A small group of just four athletes started indoor dry land practice in Kurtz gym last month for The Dalles High Riverhawks ski team in preparation for the 2025 season. The Riverhawks, guided by ninth-year Coach Dane Klindt and assistant’s Mark Fischer and Scott Hege, have three skiers on the girls team and one skier on the boys team. It’s the smallest team that Klindt has ever had during his tenure as the Riverhawks coach.
“It’s kind of disappointing having such a small team,” said Klindt, who had nine skiers on the team a year ago. “There’s some other kids who were very interested and wanted to join the team, but they just don’t understand what all it involves. Unfortunately, it’s also so expensive and it cost’s about $900 to compete for the entire season. Maybe we’ll add some other kids, which would be a nice surprise, so we’ll see what happens, but I’m not holding my breath.”
The Riverhawks have a total of two skiers returning this year who qualified for the 2024 Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association (OISRA) state championships last year at Mt. Hood Meadows.
Riverhawk girls skiers who advanced to state last year and are considered to be top contenders again in the Mt. Hood Ski Race League this year include sophomores Kaiya Doty and Kailee Klindt (coach’s daughter). Doty is an amazing and rarely seen two-sport athlete who is competing in two winter sports simultaneously, as she’s also on the Riverhawks swim team. Riley Nordquist of Wamic, a home school student athlete, is the third member of the girls squad.
“Kaiya and Kailee are returning individual state qualifiers and Riley did a great job last year too and I’m excited to see how well she’ll be doing,” said Klindt. “I think the girls team has a good chance of qualifying for state if they ski as good as they’re capable of doing.”
The Riverhawk boys team consists of freshman Caden Nordquist of Wamic. Caden Nordquist competed on the The Dalles ski team as an eighth grade provisional skier last season, but his results were not counted in the official point standings of OISRA events.
“Caden improved greatly last year and I’m looking forward to seeing him compete on the team for his first time officially on The Dalles High School ski team,” said Klindt. “I think he’s capable of finishing about the middle of the pack at each race too.”
Since the Riverhawks have the minimum number of three girls team members, they’re eligible to have a team score at each race. Each of the three Riverhawk skiers would have to finish their two runs without any DNF’s (didn’t finish) in order to qualify for a team score. The Riverhawks will have their first practice on the slopes of Mt. Hood Meadows on Saturday.
The Riverhawks will compete in the season opener of their seven race Mt. Hood Ski Race League schedule Sunday at Mt. Hood Meadows, followed by their second event Jan. 20. All of the remaining events are held every week on Sunday and the season concludes with the state championship event Mar. 6-7 at Mt. Ashland Ski Area in Southern Oregon.
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