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Ghent (Christa) wins second race in a row

Chris Freud

WINTER PARK – The Ghents are having quite the year in 2004-05.Erika finished fourth in the state in 4A cross country. Little sis, Christa, who was also on that fifth-place cross country team, is making her mark this winter.Last week, she made it 2-for-2 in high school state qualifiers by winning the Winter Park slalom. That followed up a giant slalom win at Golden Peak last month.Ghent was the highest local finisher during a weekend of skiing at Winter Park – there was also a classic Nordic race. And the Huskies, Devils and Gore Rangers picked up copious state berths in the first slalom and classic of the year.In the girls’ slalom, the sisters VanHee qualified. Kelly finished 19th, and Kate was 31st. In between the VanHees was Rolena Richardson in 27th. Paige Bennett, Josie Sutner and Jenna Hughes are also off to Keystone in February by finishing in the top-50.For Vail Mountain, Georgia Wettlaufer led the way in fourth. Lucy Sackbauer made the cut in 38th. Christana White missed state by two spots with a 52nd-place finish. Carrying the banner for Eagle Valley was Hanna Nelson who swoshed into 28th. Kerstin Leary nabbed the final state spot in 50th. Kelsey Elwood rounded out the scoring for the Devils in 54th.On the boys’ side, VMS’ Max Avery took top local honors in 14th. VMS’ other state qualifiers were Chris Woods (42nd) and David Deline (43rd) who punched their ticket for the third weekend in February.Andy Banner was Battle Mountain’s high man taking 31st. Grant Stevenson – whose strength is in Nordic – continued his Skimeister quest in 40th. Charlie Coats slipped into to state, grabbing the second-to-last spot in 49th.Eagle Valley’s Chris Brandl lived up to his team’s No. 1-seeding, leading his team in 21st. The Devils’ Cody Birk and Will James also scored, but missed the state cut.NordicIn girls’ classic, both Battle Mountain and VMS have five skiers each going to state. For the Huskies, Molly McGee was the top local. The Vail Christian import took sixth. Kendall Wilson joined her in the top-10 in ninth. Jane Lettovska (13th), Whitney Allard (23rd) and Samantha McCoy (24th) are also state-bound for Battle Mountain.Lani Bruntz topped all Gore Rangers with an 11th-place finish, followed by Lauren Biegler in 15th. Welcome back to state, Courtney Robinson, who returned to the snow after two broken legs last winter. Robinson was 21st. Jannelle Kibler-Silengo and Elsie Macsata got their invite courtesy of 25th- and 26th-place finishes, respectively.Eagle Valley only qualified one as Haley Didier snagged the final state spot (28th). Jessica Medsker and Hanna Lundholm put up points for the Devils, but failed to qualify in this go-around.For the boys, the Huskies’ Stevenson topped all locals in seventh. Tyler Cole and Nodin Gaul scored for Battle Mountain, but finished outside the state running. Eagle Valley placed a trio in state. James Ewing had a big day in eighth, followed by Kyle Simonett (16th) and Ben Rogers (20th).For VMS, Bobby becomes the second LeGaye to make state. A.J., a VMS alum, has also been there. Chris Woods and Wes Batts rounded out VMS’ scorers.The circuit moves to Highway 82 this week. Alpine is at Aspen for a GS, while Nordic has a classic in Carbondale.Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 614 or cfreud@vaildaily.com.Vail Colorado


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