Above: The Viking boys’ Alpine team had great results at the Virginia Invite at Giants Ridge on Friday, December 19. (L-R) Damian Zimmer, Masen McKeever, Logan Backstrom, Eric Lawler, Jack Viren, Will Lamb and Will Surbaugh proudly display their 2nd place plaque from the Virginia Invite.
The Cook County Alpine ski team traveled to Giants Ridge on Friday, December 19 for the Virginia Invite. Racers from Cook County skied two runs of Slalom in a field of eight teams from the Arrowhead Conference that includes Hermantown, East, Denfeld, Marshall, Cloquet- Esko- Carlton, Hibbing and Virginia.
The hills were in great shape, icy and fast with overcast skies and a temperature around 25F. The boys and girls race simultaneously on separate runs starting with the fastest kids, so the first run action heats up right away. Reilly Wahlers was not intimidated standing up on the start ramp in the company of Hermantown powerhouse girls that placed in the top 10 at State last year. Reilly threw down an exciting, solid run landing in 6th place.
Sela Backstrom lit up the slopes (11th) followed by Alyssa Martinson (15th), Morgan Weyrens Welch (20th), Santina McMillan (25th) and Haley Yoki (30th). Lauren Thompson had a miscue on the pitch (44th) and senior co-captain Mel Stoddard blew out and had to hike.
Left: The Giants Ridge hills were icy and fast for the Virginia Invite Sophomore Alyssa Martinson, pictured here at Lutsen Mountains, rocked the course on Helsinki.
Senior co-captain Ava McMillan was recovering from a minor knee injury from training and stood in as manager and start coach. Hanna Borson and Madison McKeever were down with the flu.
Over on the boys’ side Will Lamb was looking good but straddled and hiked on a flush near the top of the pitch. Logan Backstrom threw down a great run (6th) followed by Jack Viren (13th), Eric Lawler (14th) and hard charging Ezra Lunde (18th). Seventh-grader Masen McKeever made us proud landing in 20th place! Damian Zimmer and Will Surbaugh all had miscues and crashed. Greg Howe and Isaac Terrill both had solid finishes.
Second run racing began at 2:00 p.m. after the lunch break. Reilly pushed it to her limit but slid out at the compression sequence at the bottom of the Innsbruck pitch showing off her athleticism with an amazing recovery finishing 7th overall.
Sela moved up to 10th with a stellar run. Will Lamb redeemed himself but not enough to offset the straddle (4th), the same with Damian Zimmer (19th). Jack Viren misjudged the entrance to a flush in the middle of the Helsinki pitch resulting in an exciting crash! Otherwise our team skied consistent second runs that were very close, almost exactly right on with where the kids placed in their first runs.
In junior varsity, seventh grader Halle Lamb finished 2nd, True Neis 5th, Elsa Lunde 6th and Natassja Sheils 8th. Lyndon Blomberg skied great and was all smiles when he went up and received his 1st place ribbon.
When all the team points were calculated Cook County boys won 2nd place overall falling only to Hermantown. Our girls landed 3rd place behind 1st place Hermantown and just 2 points behind Duluth East!
Our holiday practices were awesome this year with good attendance. If these kids continue to work hard at practice, free ski on their own and keep up with their schoolwork they have a good chance at winning some conference races.
The next race for the Alpine Vikings is the Hibbing Invite also at Giants Ridge on January 8.
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