Above: Champions once again are the Viking girls’ ski team who took top honors at their home meet held at Lutsen Mountains. From left, Hazel Oberholtzer, Halle Lamb, Reilly Wahlers, Elsa Lunde and Sela Backstrom proudly pose with their first-place plaque. Left: Halle Lamb sets up to block at a gate on Koo-Koo.
The Viking boys’ and girls’ slalom skiers competed in two meets recently, and both squads showed they are improving as they get ready for sections.
The Koo-Koo Invite was held on Jan. 11 at Lutsen Mountains, and the weather was an issue. It rained the previous day and turned to snow overnight in Duluth and the Iron Range. The coaches collaborated at 5:15 a.m. Duluth public schools and Hermantown canceled school, so those teams did not come to the meet. Brainerd was all in; they had stayed overnight in Tofte. Virginia, Hibbing, and CEC traveled to Lutsen for two exciting runs of slalom on Koo Koo with 85 racers in the field.
It was foggy and 30 degrees F at first light, and that quickly changed. By the end of the first run, it was 6 degrees with a 15 mph wind gusting to 45 mph and snowing hard. “We had already abandoned the Upper Koo Koo start and enjoyed a little protection from the wind at the usual lower Koo Koo start,” coach Charles Lamb said.
Will Surbaugh threw down an impressive first run, edging out Thomas Heron from CEC by one-tenth of a second. He skied fast in his second but couldn’t hold his lead and finished the day with a silver medal.
Masen McKeever suffered a miscue at the top of the course in his first attempt, he hiked, but he skied a fast second run (5th) but finished the day at the back of the pack.
Freshman Kevin Viren continued to improve and skied two great runs (7th), Elijah Blank had a good run going but crashed in a tricky royal flush.
Young gun Ben Obinger skied tremendously and won a silver medal in junior varsity.
The overall boys’ winner was Thomas Heron from CEC, and the Brainerd boys’ team won 1st place with the Cook County boys placing third.
Viking girls win
Reilly Wahlers skied very fast on her home hill (1st), Sela Backstrom was close behind her (2nd), Halle Lamb finished the day in (6th), Elsa Lunde landed (8th) and Hazel Oberholtzer put together two solid runs (14th). Kylie Viren suffered a miscue (DSQ).
Team Manager Caleb Phillips is coach’s right-hand man—he is behind the scenes helping at the start ramp, course work and whatever is asked of him.
The Cook County girls won the team title followed by Brainerd in second.
“I was proud of our kids for stepping up and trying their best, on this day, everyone did just that,” said coach Lamb. “Our girls stepped up again; Brainerd and Hibbing are very close behind us, so it was a nice win at home.
“I also want to thank Don and Tina McKeever for the great work they do with our timing and all the other parents who volunteered and make our Lutsen races a success. By the end of the second run, the wind was gusting to 58 mph at the top of the gondola, and it was below zero.
“It’s awesome for the kids, and us adults to fill the glass half full and power through challenging winter weather and not cancel. The kids deserve our best effort; it is very hard with all the parent volunteers required to reschedule an alpine ski race.”
Spirit Mountain
The CEC invite was held on Thursday, Jan. 25 at Spirit Mountain. The temperature was a balmy 22 degrees with cloudy overcast skies. The usual Arrowhead Conference teams were in attendance plus Minneapolis-SW, Minneapolis- Washburn and Minneapolis South- Roosevelt.
There were 160 racers in the field skiing two runs of slalom.
Reilly Wahlers skied two fast runs with a significant recovery after a bobble in her second attempt and took third place. Sela Backstrom, Halle Lamb, and Elsa Lunde all lost some unrecoverable precious time at a tricky part of the course in the flats during the first run. Their second runs went better, but the damage was done. Sela (11th), Halle (21st), Elsa (26th), Hazel (DNF) and Kylie Viren completed both her runs.
The overall girls’ winner was Ashley Winberg of Hermantown. Minneapolis-SW won the girls’ team title with 279 points, Brainerd (2nd) with 260 points and Cook County (3rd) with 251 points.
On the boys’ side, Will Surbaugh pushed too hard, blew out and hiked in his first attempt. He skied fast in his second (6th) but finished at the back of the pack in a very competitive field. Masen McKeever pushed hard and skied two solid runs; he had an amazing recovery in his second attempt (14th). Kevin Viren has been sick and missed over a week of practice; he blew out and hiked on both his runs. Ben Obinger has been promoted to varsity, he skied tough and completed both his runs.
Austin Danelski of Hermantown won 1st place and once again the Brainerd boys won the team title.
With the loss of both Kevin Viren and Will Surbaugh, Cook County boys finished at the back of the pack.
It was the girls’ second loss of the season and a good reminder for everyone of how competitive the field is, within and out of our conference. Playing it too safe and making mistakes is just as bad as crashing. Since then, we have had very good training, there was no school on Friday the 26th, and we shared a lane with some of the fastest kids in the state and some fast Canadians on Friday and Saturday.
This week we are enjoying the later sunset and have a better variety of courses, including Steppes Run at our twilight practices. School is released early on Friday, and we will be training on Moose Mountain Friday and Koo-Koo on Saturday. I am trying to give the kids an extra push and every opportunity to shine at our next race, which are the much-anticipated Section 7 championships.
Sections will be Tuesday, Feb. 6 at Giants Ridge, go Vikings!
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