The Cook County/Silver Bay girls’ alpine team finished 3rd in Section 7. Three individual girls skied their way into the next level of competition. Above left: Senior Molly Rider finished 5th in a field of 96 racers, an amazing accomplishment. Left: Also qualifying for State was Katie Smedstad who finished in 11th place. Above right: The top 16 skiers in Section 7 go on to the State Meet. Ali Boettcher earned a spot by garnering 16th place in the 96-skier field.
Mike McCarthy—head coach for the Green Bay Packers—had his team fitted for Super Bowl rings the day before the Super Bowl. Was that a coaching move of sheer confidence or a motivational tool? Who knows? Irrespective, it worked.
The Alpine Girls entered the Section 7 race as defending champions — a feat not accomplished for a Cook County/ Silver Bay Alpine Ski girls’ team in over 20 years. The girls’ team had confidence like that of the Packers, but it was a quiet confidence.
The Cook County/Silver Bay girls’ Alpine team had reason for confidence. The team had nothing but first or second place team finishes during its regular season including outstanding individual performances as well.
That success continued on an individual basis but fell short for team totals. Let’s start with the success. Molly Rider finished in 5th place. To put this in perspective, Section 7 consists of 16 high schools throughout northern Minnesota including the northern suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Each school selects its top six skiers to ski in the Section Meet. The Cook County/Silver Bay Section team included team captain Molly Rider followed by Signe Larson, Ava McMillan, Rose Ingebrigtsen and Silver Bay’s Katie Smedstad and Ali Boettcher. As a result, the field of 96 skiers are all skiing at a very high level. Cook County’s Molly Rider was 5th. That’s an amazing accomplishment.
Katie Smedstad finished 11th and Ali Boettcher was 16th. Molly, Katie and Ali all qualified for the State Meet as individual racers (the top 16 girls were selected). Rose Ingebrigtsen finished a solid 29th and served as the team’s 4th scoring position.
And now the disappointment. The top two teams advance to the state meet. Hermantown was first with Duluth East second.
Signe Larson is a former state qualifier, one of the Section’s top skiers and had the 5th fastest time for her first run. She was tripped up on the second run which pushed her out the running as second year state qualifier and bumped the team total to a third place finish –just short of Duluth East.
Ava McMillan also had high hopes as she had a stellar season as an eighth grader but was tripped up on her first run. In one respect taking 3rd place out of 16 teams is quite an accomplishment and something the girls should be proud of. On the other-hand, expectations were running high and they just fell short.
The boys’ team also had some quiet confidence entering the Section meet. And like the girls’ team, had a mixed bag of results.
Sophomore Luke Fenwick had an outstanding regular season with three top 10 finishes including an 11th place finish at the pre-section meet a week earlier. Two standing runs for Luke at the Section meet just like he did the week earlier would mean he is a state qualifier. Well, standing is the operative. And that’s what makes alpine racing brutal at times. Luke is all or nothing, which makes him exciting to watch. Like Signe and Ava, it was not his day. Luke went all out on his first run and fell.
Teammate Karl Ingebrigtsen was also tripped up on his first run but came back with a very nice second run. Karl is our only boy’s departing senior and he will be missed next year.
The boys’ team found individual success as well. Sophomore Colin Berglund finished 26th overall. And again for perspective, Colin was just 3.32 seconds from being a state qualifier. Silver Bay’s Dexter Yoki laced together two solid runs and finished 34th followed by Joe Borud (62nd) and Kyle Martinson (70th).
Once again, congratulations to team captain and departing Senior Molly Rider and her Silver Bay teammates Katie Smedstad and Ali Boettcher as individual state qualifiers. The state meet will be held at Giants Ridge Wednesday, February 16.
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