Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs High School Alpine girls and boys teams each sit in first place after the giant slalom portion of the Colorado High School Skiing State Championships on Thursday in Beaver Creek.

The Steamboat boys accumulated 167 points Thursday, seven better than second-place Evergreen. The girls, also at 167 points, are four points ahead of Nederland.

“They were really excited,” coach Anje Worrell said. “Everyone skied solid today. We had strong finishes all over, and that’s what bumped us in the lead for the team standings.”

Leading the way for Steamboat on Thursday was senior Connor Bernard. Bernard put down a pair of blistering runs and finished in second place with a time of 1 minute, 55.71 seconds. Evergreens’s Jake Bender was first in 1:55.19.

Tommy Lyon was sixth, Andreas Foulk was 11th and Peter White was 13th.

On the girls side, Suzanne Lyon was third in 2:01.49. Battle Mountain’s Kendall VanHee was first in 2:00.67. Steamboat also got strong finishes from Megan Rosa in sixth and Sarah White in seventh.

The first run was open and the second run was a technical run set by Worrell. The course featured a lot of rhythm sections with flats and steeps.

The team continues at 9:30 a.m. Friday with a slalom event. Worrell said the Steamboat skiers, especially on the girls side, are much better at slalom from training on Howelsen Hill.

Bernard also has won every slalom event this season.

“We really could have a podium sweep on the slalom side,” Worrell said. “It’s hard to know. Things can happen. But they’ve been doing it all year. They just have to put two and two together.”

Nordic teams ski to 4th

The Steamboat Springs High School girls and boys Nordic teams each finished fourth Thursday in a 5-kilometer skate race during the first day of the Colorado High School Skiing Championships.

Competing in Minturn at Maloit Park, the Steamboat girls finished with 140 points. Vail Mountain was first with 174 points, Aspen was second with 157 and Summit was third with 148.

The boys team finished with 147 points, with Aspen in first with 174 points, Summit in second at 171 and Eagle Valley in third at 152.

“We had some really solid finishes,” coach Emily Lovett said. “We had some best-races-of-the-year type of finishes for the kids.”

Jake Barker was the top Steamboat finisher in seventh place. Peter White was 21st, and Alec Schaffer was 27th.

Martha Anderson was the top Steamboat girls finisher in 10th place. Hannah Barkey was 18th, Sarah White was 23rd, Bailey Pugh was 24th and Lesley Myller was 25th.

The course, which the team previewed Wednesday, was very technical and suited the Steamboat skiers well.

The course, Lovett said, reminded her of the one at Howelsen where the team trains on a regular basis.

“The course suited them,” she said.

The team competes in an individual start classic race at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

“We need to ski aggressive,” Lovett said. “There is no room to rest.”