Above: Senior Will Lamb threw down two fast runs to land a second place finish, leading his team to victory at the Moose Mountain Invite! Left: Sophomore Elsa Lunde stepped up at the Moose Invite with a personal best 15th place finish! The girls won by 1 scant point, so Lunde’s excellent finish was the difference between first place and second place.
A bit of cold weather didn’t derail the Cook County boys’ and girls’ alpine ski team from each winning team titles at the Moose Mountain Invite held Jan. 12 on Lutsen Mountains.
The competition took place on Caribou Run and consisted of two runs of slalom for the boys and girls on the longest slalom run in Minnesota.
Although it was sunny, the day started out at about -12 degrees F with a high around 3 degrees with west winds 15 mph gusting to 35 mph. The mountain provided shelter from the wind, but it was blowing and cold on the chairlift and the start ramps.
Eight teams participated including Cook County, Hermantown, Duluth East, Duluth Denfeld, Cloquet- Esko-Carlton, Marshall, Virginia, Hibbing and Brainerd. There were 58 boys and 56 girls in the field.
Alex Stone of Brainerd was the girls’ winner, with Kendra Winberg of Hermantown finishing second and Reilly Wahlers of Cook County placing third. Other top finishers for the Vikings included Sela Backstrom in 7th, Halle Lamb 10th, and Elsa Lunde had a personal best with a 15th place finish.
“Hanna Borson and Madysen McKeever both crashed and finished at the back of the pack,” said team coach Charles Lamb.
When the top four finishers’ places were added up, Cook County was one point ahead of Brainerd 165 to 164, with Hibbing in third at 157.
Tyler Winberg of Hermantown won the boys’ race, narrowly defeating Cook County’s Will Lamb. Austin Danelski of Hermantown ended up in third place.
Charles Lamb, the team’s head coach, said, “Logan Backstrom recovered from a near blowout in his first run and ended up 7th. Will Surbaugh continues to improve and finished in 9th while Eric Lawler skied solid and fast, and finished in 10th.” Ezra Lunde wasn’t far behind Lawler, placing 13th and Masen McKeever finished 15th, with Jack Viren experiencing a fall and finishing in the back of the pack.
Cook County boys tallied 180 points, far ahead of runner-up Hermantown (161) and third place Brainerd (149 points).
Lamb explained the team scoring. “The way the points work is if there are 50 racers in the field and you win 1st place you score 50 points for your team, if you win second place it’s 49 points for your team, third place it’s 48 points for your team.
“The top four finishers of each team score for their team.”
Kevin Viren and Hazel Oberholtzer each won 1st place in the boys’ and girls’ junior varsity race.
“We want to thank the 18 volunteers who made the race possible and Lutsen Mountains,” said Lamb. “The kids have been working hard all season, training in the coldest conditions including after school under the lights on Ullr, every other day during Christmas vacation and every Saturday. Rick Backstrom (who coaches with Lamb) and I are very proud of the team’s hard work and dedication.
They stepped up at the Moose Invite and were rewarded with a big win. It will be difficult to repeat for sure.”
The team’s next race will be the rescheduled Hibbing Invitational on Thursday, Jan. 19 at Giants Ridge. The next home race will be the Koo Koo Invite on Thursday, Jan. 26 at Lutsen, with a 10 a.m. race start.
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