Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — With two slalom victories under his belt this season, local skier Gunnar Sorensen has to be considered a favorite to three-peat this Friday when the state's best high school Alpine racers come to Howelsen Hill.

"I'm feeling pretty good about my slalom racing right now," Sorensen said. "Having the next one here at Howelsen is a huge advantage."

No other high school team in the state trains on a hill like Howelsen, Sorensen said. He thinks the hill's steep pitches and challenging face will put most of the visiting skiers at a disadvantage.

But Howelsen is where Sorensen and his teammates sharpen their talents on a regular basis.

"Everybody on the team is looking forward to this race," the Steamboat senior said. "This is our hill and this is our race."

The race will begin at 9 a.m. Friday at Howelsen. Both the girls and boys will have two runs.

Sorensen is coming off of a fourth-place finish in a giant slalom race in Loveland last Friday. Summit's Gary Beresford won the race with a time of 1 minute, 26.51 seconds. Aspen's Lange Adams was second at 1:26.58 and Middle Park's Spencer Woolwine was third with a time of 1:27.87.

Sorensen was fourth at 1:28.38 and teammate Trace Adams was 12th at 1:30.83. Sailor Jeff Fowler came in 20th at 1:33.78 and Jeff Albright was 37th at 1:38.09.

The top finishes helped Steamboat place third in the team standings with 151 points. Summit won the event with 168 points, followed by Aspen with 164.

The Steamboat girls finished fourth in the Loveland race behind a solid showing from Shannon Gormley. Gormley finished in a tie for seventh with Battle Mountain's Heidi Moore.

Summit's Tucker Burton won the race with a time of 1:27.30. Nederland's Bryce Tillotson was second and Aspen's Gillian Hearn was third.

Hearn's result helped Aspen win the girls title with 161 total points. Battle Mountain was second at 155, Nederland was third with 154, and Steamboat finished with 146 points.

Other top Steamboat finishers included Piper Reed in 16th, Henley Shepard in 17th and Rebecca Herman in 26th.