Elements give TD skiers a tough challenge

“A lot of preparation was put into the race hill named Challenger, and as the name says, it was a challenger both physically (icy and long course), and mentally, with rain sometimes coming down sideways,” TD head coach Dane Klindt said.

Booth had the girls team’s best finish of the day at 11th place with her first run going for 48.25 seconds, and then she cut down time in the second run (47.82) for a combined final time of 1:36.07.

Biehn then hit the slopes for a 55.64 opener and added a 53.69 to get a 1:49.33 and 16th place.

Smith motored to a 1:51.56 by following up a 55.15 first run with a 56.41 to take 19th place out of 20 two-run finishers.

“Lucy stepped up and skied a great race,” Klindt said. “Right behind her was Hannah. She has been working hard on her technique and it’s really starting to show. Ella completed both her runs to give the girls their three times for a team score.”  

The other 60 skiers were either disqualified, did not start or did not finish, including TD’s duo of Fiona Dunlop and Ashley Quisenberry, who did not finish her first attempt, but had a second-run mark of 55.69.

“Ashley fell during her first run and then came back in her second try to get under a minute,” Klindt said. “I was proud of all the girls. It was icy and they all stepped up to the challenge.”

Hood River Valley posted four top-7 participants, with Eva Jones and Marisa Riggert ending up inside the final three places.

In two runs, Jones tallied a 1:23.17 to nab second place behind Franklin’s Annelise Norkitis (1:21.09).

Riggert ended up third at 1:24.92, Julia Olsen (1:27.76) took sixth, Alessandria Ferrari (1:28.29) notched seventh place to round out the Eagle starters.

Standing out for the Riverhawk boys was Roetcisoender, a freshman.

In his opening attempt, he put up a 50.02 and he tacked on a 51.02 on his second rush to end up at 1:41.04 for 11th place in the field of 85 skiers.

Overall, just 17 participants made it through two runs and Kelly totaled 1:52.94 to get 15th place, first with a 55.81 then wrapping up with a 57.13.

“The boys’ standout was Grey. He put two great runs together to get his best finish,” Klindt said. “Paul had the only other completed runs, so the team didn’t get a score.”  

Cooper Klindt (53.15, 21st) and Henry Perez (54.33, 24th) each finished their first runs, but were unable to get a second shot. Peyton Beeks did not place initially and went for a 1:01.37 on his second rush, which placed him 24th, and Austin Weir rattled off a 55.17 on his second try after not completing his first dash. “Austin and Peyton had great second run, along with both George Harrison and Bucky Wilkonson, who had some great runs going, but struggled in both.”

Franklin’s Nils Streedain won the boys division after a 1:10.02, and HRV skiers Aidan Gonzales-Haynie (1:34.35) and Parker Dey (1:34.51) had the boys’ only two-run efforts.

In the junior varsity event, eighth grade racers Cooper Klindt ended up fifth and Henry Perez got sixth place.  

The skiers have a slalom event planned at 9 a.m. Saturday on the Stadium Course, and then they compete in a giant slalom race on the Reynolds Course at Ski Bowl.