Above: Junior Signe Larson led the Cook County/Silver Bay ski team to a fourth place finish at the Section 7 Alpine ski meet held at Spirit Mountain on February 7. Larson finished 13th overall and is the only Viking to advance to the state meet. Right: Anders Zimmer powered his way down the course at Spirit Mountain, finishing 21st overall at the Section 7 alpine meet, and was just 49/100th from advancing to the state meet.
The Section 7 Alpine ski meet at Giants Ridge served host to 18 high schools and 216 racers on Tuesday, February 7. Individual and team results throughout the season become suddenly irrelevant. Unlike most other sports, a ski team is not given a bye, a higher bracket rating or cumulative points for earlier season success. If that were the case, the Cook County/Silver Bay Vikings would have likely been advancing to the state meet based on their Section race results. However, this race is one race—advance or the season ends.
While our team season came to an abrupt end and will not advance to the state meet as hoped, both teams did very well. The boys’ team finished in 5th place and the girls in 4th in Section 7 competition. The top two teams advance. And based on the level of competition experienced at the meet, Section 7 is likely one of the deepest and toughest sections within the state.
Six skiers are selected to represent their school in the Section. The representing boys were seventh-grader Will Lamb and five 11th graders, Collin Berglund, Anders Zimmer Luke Fenwick, Dexter Yoki and Kyle Martinson. The girls’ team was senior captain Katie Smedstad (Silver Bay), 11th grader Signe Larson, 10th grader Megan Lehto, ninth-grader Ava McMillan, eighth-grader Morgan Wyrens Welch and seventh-grader Madysen McKeever.
Anders Zimmer took top billing for the Vikings with 21st followed by Berglund at 28th, Lamb 30th and Yoki 41st. For team results, the top four of six athletes from each team are scored.
The girls were led by Signe Larson (13th), Megan Lehto (27th), Ava McMillan (28th) and Madysen McKeever (39th).
Senior Captain Katie Smedstad fell on her first run. Her season demonstrates the cruelty of this sport. After a nearly flawless season with many top 5 finishes and very few miscues, one slip cost her the opportunity to advance to the state meet for the 3rd time in her last four years (that alone is an amazing accomplishment). The emotional pain as a senior and captain of course was great. While cruel, that’s also what makes this sport so great. Of course, the fall is greater from near the top. And it hurts more. But it’s an opportunity, too—to learn to pick yourself up from life’s disappointments and move on. And Katie will. Her leadership will be missed.
And likewise in a different fashion for Anders Zimmer. Anders skied two stellar runs and was just 49/100th of a second from advancing to the state meet. While there was great satisfaction in completing two clean runs, the closeness of this sport can again draw disappointment. Collin and Will were only 2.1 and 2.6 seconds from the same. Think about it—½ second, that’s literally a blink of the eye and two seconds is a sneeze. That’s close.
The good news, all the boys and, absent Katie, all the girls will return to the race arena next year with a whole new level of experience gained from this year that they will be able to draw upon for next year.
Signe Larson will advance to the state meet as an individual participant for the second time in the last three years next week at Giants Ridge. Good Luck, Sig.
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