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After a mixed bag of performances on giant slalom day, both Aspen High School’s boys and girls alpine teams are within striking distance of a state championship on the second and final day of competition set Friday.
The Skiers, hosting the Colorado High School Activities Association state championship at Aspen Highlands, see the girls team in first place in team scoring, with the boys in third despite some significant adversity on Thursday’s first day of competition.
“Definitely a mixed bag,” Aspen coach Jennifer Morandi-Benson said. “It was a tough day overall for the men … but still coming in third, if we have a strong showing tomorrow it’s still going to be really close. The girls were amazing. We’re in a strong position tomorrow.”
Even as Battle Mountain’s sisters and Eden DeMino went one-two at the top of the girls giant slalom race, Aspen placed four skiers in the top 11 and three in the top nine to lead team scoring through the first event. The competition takes the highest three placers from each team and awards them points; the team with the most points wins. The state championship combines the scores from Thursday’s giant slalom and Friday’s slalom for the final team standings.
On Thursday, junior Rocksy Kroeger placed fourth, senior Eden Bohart placed fifth and senior Darienne Kenny placed ninth to give Aspen 165 points, nine more than both Battle Mountain and Middle Park, succeeding down the Highlands hills on a day with variable snowfall and sunshine.
“I’m really proud of everybody for really persevering, even when the visibility wasn’t great,” Kroeger said. “I think Aspen did great.”
Aspen High School senior Lexi Munro finished 11th as the Skiers took first as a team in the giant slalom state championship on Thursday at Aspen Highlands.
Rich Allen/Aspen Daily News
Senior Lexi Munro finished 11th and senior Ela Stevenson finished 23rd to round out the Skiers’ showing on the girls side.
The boys side survived and advanced after day one, falling prey to a difficult course down the Highlands Thunderbowl. A total of 15 athletes took did-not-finishes on the second run, which featured tight turns over hard terrain.
After placing fourth and ninth in the first run, Aspen seniors Viggo Morgan and Jaden Schille skied out on the second run. This came after junior Thomas Robinson, one of Aspen’s top giant slalom skiers, did not finish his first run.
Sophomore Josh Stephen saved the day with an impressive effort on the tough second course, setting the best time on the run by four-tenths of a second and claiming second overall behind repeat champion Seth Montgomery of Summit.
“I had a solid first run. I didn’t put down exactly what I wanted to put down but on the second run, I came back … The course was set pretty tight and turny, so it was difficult to get your ski around,” Stephen said. “I was pretty sad to hear that my other teammates didn’t finish the course, but overall we have tomorrow to hammer.”
Freshman Ronan Curran took 10th with the fifth-best second lap and junior Jimmy Stokes took 13th to give Aspen 159 points, 11 behind Summit for the boys Alpine lead — not the worst result considering the obstacles they overcame to get there.
Friday will feature the boys and girls slalom races, which Aspen thinks can be advantageous to them. In their last two slalom competitions at Winter Park on Jan. 24 and Beaver Creek on Jan. 31, both teams won both events. They had individual winners in all but one of those competitions, earning a second place and a fourth in the one they didn’t.
“As a team, we’re charging into the slalom,” Kenny said. “We’re staying locked in for day two because we’re close and we’re excited for slalom.”
In Thursday’s awards ceremony, Morandi-Benson was named the Colorado High School Ski League Coach of the Year for the first time in her ninth year coaching the team.
“Anything can happen, especially in slalom because it’s such a technical discipline,” Morandi-Benson said. “You need a little bit of luck and a whole lot of talent and we’ll see how it pans out.”