By BEN MCCARTY
News staff writer
March 5, 2008

Flowers are beginning to creep out of the ground. The sky is staying lighter later. The temperature has risen out of the 30- degree range and is climbing every day. But area high school skiers and snowboarders are not ready to say so long to winter just yet.

The Hood River Valley ski team and the Summit snowboard team will both be in action later this week for their state competitions on Mount Hood.

Both the Hood River girls and boys ski teams qualified their varsity squads for their state races Thursday and Friday at Mt. Hood Meadows, while the Summit boarders qualified the boys team and several individual girls for their state competition Thursday through Saturday at Timberline.

As the ski team trains for state the focus is on the future while trying to show that the present is not a fluke.

The team will be returning all of its varsity skiers for both the boys and girls teams next season. That is good news for coach Peter Nance, considering this year’s girls team continued a strong run of state appearances and the boys team rebounded from a down year to qualify for state as well, with a second-place finish in the Mt. Hood Ski League.

That finish included a win over the powerhouse Sandy boys ski team.

The Eagle girls were led by strong individual performances from the likes of Toby Carratt, Whitney Fox and Ashley Kastner, and the well of talent will not be running dry anytime soon.

In the final race of the season two weeks ago at Mt. Hood Meadows, the HRV JV team would have finished second to the varsity team if they had been with the varsity squads.

With so much youth to build around, this year’s state appearance will be a chance for the young racers to get some experience under their belts.

“This is the first year this group has really had to step up and carry the load,” Nance said.

That group has spent several days in the last week training on Mount Hood on the runs that will be used for the state courses.

“I think we’re the only team that’s been able to race those,” Nance said.

Furthermore, while the state race is being held in the Eagles’ backyard, it will be hosted by the Three Rivers League, meaning the Eagles have not had to worry about logistical details and helping to set up for the race. They have just focused on training.

“This is our home mountain and we know it well,” Nance said. “And there has not been any pressure on us for the work with the set-up.”

To Nance, the fact the he has two young, competitive teams heading to state and a JV team that could compete with many varsity teams is a reflection that the skiers are combining their athleticism with solid teamwork.

“This is a group that works well together,” he said. “The thing I’ve really been impressed with this year is the total effort from everybody.”

While the HRV skiers are busy trying to defend their home turf at Mt. Hood Meadows, the Summit snowboarding team will be looking to build on a strong season against the best from around the state on the other side of the mountain at Timberline.

The Summit boarders will be defending their state championship from last season and competing in halfpipe, slalom, slopestyle and boardercross events.

It has been a dominating run for the Summit boarders for the past decade.

Including last year, they have won seven of the last eight snowboarding state title.

The team went undefeated last year and had another dominating season this year.

The halfpipe competition will be held Thursday, slopestyle on Friday and boardercross and banked slalom will be held on Saturday.

For more information on the snowboarding or skiing championships visit www.oisa.org.