Aspen leads Huskies skiing after Day 1

It’s too bad that Rocky Ford doesn’t have a skiing team: Imagine the Meloneers on snow.

We just bring that up as the Meloneers are one of the greatest names in sports. And then we have the Aspen Skiers. It’s logical and to the point.

And it’s accurate halfway through the state ski meet at Beaver Creek and Maloit Park. The Aspen Skiers have skied halfway to a dual championship. The Aspen girls are running away with it with 342 points, well ahead of Battle Mountain (303.5). The gents — not the rugby team — have 334 points, 13 points ahead of the Huskies after a day of giant slalom and Nordic classic.

Freshmen and siblings ruled on Thursday. First-years Toby Scarpella (Durango) and Samantha Edelman (Aspen) won their respective giant slaloms. Aspen’s Weiss family won the Nordic. Yes, Anders and Elsie Weiss swept the classic at Maloit Park.

The state meet continues today with slalom at Beaver Creek and freestyle in Minturn.

Devils shine in Nordic

On the boys’ side, Middle Park dominated the classic with 168 points ahead of Aspen (163). Third place?

Eagle Valley. That’s right: The Devils took third, one point ahead of Battle Mountain, 151-150. It’s not like local sports fans keep track of this. Ferguson St. John raced to fifth for Eagle Valley, followed by Aidan Duffy in 12th and Lukas Bergsten in 18th.

That beat out Battle Mountain’s Sullivan Middaugh (sixth), Davis Krueger (seventh) and Connor Larson (27th). Cole Flashner (16th) was the top finisher for the Vail Mountain School.

For the ladies, Aspen took down Battle Mountain, 171-156, at Maloit. Grace Johnson, Samantha Lindall, and Gabby Gully went 7-12-14 for the Huskies.

Izzy Glackin was fourth for VMS, while Samantha Blair took 24th for Eagle Valley.

Huskies, Gore Rangers on the slopes

At Bear Trap on Thursday morning, Battle Mountain and Aspen skied to a dead heat on the boys’ side, tying with 161 points. The Huskies’ Jakup Pecinka took fifth, followed by Xander Armistead (seventh) and Will Bettenhausen (10th).

Vail Mountain was in third with 157 points. The Pattison brothers were at it again, with Cole in second and Mackay in fourth. Nico O’Connell was 29th

Battle Mountain and Vail Mountain were also fourth and fifth, respectively, for the ladies. Berit Frischholz topped the Huskies in second, followed by Hailey Harsch (14th) and Malia Nelson (24th). Emma Kate Burns (16th), Quinn Kelley (17th) and Alexa Anderson (20th) were the scorers for the Gore Rangers.