February 15, 2008

The Hood River Valley boys ski team stunned Sandy and the rest of the field by taking first in the slalom event on Cascade, while Eagle girls maintained their top position in the Mount Hood Conference with their fourth first place in four events.

The dual wins put the Eagles firmly in first place in the Mount Hood Conference as a combined team.

“After the event a Sandy coach claimed he could not remember the last time their boys lost a race,” Hood River Valley coach Peter Nance said. “I am still on cloud nine. Our team is coming together so well in the last few races heading into state, and everyone on the team is working hard and contributing.”

Although a Sandy racer took first as an individual, Hood River placed three boys in the top seven, and bested Sandy by nearly six seconds.

Colton Swearingen placed second, Sam Mears sixth, and Taylor Bentz seventh. “One of our top boys, Tyler Sassara, had trouble on both runs, but Bentz pulled through with two great finishes to give us our win,” Nance said.

In addition, Michael Lamaita finished 17th, Matt Robertson 18th, and Cameron Vosters 20th.

On the girls’ side, the Eagles placed five in the top 10, with Toby Carratt once again leading the pack.

Carratt was in second place after the first run, less than half a second behind the leader from Grant. In her final run, Carratt turned it up to best her opponent by three seconds, while Ashley Kastner also turned in a stunning second run that place her in third overall. Whitney Fox placed fourth, Molly McCulloch sixth, Morgan Nance ninth, Katherine Rouse 13th, and Karrie Hoag 15th.

Other team results were sprinkled across the scoreboard, with Jill Goatcher finishing 19th, Alex Ostler 22nd, Jannicke Sletmoe 25th, MacKenzie Kerr 26th, Alice Zanmiller 31st, Sierra Bentz 37th, and Caley Melton 38th.

The upset by the Hood River boys nearly assures the entire team will compete in the state championships in early March.

“One of the things we’re trying to accomplish is racing as a whole team rather than as individuals, or girls team/boys team,” Nance explained. “We’ve changed our seeding by lottery rather than finishes, and it’s helping the racers to focus on the team effort. In Saturday’s race, it worked perfectly, and it had an impact on our results. It was spectacular!”

Some Eagle competitors also entered a Slopestyle event on Sunday, resulting in a second place finish by Taylor Bentz and a fourth place finish by Michael Lamaita.

The team returns to Ski Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 16, for a GS event on Reynolds.

Complete information and race results are available at www.mthoodskileague.com.