The three Viking Alpine skiers who went to the State meet at Giants Ridge represented Cook County well. Above: Eighth-grader Reilly Wahlers digs into a hairpin in her second run. She finished in 27th place against the top skiers in the state. And, Wahlers said, “It’s a blast to ski at State!”
The fastest high school Alpine racers in the state traveled to Giants Ridge Ski Area for the Minnesota State High School League Alpine Skiing State Meet on February 11, 2015. Earning their chance to compete this year in a field of 88 boys and 88 girls were Cook County sophomores Will Lamb, Logan Backstrom and 8th grader Reilly Wahlers. The racers faced sunny, cold conditions with the mercury topping out at 5F, 6 inches of fresh snow and a blustery NW wind gusting to 30 mph.
The state meet consists of two runs, with the champions having the best overall time from their two trips down the hill—one each on the Helsinki and Innsbruck courses. With the help of all the kids slipping the course properly during inspection and some hard work by the course crew, the tracks were successfully cleared of the previous night’s fresh powder and were a perfect bullet proof sheet of ice. All four courses were challenging FIS level sets and the UMD Alpine team provided forerunners.
Above: Will Lamb pushes his way to a top 10 finish at State. Lamb not only made it to the top 10, he was the top finisher for the Northland boys. Left: Logan Backstrom’s first run at the State Meet. He had two stellar runs and finished in an impressive 26th place.
First up for Cook County was Will Lamb who placed fourth in Section 7; he went out of the gate in the 13th position wearing number 13. His first run looked good, a little wild but overall a clean run (9th).
His second run on the steeper pitch of Helsinki was very fast as he skied down the crankers on the difficult pitch. He was looking great, pushing it to the limit until he ran into trouble in a tricky gate sequence near the middle of the course. Several of the top boys and many others blew out and crashed in the same spot. Will powered through and scrubbed some precious time but pulled off a good recovery. He finished the day in ninth place and was the top Northland finisher, besting all the kids from Duluth!
“After last year’s 14th place finish, my goal this year was to crack the top ten at the State Meet,” Lamb said. “I was really happy I stood after making a mistake in the second run and was able to hang on to 9th place. There were a lot of fast kids on the hill.”
Next up for Cook County was number 57 Logan Backstrom who placed 15th at sections. Logan threw down two stellar, fast runs, 30th in his first, 25th in his second, finishing the day in 26th place. It was a remarkable performance for his first trip to the State meet as an individual. Backstrom said, “It was awesome to qualify and ski at State. It helped us a lot that we were able to train at Lutsen on steep pitches like Moose Drop, Upper Koo, Split Rock and Hari Kari.”
Reilly Wahlers wearing number 145 skied her best in the ultra competitive field, defeating everyone in her age group and a lot of girls older than her, ending the day an impressive 27th place.
Wahlers said, “It was great to qualify again this year. It’s a blast to ski at State!”
Head Alpine Coach Charles Lamb said, “There is huge pressure skiing at the state level. We are up against schools with big numbers and racers from excellent high school and top USSA/ FIS programs. At both sections and state, it made me proud to watch our three Cook County racers trust their training, keep cool heads, step up and rise to the occasion.”
Northfield sophomore Elliot Boman and Rochester Century senior Kate Hanson were crowned state champions. Both skied exciting, high-speed runs that were right on the edge. Section 7 Champion Madison Danelski of Hermantown pushed it a little too hard and crashed in her second run. Emotions were running high at the finish arena from racers, coaches and fans alike, watching the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat throughout the action packed day.
Forest Lake and Edina tied for the boys’ team victory and Brainerd took home 1st place for the girls’ team. It was a first for Forest Lake and Brainerd to win the coveted Minnesota State Alpine team titles.
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