Freshman Toby Scarpella added a third-place result in slalom to go with his giant slalom title to conclude his first high school state championship.
The Durango High School ski star clocked a two-run time of 1 minutes, 22.08 seconds in slalom Friday at Beaver Creek on the final day of the Colorado High School Activities Association State Skiing Championships. The alpine skier was a half second behind Battle Mountain sophomore Will Bettenhausen for second place. The state slalom championship went to Aspen’s Charlie Olsen, who had the fastest time in both runs for a healthy win in a time of 1:20.60.
Scarpella, who admitted giant slalom is his best event, was confident going into the slalom. He now will turn his focus to junior racing in preparation for regional and national races.
Also in Friday’s boys slalom for Durango was Harry LeSage, a junior who placed 25th in 1:31.60. DHS sophomore Levi Tichi was 30th in 1:36.16. Freshman Barron Bronson was 34th in 1:37.51. Miles Bronson, a senior, finished 56th in 1:48.16.
Only 64 of 101 boys in the field completed two runs.
The girls slalom was won by Summit’s Olyvia Snyder. The sophomore was second after her first run but had the best second run to win in 1:22.12. Battle Mountain senior Berit Frischolz was second, just as she was in giant slalom, as she finished in 1:22.61. Aspen freshman Stella Sherlock placed third in 1:23.49.
It was a solid day for the DHS girls team, just as head coach Leah LeSage had hoped for after a tough go in giant slalom. Skylar Thorpe led the Demons, as the senior placed 18th in 1:30.95. Ava McClellan, a freshman, skied to 50th in 1:41.34. DHS junior Zoe Keisel placed 69th in 1:47.36. Senior Stevi Cameron would place 78th in 1:51.71, and senior Claudia Luthy placed 82nd in 2:01.44.
Out of 91 racers who started, 82 finished the girls slalom.
Aspen High School won both the boys and girls state skiing championships behind strong results in Alpine and Nordic. DHS did not field a Nordic team this season. The Demons haven’t won a state skiing title since 1976 in either boys or girls. The team was discontinued for more than 30 years before it was brought back during the 2017-18 school year. Scarpella won the team’s first state title since the program was brought back.
Coach LeSage could not be reached for comment.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
