The Cook County – Silver Bay Alpine ski racers were challenged by 10 inches of fresh powder at the Moose Mountain Invite on January 13. Despite the challenging course, Joe Borud captured his first varsity scoring, placing 20th.
Living in Cook County, one should never complain about 10 inches of fresh powder. Well, view this as a little complaint— 10 inches of powder and Alpine ski racing don’t mix well on race day. Described another way, the fresh snow was welcomed but it did make for an interesting race.
Typically, Alpine racers thrive on a fast course— basically hard pack snow or a near-ice base where racers carve sharp edges and accelerate unobstructed to their next turn and down a technical course. This was not the case for 80-plus athletes at the Moose Mountain Invite hosted by Cook County/Silver Bay on January 13.
Regardless of conditions, one fact remained: every racer has to ski the same racecourse under the same conditions. The course navigation consisted of near whiteout conditions. Racers were searching for the next gate at fast speeds and attempting to stay on a tight line so they do not get pulled into big clumps of snow left by previous skiers’ turns (kind of like a snow plow leaving curb-side banks). The skiers who stayed inside the banks did well.
Skiing in near white-out conditions, Ali Boettcher was impressive and finished with third place overall. The Alpine girls’ team earned a second place finish at Moose Mountain.
Silver Bay’s Ali Boettcher did well and took third place overall— her best finish for the season.
Katie Smedstad, also of Silver Bay, took 11th despite getting caught in a heavy snow track near the end of her first run. Rose Ingebrigtsen was 12th with eighth-grader Ava McMillan 13th. This was Ava’s second consecutive varsity team score and was a critical place helping earn Cook County a second place team finish among five of the top area teams.
The second place finish again demonstrated team depth for the girls. Team Captain Molly Rider was one of the many racers of the day who fell victim to “skiing outside the lines” and got caught up in heavy snow and teammate Signe Larson was absent. The team’s depth provided a second place finish, thanks to Ali, Katie, Rose and Ava.
On the boys’ side, Joe Borud captured his first varsity score placing 20th and was the fourth scorer for Cook County/ Silver Bay. Luke Fenwick had his second top 10 finish of the season in 9th place followed by Dexter Yoki of Silver Bay in 11th and Colin Berglund 13th. Again, the boys’ finish was grouped tight (9, 11, 13, and 20th).
Another snowstorm did not allow the Alpine Vikings to travel to Spirit Mountain for the Annual Duluth Area Schools Invitational at Spirit Mountain on Monday, January 17. That was disappointing for the athletes as this race is traditionally one of the largest race formats of the regular season.
The Alpine Vikings have just two additional regular season races remaining. Stay tuned.
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