Boys ski team wraps up state berth

Whitney Engstrom's gold medal start

The Sisters Outlaws boys team landed a team berth at the state championships after a second-place finish in slalom races at Mt. Bachelor on Saturday, February 16.

Both the boys and girls teams have battled Mountain View for second place throughout the year. At stake was an automatic berth at the state meet, where the top two teams in the league compete against Oregon's best high school skiers.

It all came down to the slalom race held at the Ed's Garden run. When the day was over, the Sisters boys took second place for the day -- and for the season -- behind Bend High.

The top skiers for the Lava Bears finished with a combined time of 4:35.67. As a team, the Outlaws posted a combined time of 4:57.19, followed by Redmond (5:08.47), Summit (5:45.78), and Mountain View (6:09.50).

Sisters began the day in second place in the league standings, with a slight point advantage over Mountain View.

The Cougars had to beat Sisters in the remaining two races to take second place in league and go to state. The Outlaws put any suspense to rest by disposing of the bigger 4A school with one race next week still to go.

Individually, "Justin Thomas had his best race of the season," said coach Todd Williver. His two runs produced a combined time of 1:37.63 for a fifth place finish.

Less than one second behind was teammate Karana Ellis, who finished sixth with a time of 1:38.56. Nick Yopp took ninth place for the day at 1:41.00, followed by Brandon Overstreet (15th place; 1:45.45), Chris Boyle (16th place; 1:49.69), Ben Boro (18th place; 1:50.07), Joel Meyer (19th place; 1:50.71) and Conner Burck (36th place; 2:15.84).

The girls took second place for the day. The top skiers for Bend High combined for a winning time of 5:28.48. Sisters finished number two with a combined time of 5:35:31, followed by Mountain View at 5:49.95.

Whitney Engstrom took individual honors by finishing first place overall. Her two runs down the hill produced a combined time of 1:39.61.

Stephanie Yopp finished the day in eighth place by posting a 1:55.55, followed by Allie Smith (10th place; 2:00.15), Leslie Thomas (15th place; 2:12.96), and Amanda Perry (17th place; 3:53.09).

The girls began the day in third place behind Mountain View in league. Despite finishing ahead of the Cougars and taking second place, the Lady Outlaws could not overtake Mountain View for second place in league standings.