Members of the Yukon cross-country ski team are returning home from Newfoundland this week, after putting together the territory's finest showing at the national championships.

Under the guidance of former Olympian Alain Masson, the team earned a best-ever 19 medals at the Haywood Ski Nationals, held at Blow Me Down Trails in Corner Brook, Nfld.

The Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club would finish second out of nearly 60 clubs in overall aggregate standings, matching its previous best results from 2012 and 2007. In 2007, the Yukon won 17 medals, the most until now.

Nakkertok Nordic, the country's largest ski club located in the Ottawa-Gatineau area, won its fifth straight national championship.

For the Yukon, this marked the top performance since the junior and senior championships were combined in 2001, Masson said.

The coach said his skiers exceeded his expectations. After collecting 17 medals in 2007, Masson wasn't sure if that number would ever be reached again.

"I thought we would never match that, or it would take a really long time to match that,” Masson admitted in an interview yesterday with the Star.

"It feels good because our club, which is situated in a town of 25-, 30,000 people, has won more medals than the entire province of B.C. over the course of the championships. There's no other club in Canada who does anything close to this. So it feels really good.”

He said the Nakkertok ski club draws from a much-wider population base, likely close to a million people.

Skiers representing the Yukon included stalwarts Graham and Emily Nishikawa, Knute Johnsgaard, Colin Abbott, Dahria Beatty, and Kendra Murray.

Others included Mira Mason, Natalie Hynes, Alexis Gee, Hannah Shier, Hannah Deuling, Simon Cash, Mac Prawdzick, Annah Hanthorn, Hudson Lucier, Marcus Deuling, and Caelan McLean.

Ten different skiers won medals, by far the most all-time, said Masson.

Masson said he was particularly impressed with young skiers like Cash and Deuling who won medals on the last day of competition.

Leading the way for the territory was Beatty, a junior skier. She won a handful of medals in her last national event as a junior, including three golds, a silver and a bronze.

Beatty also won the overall junior women's aggregate title with an exciting gold-medal victory in the 20-km classic race.

Besides her individual medals, Beatty also teamed up with recent Yukon Olympian, Emily Nishikawa, to take gold in the classic team sprints.

Another Yukon duo of Kendra Murray and Annah Hanthorn combined to finish third in the same race.

"Thank you to everyone who supported me this season and helped me make it my best yet,” the 19-year-old Beatty said today on her blog.

"I am looking forward to getting back to training in May and working hard so that I can charge onto the senior scene next season.”

Emily Nishikawa won three medals total, including two gold and a silver, while her brother, Graham, also picked up three medals, including gold in the sprints, silver and bronze.

Other skiers picking up three medals included Johnsgaard (silver, two bronze) and Hanthorn (three bronze).

Rounding out the medal wins were McLean (gold), Cash (silver), Deuling (silver), Abbott (bronze), and Murray.

Twelve Yukon skiers also earned a total of 32 top-10 finishes in individual races – another best-ever.

Conditions were difficult to predict in Corner Brook, as the weather would often change quickly.