Great start at Mont Du Lac for junior skiers

Photos courtesy of the team The Junior Ski Team season is off to a great start! Left: Team Lutsen’s 10-11 boys pose for a photo. (L-R) Erik Lawler, Will Lamb, Ezra Lunde, Logan Backstrom and Damian Zimmer.

The Lutsen Mountains Junior Ski team traveled to Mont Du Lac Ski Area on Sunday, January 3 for race one of the Northland Junior Race Series. Competing in a field of 100 talented racers from the Duluth Superior Alpine Club, Arrowhead Alpine Club and Ski Gull Alpine Club, 21 young athletes from “Team Lutsen” attended this much-anticipated first race of the season. Therace venue consisted of two runs of Giant Slalom, and our Lutsen racers performed very well, achieving nine podiums (top three finishes ) with five firstplace victories, plus six-fourth and fifth-place finishes.

Training in frigid conditions at Lutsen Mountains on Uller and Koo-Koo helped prepare the team for a fantastic day of ski racing. A great addition to Lutsen this season is the new triple chair which services Eagle Mountain. The speed and efficiency of this lift makes it possible for racers to get many more training runs in per practice, completing one lap in around seven minutes.

Above: Molly LaVigne shows off her first place medal.

In her first race ever, fiveyear old Molly LaVigne won first place in her age group. Third-year racer Halle Lamb won first place in the six-and -seven-year old girls’ category. Also in his third season, Masen McKeever took second place in six-and-seven-year old boys’ category. Nine-year-old Reilly Wahlers, who won first place in every race last year, showed she has what it takes in a new age group, easily winning first place by nearly two seconds. She also defeated all the boys in her age group. Veteran junior team racer Will Lamb took first place, followed by second year racer Logan Backstrom winning second place with Lutsen dominating the top spots among boys ages ten and eleven. Secondyear racer Ava McMillan finished an impressive third place in the 12-and-13-year-old girls category. Charlie Lawler had his best race to date with a second place finish in the 12-and-13- year old girls’ category. Megan Lehto, who also skis for Cook County High School, returned for another season of competition and continued her winning ways taking first place in 14-and-15-year old girls’ category.

There were plenty of proud parents, pictures, smiles and high fives at the awards ceremony under sunny skies on the newly remodeled deck at Mont Du Lac. With first race jitters behind them, these racers showed both themselves and the competition that they are a force to be reckoned with this season. The next race for the Junior Ski Team will be held at Giants Ridge on Sunday, January 10.

Race results