'/womens' age classes. This meant the bulk of the Yukon team had its second day off.

The three Yukon skiers that did make it out on the trails included David Greer, Graham Nishikawa and Colin Abbott.

Among the Yukoners, Greer had the best result, winning his third silver medal in three days. Competing in the junior men's category, Greer finished less than 10 seconds back of Banff's Graeme Killick.

Nishikawa came close to medalling, but just missed out of a podium finish by one position, while Abbott placed in the top 10.

Wednesday's cancelled races have been rescheduled to Saturday.

In the past few years, the Yukon has done very well at the nationals, which included a fourth place finish among all Canadian clubs in 2008.

This year, the Whitehorse club is currently in fifth place with 545 points.

Masson said it's important to finish high in the standings.

"A lot of our funding is dependent on our results, so it's really important for sure," he said. "The last few years we have done a lot better compared to the past."

The Yukon squad includes Janelle Greer, Heidi Brook, Dahria Beatty, Kendra Murray, Logan Potter, Jeff Wood, Lee Hawking, Knute Johnsgaard, Colin and Michael Abbott, and Fabian Brook. Each skier was chosen as a result of their strong race results in selection races held earlier in the season.

Veteran Yukon skiers Nishikawa and Greer are also competing at the nationals.

The ski nationals began on Sunday with the challenge category, which pairs up two skiers from the same club. In the past the Yukon hasn't fared as well in the challenge competition, however, this year the team won three medals.

The medalling teams included Hawkings and Wood, who placed third in the challenge boys event.

In the challenge girls category, Beatty and (Janelle) Greer went on to an impressive silver medal performance, while (David) Greer and Nishikawa also finished second in the open mens' category.

This was the first year the Yukon has won a medal at the nationals in the challenge competition.

Among some of the other Yukon highlights have been first-year juvenile skier Beatty, who so far has won two silver medals.

"It's very good, we knew that Dahria for a long time was going to be competitive because she's been very competitive in Arctic Winter Games as well as Western Canadian Championships," Masson said. "It's nice that she confirms what we all knew, but it's not a big surprise."

Masson said one of his personal highlights just involves Yukon skiers racing as well as they have earlier in the season.

"I would say most of our skiers are skiing as well as they did this year, which is really nice," he said. "That's always our goal."