In his fourth and final try on the Mount Hood Meadows Course for the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Race Association state championships last Thursday and Friday, The Dalles senior Martin Carter posted his best finish ever to lock down 21st place overall out of the 93 male participants and helped the Riverhawks secure eighth place in the team standings.
In Thursday’s slalom run, Carter posted a time of one minute and 43.12 seconds for 29th place, and the next day, he added a 27th place mark of 2:18.60 in his giant slalom attempt, ending up with a 4:01.72.
Preston Klindt was right behind Carter in 23rd place, as he picked up a 1:42.97 in the slalom and then followed up that performance with a 2:22.32 for 32nd place in the giant slalom for a combined 4:05.29.
“Martin Carter and Preston Klindt led the boys this year and have proven themselves to be competitive athletes, who raced as well, if not better than, many kids who have ski-raced for a lot more years than them,” said coach Dane Klindt.
Liam Brewer turned in a slalom time of 2:02.39, and then went for 2:28.41 to grab 52nd place and a combined marker of 4:30.80 to wind up in 43rd place.
Finishing in 58th place was TD’s James Pashek, who had his best outcome in the slalom event with a time of 2:21.78 to secure 69th place, and he then went for 73rd place in the giant slalom with a 2:48.10.
Ethan Martin did not score slalom times, but came through in the giant slalom event with a 2:39.22 to wind up in 66th place.
That trio has impressed coach Klindt with their time and effort this season.
“Liam really figured out solid skiing this year and I am very proud of him. He worked hard and proved to himself and everyone else he can ski with the best of them,” coach Klindt said. “Ethan and James are going to be looked at to lead the boys next year as juniors. There is a lot of potential in them and Ethan has shown a lot of enthusiasm about ski racing.”
Those marks helped the Riverhawks to eighth place in the male standings with a 12:37.81, less than two minutes behind state champion, Lakeridge (10:57.81).
Led by Colson Zack (3:51.94), Christopher McElwee (3:53.68), and Nash Levy (3:55.46), Hood River Valley scored runner-up in the team standings with an 11:25.91.
Lincoln (11:27.01), Jesuit (11:29.52), Lake Oswego (11:37.50), Ashland (11:47.44) and Sandy (12:20.64) made up the seven teams to finish ahead of The Dalles.
For the Riverhawk girls’ team, Robin Pashek had the best two-day times to end up in 51st place out of 94.
Pashek had a slalom time of 2:17.04 to wind up in 69th place, and she tacked on a 3:34.93 to finish 62nd place in the giant slalom for 51st place in the female standings at 5:51.97.
Emma Diede completed her state tries in 53rd place overall, timing out at 2:31.01 in the slalom run, and then ended up 64th in the giant slalom standings after her 3:48.09.
Petra van Kessel started out strong in the slalom event in 44th place after a two-run tally of 1:55.49, but could not put two giant slalom runs together.
Addie Klindt did not have a slalom time, but she tallied a 3:12.12 to wrap up 60th place.
“Addie and Petra worked very hard this year and I’m excited to see how much they move up next year,” coach Klindt said of his top girls.
The Dalles totaled a 16:33.15 for 13th place, 5:08.10 behind state champion Hood River Valley (11:25.05).
Josie Peterson placed second in the individual standings with a two-event time of 3:39.68, Erin Sutherland (3:48.42) placed fifth, Chloe Kurahara added a 3:56.95 to claim 11th place and Paris Nunn ended up in 16th place with her 4:07.94.
Lincoln (11:51.34), Lake Oswego (11:55.27), Ashland (12:05.04), Jesuit (12:14.56), Lakeridge (12:37.88), West Linn (13:09.13), St. Mary’s Academy (13:13.77), Sunset (13:53.18) and Sandy (14:08.47) made up the top-10 in the final team standings.
Coach Klindt said that the state slalom and giant slalom events were technical courses that all The Dalles kids performed well in.
On the giant slalom run, the last pitch before the finish line was a section called, “Showoff,” and this “Black Diamond Run” was something The Dalles athletes were both excited and a little nervous about racing from.
“I was very proud of all of them, especially the girls who if we had raced off that earlier in the season would have been very nervous about,” coach Klindt said.
On Wednesday, Carter, Preston Klindt, Brewer, Martin, and Dufur’s Louis Red Cloud, along with female skiers van Kessel and Addie Klindt competed in skier cross.
Skier cross was an elimination race and only Preston Klindt and Red Cloud managed to advance to the second round before being eliminated from competition.
Prior to their freshman year in high school, coach Klindt said the entire race team had never run gates in racing events, while several of the athletes from other teams started racing as early as 5 and 6 years old.
The team, including George Harrison, who did not attend the state race, but was a reliable racer in his freshman campaign, showed consistency that is vital to team ski racing.
With much of The Dalles ski team being seniors (Carter, Preston Klindt, Brewer and Pashek), coach Klindt said his group will be very young in terms of experience next year with Emma Diede as the girls’ lone senior.
“The improvement across the board was exciting to see,” coach Klindt said of his athletes.
Klindt is looking forward to adding skiers from South Wasco County, Dufur, Sherman and The Dalles next year and beyond to bolster the roster.
Prospective skiers can contact The Dalles’ athletic department at 541-506-3420 to sign up for skiing action during the 2017-2018 winter sports season.
No prior competitive skiing experience is needed to participate in the local program.
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