Lutsen Mountains was the scene of the exciting action at the Junior Alpine Ski Meet on January 31. Above: Cy Oberholtzer was the picture of determination on his runs. He was the top Lutsen finisher in the 10-11 age group, in 2nd place. Right: Ray Dressely speeds down Koo-Koo to finish 1st in the 8-9 year old division.
Oh man, the Lutsen Junior Alpine Ski Team has been rippin’ it up on the slopes! Every Tuesday evening, 35-40 eager Cook County shredders have been out on Lutsen Mountain’s Ullr run under the lights fine-tuning their GS and Slalom skills.
Sundays are race day and this coach is proud to report the Cook County youth are holding their own. The program includes kids aged 4 – 14; some race, some just attend practice building up courage and confidence. Lutsen Mountains provides some equipment, the ski patrol, lift operators, and chalet. Parents, coach, and the kids do the rest.
There have been three races this year at Mont Du Lac, Spirit Mountain and on Sunday, January 31, we hosted the event on the classic Lutsen GS run Koo-Koo. The races begin with the 0-5 year-olds and our Eloise Silence and Elliot Zimmer anchor that group. Each puts on a brave face and down they go to accompanying hoots and hollers.
The 6-7 year-olds hit the slopes next. We have some top-notch talent in that group: Grete Youngdahl and AnnaBelle Silence are in it to win it. Graham Oberholtzer and Georgi Dimitrov are racking up the hardware with five podium appearances between them – bam!
The 8-9 year-olds are fast too: Kalina Dimitrova and Alessandra Duclos have been in the top three spots at each race and Kalina has two golds. Ray Dressley is off to a great season–three first-place finishes in a row. Way to go, Ray! Hard working Lexi Surbaugh, Andrew Hallberg, Reuben Youngdahl and Carter Silence are making great improvements from last year.
We’re deep with 10-11 year-olds and many have made it to the races: Riley Goettl, Molly LaVigne, Kylie Viren, Ella Sporn, Cy Oberholtzer, Ben Obinger, Wes Heeren, Cayden Zimmer, Tristen Surbaugh, Noah Haussner, and Gus Hahn. This group takes training seriously and the results show: hard driving Ella is creeping up and this week had an exciting 4th place finish. Cy’s been on the podium twice and smiley Ben Obinger jumped in with a solid 3rd place bronze.
On the podium for Lutsen’s girls 8-9 were Kalina Dimitrova in 1st and Alessandra Duclos, 2nd.
The progress of our 12-year-old girls has been fun to watch: Hazel Oberholtzer, Anna Heeren and RaeAnne Silence have made the transition from recreational skiers to serious athletes pushing themselves at each turn. Elijah Blanck attended his first ski race this past weekend, stared down his pre-race jitters and valiantly tore down Koo-Koo.
Veterans Hanna Borson and Bianca Zimmer represent our female 14-15 year-olds. Hanna had a solid finish in the middle of the pack. Bianca bravely redeemed herself with a smooth second run after a crash on the first run. That’s ski racing!
Will Surbaugh did us all proud laying down the fastest two runs of the day for all age groups!
We can’t help ourselves poring over the race results, but in the end it’s all about this great group of kids and volunteer parents. There’s a lot of verbal support between the kids as they observe their pals working on their carving and body positions.
It’s inspiring to see each of them staring down an icy slope at the start gate, conquering their nerves and letting it all hang out. In the dark of practice, on the chairlifts friendships are formed and strengthened. There’s a lot of silliness and rockin’ tunes, too, fostering in the kids what we hope is a lifelong love of the sport.
We’d be happy to see more skiers in the program. It’s never too late to join. Up, up, up!
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