Left: State bound! The boys’ section team is (L-R) Will Lamb, Logan Backstrom, Anders Zimmer, Kyle Martinson, Luke Fenwick, Colin Berglund.
I wrote the opening article about the Cook County Alpine ski team back in early December. I thought it would be interesting to look back and compare how they did. Below are snippets from the early December article.
“And with the advent of the first race, there are self-imposed high expectations for a successful season…”
“Led by Senior Captain Anders Zimmer…”
“His fellow senior racers include Colin Berglund, Luke Fenwick, Kyle Martinson and Dexter Yoki.”
“And the depth continues thereafter with young gun standouts Logan Backstrom and Will Lamb…”
Well, I guess that was either prophetic or maybe wishful thinking at the time. So here’s the rest of the story.
Nineteen teams were represented in the Section 7 meet at Giants Ridge showcasing 100 of the top regional racers. Your boys’ Alpine ski team took 2nd place with only the top two teams’ advancing to the state meet next week. Now, 2½ months later— let’s look at how they did at the Section meet earlier this week.
Below left: The dynamic Alpine girls’ team are (L-R) Megan Lehto, Morgan Weyrens-Welch, Madysen McKeever, Ave McMillan, Alyssa Martinson, Signe Larson.
The self-imposed high standards for a successful season resulted in a state meet appearance.
Yes, indeed, Anders did in fact lead his team. Matter-offact, he also placed in the top 10 (8th place) which qualified him for an individual appearance at the state meet (top 10 automatically advance to the state meet).
Luke Fenwick followed Anders with Will Lamb and Logan Backstrom serving as our other scorers (top 4 places of the team’s six skiers are scored for team totals).
And it does not stop there. Dexter Yoki was just outside of making the Section team and was therefore invited by the Chief of Section Race to serve as a forerunner. That’s a tribute to Dexter’s skill as a ski racer and a nice ending to his senior year. Kyle Martinson put down two solid runs and both Kyle and Collin Berglund will represent Cook County next week as part of our state team.
Below right: Team Captain Anders Zimmer not only led his team, he placed in the top 10 which qualified him for the state meet next week.
The girls were solid and their pre-season snippets from that first article looked like this:
The girls’ team is younger and not with the depth of the boys team but nonetheless return with solid experience…
The girls will be led by Senior Captain and two-time state meet participant Signe Larson.
Junior Megan Lehto, sophomore Ava McMillan and freshman Morgan Weyrens-Welch round out the top four…
Madysen McKeever and Alyssa Martinson follow…
And the results? This team can be proud. It’s young and the girls still managed a 5th place of the 19 team participants.
Senior Captain Signe Larson was hoping to put the frosting on the cake for her senior year with a third state appearance. And she was positioned to do exactly that after an excellent first run only to be followed by a miscue on her second. It was a tough way to finish her senior year but it was nonetheless a very successful high school career.
Morgan Weyrens-Welch just nearly missed advancing to the state meet as an individual. Morgan finished 18th and was just a tad more than a second shy of the state meet. She now has a taste of success at a high level and is only 9th grader. Watch for her in the future.
Megan, Ava, and Madysen served as the girls’ top scorers enabling the stellar 5th place team finish. Again, nothing to be ashamed of. Alyssa also put down two great runs and she too has a very bright future as a ski racer.
My prophetic outlook for next year? Oh my…I’d say stayed tuned. Both boys and girls teams are young and very good. See you next year!
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