Prep notebook: Eagle Valley skier wins Colorado High School Ski League race

Eagle Valley senior Tyler Blair topped the 73-skier field at Tennessee Pass Nordic Center on Jan. 31 in the fourth Colorado High School Ski League race of the season. Blair finished the 5-kilometer skate race in 14 minutes, 41.5 seconds on a beautiful sunny day outside of Leadville. The Devil was 13 seconds clear of Summit’s Carter Niemkiewicz, who won the second race of the year at Snow Mountain Ranch and has finished in the top-5 in every start of the season thus far.

The Tigers took a tight team battle, tallying 205 points to edge Steamboat Springs by just 2 points as Eagle Valley finished third, one point behind the Sailors. Blair’s teammate Jonah Barber finish ninth while Chris Marsh (12th) and Jack Sargent (20th) rounded out the Devils’ scoring.

Tyler Ciluzzi (15:11.4) placed fourth to pace Vail Mountain School to a sixth-place team finish while Gabe Dozois (16:53.9) led Battle Mountain into eighth.

After finishing runner-up in her first three races of the season, Nederland’s Kajsa Wik claimed the victory on the girls side. Wik bested Summit’s Maeve Niemkiewicz by 21 seconds. Ruthie DeMino was the top local finisher, placing 12th for Battle Mountain — one spot in front of Eagle Valley’s top skier, Eva Klesner. The Huskies finished fifth as a team while the Devils were ninth.

Vail Mountain’s Isla Elton, needing to complete a classic race to be eligible for the state meet, rode the skinny ski stride-and-glide to an impressive 17th-place result as the Rangers finished eighth as a team.

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Alpine skiers compete at Purgatory and Eldora

Ruthie and Eden DeMino placed second and third and freshmen teammate Mia Eaton was sixth to guide Battle Mountain to a runner-up finish in the giant slalom at Purgatory Resort on Feb. 6. Summit put three skiers in the top-5, including winner Malie Dieterich, to take the team title. Kalina Ivanov finished 26th to pace Eagle Valley.

On the boys side, Teagan Larsen (sixth), Luca Goldberg (eighth) and Dozois (10th) all finished in the top-10 to help Battle Mountain finish third as a team, one point behind runner-up Durango. Summit went 1-2-4, led by Seth Montgomery’s individual victory, to take the team title.

Vail Mountain competed at Eldora on the same day. Peter Mennen finished seventh in the giant slalom in 1:01.78 to lead the Rangers. Aspen’s Josh Stephen (58.35) took the win. On the girls side, Gracie Cohn was the lone VMS finisher, coming in the silver medal slot as Ava Somers of Aspen took the win.

The final regular season Nordic ski race of the year is Feb. 13 at Gold Run in Breckenridge. Alpine crews round out their season with a giant slalom at Keystone on the same day. The state Alpine championships are Feb. 18-19, with Nordic competitions following on Feb. 20-21. The skimeister state championships are slated for Feb. 24.

Other prep notes: Huskies claim close wins over Skyline and Vail Christian pushes win streak to 12

• The Battle Mountain boys and girls basketball teams both collected close victories over Skyline on Saturday in Edwards. Amelia Wansley and Ruthie Casey each scored 12 points apiece and Kate Kovacik reached double figures as well to lead the Huskies (6-8) to a 51-47 win. The boys defeated the Falcons 48-45 to improve to 5-9 on the year.
• The Eagle Valley boys improved to 14-3 on the season with a 55-42 win over Glenwood Springs last Friday in Gypsum. The Devils are ranked eighth in 5A going into Thursday’s game against Summit. The Eagle Valley girls are 8-10 after falling to Frederick 59-41 on Saturday.
• The Vail Christian boys extended their winning streak to 12 games after punishing Plateau Valley 71-53 on Friday and Rangely 43-26 the following day. The Saints (13-2) are ranked eighth in 2A going into Thursday night’s game against Custer County.
• The Vail Mountain School girls basketball team split a weekend doubleheader. The Rangers fell to Soroco on Friday night at home 38-32, but came back to defeat West Grand 46-15 the following day on the road. VMS (11-8) travels to North Fork on Tuesday night for their final game of the regular season.