Aspen sweeps boys and girls state skiing championships
LEADVILLE — Aspen increased its trophy haul on Friday, capturing both the boys and girls state skiing titles.
The Skiers won the boys event with 661.5 points, and their girls team won with 650.5 points.
Vail Mountain was the boys runner-up with 572 points, and Battle Mountain finished second in the girls competition with 581 points.
Aspen’s all-around performance in each event proved to be the difference during the two-day championships held at Ski Cooper.
Both the boys and the girls team either had the most points, or the second-most points in all four events — the Giant Slalom and Nordic Classic on Thursday; and the Slalom and Nordic Skate on Friday. Speaking to their team depth, Aspen had just one individual champion: Chelsea Moore in the Classic on Thursday.
It is the first time the Skiers have won both team titles since 2012. For each program, it is their eighth championship — the second-most of any boys team, and third-most of any girls team.
Individually, Vail Mountain Cameron Wolfe swept the Nordic events. He won the boys Skate on Friday with a time of 14:16. Aspen’s Everett Olson was second (14:51), a feat he duplicated from the Classic event. Summit had a trio of boys finish third through fifth: Quintin Weinberger, Peter Haynes, and Oliver Trowbridge.
Aspen’s boys placed three among the top seven finishers in the Skate, including Olson, Jacob Barsness and Noah Wheeless.
Colorado Rocky Mountain’s Kate Oldham won the girls Skate with a time of 16:28. Oldham had placed second in the Classic a day earlier.
Tai-Lee Smith of Summit and Aspen’s Moore tied for second in the girls race at 16:46, while Vail Mountain’s Molly Blakslee (17:20) was fourth, and Winter Boese (17:44) of Steamboat Springs placed fifth.
Aspen’s Lizzy Barness and Jordan Miner also finished among the top 11 for the Skiers.
The day started with the Slalom, and it was Vail Mountain’s Michael Resnick who took the title for the boys, finishing with a two-run time of 1:08.33. Resnick was second in the Giant Slalom on Thursday; he had also placed second in the GS last year, and was third in the Slalom a year ago.
Luke Bailey, Thursday’s GS champion from Platte Canyon, finished second in the boys Slalom (1:10.23), and Aspen freshman Noah Forman was third (1:11.53). Aspen also had Reed Beidlemann place fourth, and Alex Illic finish 11th.
Nederland’s Emily Creek won the girls Slalom with a time of 1:11.65. Creek was 24th in the Giant Slalom.
Steamboat Springs senior Amber Eliott placed second in 1:12.89, and Aspen’s Devan McSwain was third in 1:13.80. McSwain placed third in the GS.
Durango sophomore Madeline Robbins was fourth in the Slalom. It is the school’s highest finish in an individual event since the Demons brought their skiing program back last season.
Edie Sherlock (eighth) and Levyn Thomas (14th) also placed highly for Aspen’s girls in the Slalom.
Next year’s state skiing championships will be hosted by Durango at Purgatory Resort. The 2020 championships are scheduled for Vail, and 2021 will be hosted by Middle Park at Winter Park.
