The Durango High School alpine ski team had several state-qualifying performances on Friday at Edlora, helping the boys and girls both finish second in the team races.
“The DHS ski team had an amazing race at Eldora,” said head coach Jill Carithers. “Eldora put on a fantastic race. Conditions were good. It snowed throughout the day, but the course held up nice and was a fast surface for the race.”
Gracey Hening, Ava McClellan, Lauren McClellan, Annabel Carithers, Barron Bronson, Finn Scarpella, Holden Bronson and Zach Oliver all finished in the top quarter of the field at the slalom competition to qualify for state for DHS.
Hening had the fifth-fastest first and fifth-fastest second run, helping her finish in a team-leading fourth for the DHS girls in 1 minute, 41.92 seconds.
Ava McClellan was in sixth after her first run and ended up placing seventh overall in 1:46.97.
Lauren McClellan was in 18th after her first run, but knocked almost two seconds off her time in her second run to climb five spots and finish 13th in 1:50.40.
Carithers had the 16th-fastest first run and 17th-fastest second to place 16th in 1:51.50.
Barron Bronson led the DHS boys, moving up from sixth to third with the third-fastest second run and a total time of 1:30.78. Finn Scarpella finished right behind Bronson in fifth (1:33.05). Holden Bronson rounded out the team score with a ninth-place finish (1:35.14) while Oliver punched his ticket to the state slalom meet with an 11th-place finish in 1:35.38.
Ann Austin (30th, 2:06.40), Alaysia Cullum (33rd, 2:08.34), Isabel Mora (41st, 2:12.97), Nellie Miller (42nd, 2:13.54), Althea Bromily (50th, 2:22.56), Scarlett Ramsey (53rd, 2:34.08) and Madison LeSage (DNF) also competed for the DHS girls.
Ian Fehr (19th, 1:44.65), Renic Vincent (28th, 1:51.65), Skyler Taylor (32nd, 1:58.91), Nash Vincent (38th, 2:12.71), Jackson Nash (DSQ), Liam March (DNF) and Jaiden Fuss (DNF) also raced for the DHS boys.
Middle Park won the boys team title with 170 points, led by first-place finisher Sebastian Wiser (1:21.27). DHS finished second with 166, followed by Evergreen (156), Nederland (156), Platte Canyon (138), Clear Creek (137) and Lake County (87).
Evergreen, which includes basically every ski racer in the Denver Metro area, won the girls title with 167 points, just ahead of Durango’s 160. The Demons include most racers from Southwest Colorado, with athletes from Bayfield, Animas, Del Norte and the Southwest Colorado E-school also racing for DHS.
Nederland’s girls finished third with 159, followed by Lake County (146), Clear Creek (132), Middle Park (108) and Platte Canyon (97). Emma Bellatty of Middle Park won the girl’s individual crown in 1:34.64.
Only 15 teams from Colorado compete in skiing, and DHS will get to race to most of them before the state championships Feb. 16-17 at Copper Mountain.
“We have a team because the district believes in supporting our students and student athletes,” coach Carithers said. “We are so fortunate to have one of the 15 high school ski teams in Colorado.”
On Friday, the entire DHS team, including 15 boys and 14 girls, will race giant slalom at Ski Cooper.
