January 30, 2008

The Hood River Valley ski team is now first in the Mount Hood Conference after the Eagle boys finished in second and the girls placed first in last Saturday’s slalom race at Mt. Hood Meadows.

With only four male skiers in the line-up, the Eagles needed strong performances from each to move up in the standings, and they delivered.

Colton Swearingen, who was in third place after his first run, had the best second run time of the day that placed him first as an individual with a two-second lead.

“This is the first time in two years, possibly more, that a Sandy boy hasn’t won first place at a league event,” HRV coach Peter Nance said. “This was a huge accomplishment for Colton, and important for us as a team.”

Tyler Sassara took sixth place and Sam Mears seventh place, giving the Eagles the fast times they needed to finish second, a total of eight seconds behind Sandy. Cameron Vosters finished 22nd.

Missing one top skier and with another top seed, Ashley Kastner, missing a gate on her first run and spoiling her time, the pressure was on the rest of the HRV field.

Again, the Eagles came through.

Sophomore Morgan Nance edged out the other competition for a first place time on the first run. But on her second run, as snow and wind blew up the hill, Nance skidded on the icy steep pitch at the top of the course, and had to hike up around a missed gate.

However, Kastner stepped up to the plate with the best overall time on the second run, and both Nance’s and Kastner’s top times counted toward the team score.

Molly McCulloch helped out with a fourth place combined finish, followed by Whitney Fox in fifth. Kastner ended up in seventh place, while Katherine Rouse placed ninth. Jill Goatcher earned a 15th place for the team, followed by Caley Melton in 16th, and Sierra Bentz in 20th. In addition, Jannicke Sletmoe placed 23rd, Alice Zanmiller 32nd, and MacKenzie Kerr 34th.

The event marked the first time this season a Hood River girl missed a first place finish, but the team still managed to place four in the top 10 and won the event by nearly 13 seconds.

The team returns to Mt. Hood Meadows on Saturday for a GS event on The Face.