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Led by six Miners earning top 20 finishes in Tuesday's slalom race, Nevada Union's Alpine Ski team raced to second place in the California-Nevada Interscholastic Ski and Snowboard Federation State Championships at Mt. Shasta.
Nevada Union led team competition by four points after Monday's giant slalom competition, but host Mt. Shasta rallied back to edge the Miners for the team title by posting 1,317 points to NU's 1,259 points. El Dorado finished third with 1,231 points.
“This State Championship required some of the most technical skiing I have seen in the past 20 years,” Nevada Union coach Ken Ramirez wrote in an e-mail. “Nevada Union's racers drew deserved respect from the coaches and athletes from all the teams involved, but the greatest compliment I received as a coach was what a delightful group of athletes we have.
“Race officials and coaches took notice of the attitude along with the skill of our kids and were impressed.”
They were likely also impressed by NU's performance, led by Scott Valentine, who earned ninth place in the All-State Combined Team after his 12th place finish in Tuesday's slalom race in what apparently tough conditions.
“The falling snow put 3 inches of fresh powder on an already icy race course, making it even icier with a polishing effect,” wrote Ramirez, who noted a total of 45 racers did not finish among both the boys and girls divisions.
The Miners were skiing without their top scorer on the boys side in Pat Chappel due to injury, which Ramirez said raised the stakes a bit for the rest of the team members.
“To say the least, the pressure on the team without Pat was huge,” he wrote. “The girls came down and earned enough total points to banner as the third place State Women's team behind Colfax and Placer (All Central Division II teams). Kendra Green took a breath-holding spill and was sledded down to the finish arena to the cheers of the crowd. All is well ... whew!”
Leading NU's girls in the slalom, and finishing 11th in the combined standings, was Marnie McDowell in 13th place. Quinlan Grim took 15th place, Marybeth Mondonk 18th and Olivia McDowell 19th.
For the NU boys, in addition to Valentine's 12th-place run, Eric Green finished 20th, Mac Lujan 33rd, Brian Biersdorff 34th and Robert Sekerek 44th.
“Mac Lujan and Brian Biersdorff had fantastic runs,” Ramirez continued, “but carrying too much speed, they both straddled a gate near the finish and had to hike, losing valuable time but still bringing in much needed points. Scott Valentine and Eric Green held fast with fantastic runs.”
Nevada Union led team competition by four points after Monday's giant slalom competition, but host Mt. Shasta rallied back to edge the Miners for the team title by posting 1,317 points to NU's 1,259 points. El Dorado finished third with 1,231 points.
“This State Championship required some of the most technical skiing I have seen in the past 20 years,” Nevada Union coach Ken Ramirez wrote in an e-mail. “Nevada Union's racers drew deserved respect from the coaches and athletes from all the teams involved, but the greatest compliment I received as a coach was what a delightful group of athletes we have.
“Race officials and coaches took notice of the attitude along with the skill of our kids and were impressed.”
They were likely also impressed by NU's performance, led by Scott Valentine, who earned ninth place in the All-State Combined Team after his 12th place finish in Tuesday's slalom race in what apparently tough conditions.
“The falling snow put 3 inches of fresh powder on an already icy race course, making it even icier with a polishing effect,” wrote Ramirez, who noted a total of 45 racers did not finish among both the boys and girls divisions.
The Miners were skiing without their top scorer on the boys side in Pat Chappel due to injury, which Ramirez said raised the stakes a bit for the rest of the team members.
“To say the least, the pressure on the team without Pat was huge,” he wrote. “The girls came down and earned enough total points to banner as the third place State Women's team behind Colfax and Placer (All Central Division II teams). Kendra Green took a breath-holding spill and was sledded down to the finish arena to the cheers of the crowd. All is well ... whew!”
Leading NU's girls in the slalom, and finishing 11th in the combined standings, was Marnie McDowell in 13th place. Quinlan Grim took 15th place, Marybeth Mondonk 18th and Olivia McDowell 19th.
For the NU boys, in addition to Valentine's 12th-place run, Eric Green finished 20th, Mac Lujan 33rd, Brian Biersdorff 34th and Robert Sekerek 44th.
“Mac Lujan and Brian Biersdorff had fantastic runs,” Ramirez continued, “but carrying too much speed, they both straddled a gate near the finish and had to hike, losing valuable time but still bringing in much needed points. Scott Valentine and Eric Green held fast with fantastic runs.”
