Outlaw skiers shine on slopes

In a rainy torrent on the slopes of Mt. Bachelor, the Outlaws boys soundly defeated the Bend High Lava Bears on Saturday, January 25, to regain sole possession of the Central Oregon Ski League title.

With stellar runs by Nicolas Yopp (second overall), Justin Thomas (fourth) and Raman Ellis (fifth), the boys combined time of 6:54.870 bested the Bears' 7:04.780 by nearly 10 seconds, the Outlaws' largest margin of victory to date.

Backing the leaders were Ryen Schneringer -- racing in Karana Ellis' varsity spot (eighth); Chris Boyle (14th), Jhett Schaffer (25th); and Ian Davies (35th).

"The boys again performed to my expectations and beyond," said Coach Todd Williver. "We've got quite a crew. We gave up two racers to SAT testing, Ellis and Boro, and still managed to chalk the win."

With the win on Saturday, the Sisters Outlaws boys are two full points ahead of Bend High in the league standings (Sisters 34, Bend 32). More importantly, if the season should end in a draw -- equal points for two teams -- the decision will be based on overall time. The margin of victory for the Sisters boys in the third race will be hard for Bend to make up.

Summit High School is third in points with 20, followed by Redmond with 18 and Mountain View's 16.

On the girls' ledger, Whitney Engstrom managed another come-from-behind victory after finishing third in the first run. Her second run time, nearly a full second faster than the next fastest finisher, erased the deficit and gave Engstom the win by .130 seconds

Amanda Perry skied two solid runs to finish in 13th, and Allie Smith fell in the second run but managed to finish for a 24th place result.

Stephanie Yopp and Bethany Benhower both fell in the second run and were unable to complete the course.

"The day was miserable," said Coach Williver. "It rained hard all day, everyone was soaked to the bone. The course was slushy and sticky. It's hard to ask racers to compete under those circumstances. Our girls are troopers, they didn't give up without a good Outlaw fight. The conditions beat us today. But, we'll be back."

The girls finished the day in fourth place (09:26.100) behind Summit in first (07:21.400), Bend in second (07:35.350) and Mountain View (08:14.270).

There are three races left in the Central Oregon Ski League series, a Giant Slalom next Saturday, February 1, on Ed's Garden at Mt. Bachelor, followed by a Slalom on Ed's Garden the following Saturday and the final Slalom on Cliffhanger the week after.