2023 state skiing: Battle Mountain girls, Summit boys, both defend team titles

The team champions were crowned at the 2023 state skiing champions, Friday evening. Both defending champions successfully defended their titles, as the Battle Mountain girls, and Summit boys teams captured gold.

Both teams had to come-from-behind to win, as both teams sat in second place entering the second day of competition. Battle Mountain finished with 620 points, edging out second place Middle Park, who totaled 606. The Summit boys finished with 624 points to run away with the title. Battle Mountain took second with 604.

For Battle Mountain, it is their seventh girls skiing title of all time, and third in the last five years. The Summit boys added to their state-leading title collection, as it is the 21st in program history. The Battle Mountain boys have now finished runner-up in five consecutive seasons, while it is the first top-two finish for Middle Park since winning a title in 2010.

The individual races contested on the final day were the Alpine slalom and Nordic classic.

In the girls Alpine slalom event, Steamboat Springs sophomore Emma McHaffie paced the field with a combined time of 1:45.74, narrowly edging out the field. Middle Park’s Olivia Niedzwiecki improved upon her fifth-place finish last year, taking silver with a 1:46.36.

Rounding out the top-five were Aspen’s Sienna Hendrickson in third, Middle Park’s Emma Bellatty in fourth, and Steamboat’s Kinsley Jacobson in fifth.

For the boys on the slopes, Steamboat senior Colin Kagan swept the alpine events, after talking gold in yesterday’s giant slalom, finishing the slalom event with a 1:33.16. Middle Park took the next two slots, with Sebastian Wiser taking second and Garrett Gillest third. Summit rounded out the top-five with Alex Elsig in fourth and Michael Cheek in fifth.

Over on the Nordic classic track, Lake County’s Ella Bullock swept the girls Nordic events, talking gold in the classic with a final time of 20:04.77. She finished less than 30 second ahead of Middle Park’s Sylvia Brower, who clocked in with a 20:32.90

Lindsey Whitton of Battle Mountain placed third, Summit’s Ella Hagen fourth, and Lake County’s Brynna Lenhard fifth.

Lake County swept the Nordic classic event, as for the boys, Jace Peters for the Panthers took first with a final time of 16:11.40, finishing way ahead of Summit’s James Sowers, who clocked in with a 16:35.50. Sowers claimed gold in the skate event last night.

Rounding out the top-five were Griffiin Rillos of Steamboat in third, Gray Barker of Middle Park in fourth, and Evan Morrison of Evergreen in fifth.