Showing strong slalom technique as he slashed around a gate, Dexter Yoki (above) placed 7th at the Virginia Invitational at Giants Ridge to help the Vikings boys’ varsity place first overall in the slalom event. Megan Lehto, above left, placed 14th and Morgan Weyrens-Welch (left) placed 15th in the girls’ varsity race at Virginia to help the Vikings win first place. It was a terrific meet for the Vikings as the junior varsity also placed first in the slalom races.
Call it the perfect storm, Trifecta, clean sweep—pick any descriptive adjective. Short story, the Alpine Vikings took first place in varsity boys’, girls’ and junior varsity slalom at the Virginia Invitational at Giants Ridge on December 16.
Jack Viren won the boys’ JV race followed by Damian Zimmer, 3rd and Roman Schnobrich, 5th. Coincidently, Jack’s combined time would have earned him a 23rd place in the varsity race. Impressive.
Madysen McKeever won the girls’ JV race with Matea Acero placing 6th place overall. On the same page, Madysen’s JV time was equivalent to an 18th place girls’ varsity place. Equally impressive.
The boys rocked the hill. Not too often, by any team, at any race, do you find four team members all landing in the top 10. Well, the Vikings did just that. Collin Berglund finished 4th, Dexter Yoki, Will Lamb (7th grade) and Kyle Martinson finished 7th, 8th, and 9th place respectively. This provided a first place win among nine area regional teams and over 50 racers.
Berglund was ready for a top-line finish. He has consistently demonstrated excellent practice times and has had stellar single event times in recent meets. This was his day as he combined back-to-back race events and was just 2.54 seconds from first place.
Martinson found his first top 10 finish in varsity racing with likely more to come. Young Will Lamb shows a promising future, for sure. And Dexter Yoki is demonstrating that he is becoming one of the team’s most consistent racers.
The girls’ varsity landed four team members in the top 15. Again, on any given day, at any given race, to have four score in the top 15 typically yields high results. And this day resulted in a first place team finish.
Senior captain Katie Smedstad finished second place overall (she also finished 2nd last week at Lutsen) with freshman Ava McMillan having her best finish ever in her up-andcoming promising high school career. Ava finished 4th in a field showcasing 55 regional racers.
Megan Lehto proved once again to be a key cog in the girls’ wheel serving in a scoring position for team results with a 14th place finish. And once again, our younger team members are showing they belong. Eighthgrader Morgan Weyrens-Welch earned her first varsity points in a scoring position finishing 15th place overall.
What’s equally impressive with this team is the depth on each side. Luke Fenwick and Anders Zimmer were absent this race. And both are clearly top scorers. When the boys’ team is at full strength, the depth will simply allow for some margin of error, which is required in Alpine racing. And the same for the girls. Hang on—our Alpine Vikings are in for an exciting season!
The team will continue to have a rigorous practice schedule over the Christmas break preparing for the remainder of the 2012 season. Our next meet is scheduled for January 5 at Giants Ridge followed by the Moose Mountain invitational at Lutsen on January 12.
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