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Chase Kelly owned the mountain as the state skiing championships continued at Loveland Ski Area on Thursday.
The Aspen freshman won both the giant slalom and the slalom race as he started his high school skiing career off with two titles. His strong performance helped to clinch the team championship for Aspen, which started off the event with standout performances in the nordic events.
In the morning event, Kelly finished with a two-run time of 1:38.17, finishing in 49.7 in his first run and 48.47 in his second. Steamboat Springs senior James Lahrman was second with his time of 1:38.4.
Durango’s Toby Scarpella (1:39.07) was third, Battle Mountain’s Will Bettenhausen (1:39.16) placed fourth, and Aspen’s Connor Stephen (1:39.62) was fifth.
Aspen also had Davis Colon finish seventh, Sasha Forman finish eighth, and Hank Sweeney place 10th as they had five among the top 10.
Kelly and Aspen extended their dominance to the afternoon’s slalom race. His two-run time of 1:30.87 was the fastest of the field. He finished his first run in 48.61, and his second in 42.26.
Larhman was also runner-up in the slalom, capping an outstanding day. He finished his two runs in 1:31.93.
Also finishing in the top-5 in the slalom were Aspen teammates Colon Davis (1:33.05) and James Kelly (1:33.61), and Durango’s Toby Scarpella (1:33.93). Aspen also had Connor Stephen place sixth (1:33.96).
This is Aspen’s fourth consecutive team title, and 11th overall. They are the first team since Summit won five consecutive from 1986-1990.
Aspen finished with 683 team points. Battle Mountain was second with 581.5. Rounding out the top five were Middle Park (570), Vail Mountain (553.5), and Steamboat Springs (549).
