Right: Freshman Logan Backstrom raced fast and smart at the meet at Giants Ridge on Friday, December 20, leading his team to a second place finish. Below: Eighthgrader Caleb Phillips rips up the race course.
The Cook County Alpine Ski Team traveled to Giants Ridge on Friday, December 20, for the second race of the season. The weather was great for racing with sunny skies, light winds and a high temperature of 5 degrees.
The action started at 11:00 a.m. with the girls skiing the steep pitch of Helsinki and the boys on Innsbruck. The girls’ course was pretty difficult with a big right foot cranker set at the top of the pitch that led to a fast flush which was set on the steepest part of the hill with a difficult exit. If they survived the sequence on their feet, the rest of the course would ski well.
Reilly Wahlers nailed her first run (2nd) followed by Morgan Weyrens Welch (7th), Megan Lehto (8th), Alyssa Martinson (12th). Sela Backstrom skied for the JV but her time would have put her in (13th). The rest of the girls made it through and were happy with their first runs, but all felt they played it a little too safe. I was proud of them for completing which put us in contention for a respectable team finish.
On the boys’ side, the snow conditions made for a perfect track and Hibbing coach Pat Daugherty set a fun, fast course very similar to what we have been training on at Lutsen. Will Lamb skied fast, 7/10ths of a second ahead of the field (1st), followed by Logan Backstrom (6th), Charlie Lawler (12th), Damian Zimmer (18th), Joe Borud (25th). Jack Viren went down but hiked fast (which would be a big factor at the end of the day) and earned his team a completion (41st). The boys’ team standing looked promising going in for the lunch break.
In the second run, the boys moved to Helsinki and the girls skied Innsbruck. The girls’ course was a good set, one technical flush near the bottom of the pitch but otherwise great. Reilly smoked a nearly flawless run holding on to second place! Captain Megan got her head in the race and advanced herself (7th), followed by Morgan (9th), Alyssa (10th) and Madysen Mckeever (15th). Mel Stoddard and Lauren Thompson also skied well and finished their runs.
The tri-captains of the 2013-2014 CCHS Alpine ski team celebrate with the first- and second-place team awards from the Virginia Invite. (L-R) Charlie Lawler, Joe Borud, Megan Lehto.
The boys’ second course was brutal; multiple combinations with short entrances and exits winding back and forth down the slope. Half of the top 10 boys from the first run miscued in their second attempts and hiked including Will Lamb (12th). Logan Backstrom and Damian Zimmer both skied smart and fast advancing themselves to (3rd) and (13th), followed by Charlie Lawler (22nd). Joe Borud was also a hiker (30th) and 2013 CCHS Freshman Football Player of the year Jack Viren threw down a fast 13th-place second run and ended up 35th.
Being a good sport and hiking fast is crucial to the team score in Alpine skiing. We coach the racers that if you fall, now you are in a hiking race—racing against everyone in the field who has turned into a hiker. DQs and DNFs score no points!
The junior varsity race went very well for our young Vikings with a clean sweep of the top five for the girls and top three in boys: Sela Backstrom (1st), Santina McMillan just 2/100ths slower than Sela in her second run (2nd), Hanna Borson (3rd), Austrian exchange student Sophie Honeder (4th), Elsa Lunde (5th), True Nies (6th) and Natassja Sheils (9th).
Eighth-grader Ezra Lunde has been working hard and improving at a fast rate and he showed it in his first run 1.5 seconds ahead of the field (1st). He gave it his all in his second attempt but couldn’t hold on, crashed (DNF) and sprained his knee. Erik Lawler, also much improved this season, landed (1st), Caleb Phillips (2nd), Isak Terrill (3rd), and Greg Howe (5th).
After the team results were tabulated it was announced at the awards ceremony that our Viking girls won first place by two points over Duluth East and boys earned second place by just two points, also defeating Duluth East! Alpine powerhouse Hermantown won first and will be tough to beat.
The next two races for the Alpine Vikes will have already taken place by presstime of this article. A make-up race will be held on Thursday, Jan. 9 and the Moose Mountain Invite will be on Jan. 10.
Our team has been training hard despite the cold weather. We only canceled one practice!
Stay tuned…
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