Vail Mountain School, Huskies skiing on top after Day One
State Standings, Day 1
Boys GS FR Tot
Vail Mountain 171 160 331
Aspen 155 127 282
Summit County 115 165 280
Battle Mountain 122 158 280
Middle Park 118 157 275
Evergreen 167 98 265
Steamboat Springs 139 120 259
Nederland 121 100 221
Colorado Rocky MS 66 143 209
Eagle Valley 94 105 204
Lake County 57 120 177
Clear Creek 56 107 153
Platte Canyon 129 0 129
Durango 67 0 67
Ridgeview 0 37 37
Girls GS FR Tot
Vail Mountain 151 170 321
Battle Mountain 162 143 305
Aspen 175 125 300
Colorado Rocky MS 115 156 271
Middle Park 117 135 252
Summit County 110 142 252
Eagle Valley 122 128 250
Evergreen 137 100 237
Lake County 76 146 222
Nederland 138 41 179
Clear Creek 93 84 177
Steamboat Springs 50 109 159
Durango 115 0 115
Platte Canyon 103 0 103
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — One day down, one to go, but so far, so good for the Vail Mountain School ski teams.
With giant slalom and freestyle Nordic in the books on Thursday at the state meet up in Steamboat Springs, the Gore Rangers boys lead handily, while the Battle Mountain girls leads by five points. The VMS boys won the GS and were second in the skate, toting 331 points, ahead of Aspen (282), Summit County and Battle Mountain (280) and Middle Park (275). It could be a Huskies-Gore Rangers duel for the ladies with Battle Mountain at 305 with VMS and Aspen both at 300.
Slalom and classic Nordic are on tap for today.
Surprise
The pleasant surprise of the day was that there weren’t major surprises in the GS. State-ski meet history is littered with popped skis and straddled gates that throw the team competitions into chaos.
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The VMS boys alpine team was delightfully boring. Michael Resnick finished second behind Evergreen’s R.J. McLennan. Peer Carnes was fourth and Shane Cole sixth.
Aspen’s girls ruled in their GS. Haley Frischholz took bronze for the Huskies, with Gabrielle Wheeler in ninth and Kiana Brausch 11th. Whitney Merriman led the way for VMS in third, with Catherine Descisciolo (33rd) and Alyssa Hilb (45th) scoring.
The Gore Rangers boys simply need to complete two slalom runs today, while Hilb and Descisciolo need to gain some speed so that the VMS ladies can breathe easier.
Not a surprise
Maddie Donovan is VMS’ latest Nordic champion, winning Thursday’s freestyle in 16 minutes, 44.12 seconds. That led a dominant performance by the Gore Rangers. In fact, Donovan was a popular name on the podium as Bridget won bronze. The Gore Rangers went 1-3-9 (Emma Blakslee) for 170 points, 27 points ahead of Battle Mountain and 45 points ahead of Aspen, VMS’ closest competition for the overall.
Eagle Valley’s Rose Sandell finished seventh in 18:03.51.
For the boys, VMS’s Cameron Wolfe was third; Peter Littman fifth and Ian Hardenbergh 17th. That was plenty for the Gore Rangers after a superb GS. Battle Mountain’s Franklin Reilly sped to a second-place finish.
Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.