STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – Lake County didn’t win a race, but still earned the championship team trophy at the inaugural CHSAA girls Nordic State Championships.
 
“The key to our team is our depth,” Lake County coach Karl Remsen said. “We don’t finish in the same order every time, and the kids have learned to support one another, whether they’re the first kid on the team or not. That’s a really valuable lesson to learn. Being willing to support one another, even though they are finishing in different orders, is great.”

Lake County finished with 505 points to edge second-place Summit (489) by 16 points. Poudre School District was third with 453.
 
Sophomore Isla Elton of Vail Mountain followed up Thursday’s classic championship by winning the girls skate as well on Friday.
 
“I’m really happy,” Elton said. “Going into this, I just wanted to have fun with my team for the last race of the season and I did that.
 
“I wanted to put it all out there to see if I could (win both). “
 
In Friday’s skate, Elton edged 2024 champion Ella Hagen of Summit by just over 11 seconds, finishing in 15:07.67 to Hagen’s 15:18.84. Hagen was third in the event in 2023 and fourth in 2022.
 
“Ella really pushed me, and I knew she was my competition,” Elton said. “She pushed me to be a better athlete and competitor, and she’s a role model. It was really special to be able to do this race with her.”
 
Lake County had girls finish third (Chloe King, 16:01.47), fourth (Finnley Stanek, 16:06.36) and eighth (Aimee Lenhard, 16:16.91), while Battle Mountain had skiers place sixth (Bella Williams, 16:13.44) and seventh (Eden Demino, 16:16.14).
 
Also in the top 10, Corinne Schmanke of Middle Park was fifth (16:13.11), Ellayna Potter of Poudre School District was ninth (16:24.42) and Kate Goldfarb of Aspen was 10^th (16:26.09). Potter was second in Thursday’s classic, Stanek was third, Lenhard was fifth and King was eighth. Last year, King was fifth in the skate and Potter was ninth.
 
In the first-ever state 4x1.4K relay, which included two legs of skate and two legs of classic, Summit's team of Elsie Robinson, Heidi Fry, Marin Little and Hagen was victorious.

The Alpine and Nordic disciplines split into two separate team state championships this year.
 
Lake County won its first girls skiing state championship since 1996.
 
“I’m proud of the girls,” Remsen said. “They are the ones who put in the hard work, and they skied really well today. My job is to just not mess anything up for them and get out of the way.”