Enjoying the members per fectly- packed of the girls’ powder at Lutsen Mckeever, team (L- R) Lauren Santina were Thompson, McMillan, Alyssa Madysen Martinson, and Mont Morgan Du Lac Weyrens, ’s Courtney Wilk.
Eighty-nine junior alpine racers and a large contingent of parents, coaches and fans ascended to Lutsen Mountains for Race No. 4 of the Northland Junior Race Series. Team Lutsen fielded 36 enthusiastic young skiers for the two-run giant slalom event held on Koo Koo under sunny skies. Course setter David Salo of Hermantown said, “I’m going to make the kids work a skiable, turny, first run followed by a much faster second run in the afternoon.”
Dave Sontag of Lutsen Mountains built a nice start ramp with a snow cat the previous evening, which launched the racers off the steep pitch of upper Koo- Koo for a fast and thrilling trip criss-crossing the entire run top to bottom.
The action started with Kylie Viren, 5, in her first alpine race winning 2nd place. Cayden Zimmer won 1st place. Molly LaVigne, 6, cruised to a 2nd place finish followed by Olivia Nesgoda 5th and newcomer Anna Heeren also in her first race 6th. Riley Tarver won 1st place followed by Kevin Viren, 2nd.
Cayden Zimmer started the day off right with a 1st place finish.
Enjoying weekend off from USSA racing, 10-yearold sensation Reilly Wahlers still skiing in 8 and 9 age group) thrilled the crowd with her first place victory and was faster than all the 10-13 year old girls with a combined time of 63.58!
With the fun factor turned up on high, Sela Backstrom rocked her Fischer 140s winning third. Claire LaVigne gave it everything she had and was almost 2/10ths faster than Sela in her second run landing a well-deserved 4th. Halle Lamb 7th, Elsa Lunde 8th, and Bianca Zimmer 10th had a blast and brought depth to the young team. Masen McKeever is a natural talent and continued to dominate his age group with another 1st place win, followed by Will Surbaugh 2nd, Lynden Blomberg 5th and Doren Acero’s alpine debut in 8th.
In the 10 and 11 girls’ division, Madysen McKeever was in third place after her first attempt, just 1/100th behind Mont Du Lac talent Courtney Wilk and 15/100s off Team Duluth’s Anja Leitz-Najarian. Madysen stormed out of the gate and nailed her second run, stunning her competition, and won first place by 6/10ths with combined time of 64.31.
Masen McKeever dominated his age group with another 1st place win.
Santina McMillan shows promise in her first year finishing an impressive 5th, followed by Alyssa Martinson who was in 4th after her first run but fell in her second finishing 7th. Elevenyear old speed machine Logan Backstrom threw down an excellent first run, bobbled precariously in his second (landing on one hip) and breathed a sigh of relief when he managed to hang on to first place. Damian Zimmer stepped up once again with two solid runs, winning second place followed by Erik Lawler 6th and Caleb Phillips 9th. Ezra Lunde pushed himself, did not play it safe and crashed, finishing 12th. Jack Viren lost control midway, skied through bamboo control gate completely destroying it and was DQed, but uninjured, he stayed on his feet and finished the run.
In the 12 and 13 girls’ division, skiers Lauren Thompson finished 7th, Matea Acero 8th, Melanie Stoddard 9th, Morgan Weyrens (who also fell) 10th and Erica Marxen 11th. They have been coming to practice and continue to improve.
Defending home turf, this race belonged to 12-year-old Will Lamb who put down fantastic runs through the action-packed course, winning first place in his age group with a combined time of 60.13. His run was the fourth fastest time of the day and was topped by only three 15-17 year-old boys!
Fourteen-year-old Ava McMillan skied strong and earned first in her second run but remained in 2nd place, followed by Megan Lehto 4th. Anders Zimmer, also on a weekend off from USSA, enjoyed spending the day with his three sibling teammates and won first place with a combined time of 59.27, which was the second fastest time of the day. Luke Fenwick 3rd, Dexter Yoki 5th and 16-year-old Kyle Martinson 5th skied great and continue to show loyalty to their junior team roots, which means a great deal to coaches and the younger skiers.
The fastest time of the day was earned by 17-year-old Ski Gull powerhouse Ryan Hutchinson with a combined time of 57.82.
Forerunner and former national talent Scott Vesterstein of Duluth said, “You really have a lot of snow up here.”
All the racers enjoyed skiing on beautifully packed powder. The conditions at Lutsen are perfect. Race No. 4 was a great day for skiing and continues a long tradition of alpine ski racing at Lutsen Mountains. The next race for the junior team will be held at Spirit Mountain on Sunday Feb. 6 at 11 a.m.
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