German exchange student Emma Sexauer waited patiently in the start gate on the Helsinki Run. Emma had trouble on both of her runs, but she wasn’t the lone skier who fought the tricky slalom courses. A twohour rain in the morning made the slope conditions a little tougher to navigate than normal. Photo courtesy of Charles/Jenny Lamb
No one expects rain in an alpine ski meet held in northern Minnesota in January, but rain it did at the Hibbing Invite that was held Jan. 3, 2019 at Giants Ridge.
Approximately 120 boys and 100 girls from eight Arrowhead Conference teams, plus Brainerd, Minneapolis South West and Minneapolis Washburn skied two runs of slalom, one run on Innsbruck and one run on Helsinki.
When the morning rain ended the weather cleared and turned into a beautiful sunny day with a high of 30F.
Reilly Wahlers threw down a great first run (3rd) but pushed too hard in her second attempt. She blew out near the bottom of the Innsbruk headwall and finished the day at the back of the pack.
Sela Backstrom skied two solid, fast runs and earned a trip to the stage for a 9th place ribbon.
Halle Lamb pushed too hard in her first run and blew out near the finish (DNF).
Elsa Lunde also skied tough (18th) followed by Kalina Dimitrova (32nd). German exchange student Emma Sexauer blew out in both her runs but showed great sportsmanship and hiked both times.
The individual girls’ winner was Ahnika Berg from Minneapolis Washburn and Brainerd was the girls’ team winner. The Cook County girls’ team finished in 6th place.
Seventh-grader Cy Oberholtzer was the fastest Cook County boy (21st) followed close behind by Ray Dressely (24th), Ben Obinger (27th) and Elijah Blank (34th).
Weston Heeren had a great first run but suffered a miscue in his second and Andrew Hallberg finished both his runs (19th) in a big field of JV racers.
Junior Will Surbaugh, the team’s top boy skier, was sick and absent.
CEC’s Thomas Heren was the boy’s overall winner with Brainerd taking the boy’s team championship. Cook County boys finished the day in 5th place.
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