News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Outlaws skiers had an outstanding championship race.
Sisters’ ski team thrived in beautiful conditions at the Oregon State High School Alpine Ski Racing Championships, held last week at Mt. Bachelor.
The girls team turned in a fourth-place finish that is the best State Championship team finish in school history.
Hosted by the Central Oregon Ski League, which is comprised of the Bend High, Mtn. View High School, Summit High School, Redmond High School and Sisters High School, the race was attended by the top high school race teams throughout the state. Nearly 220 racers competed.
Sisters High School sent a girls team led by team senior co-captains Whitney Engstrom and Stephanie Yopp. The remainder of the team included 2005 team stand-out Liz Dale, second-year teammate Annie Hancock and first- year racers Kelsey Newport and Kelly Morton.
Day one on the girls schedule was the giant slalom, a two-run race down Thunderbird, directly beneath the Pine Martin chairlift. After spectacular first runs the Sisters girls found themselves solidly positioned within the top three teams in the state.
Liz Dale was in second place only .49 seconds behind the run-winning Taylor Cudahy of Wilsonville.
Rounding out third position was Summit High’s Lauren Huestis, .81 behind Dale.
Assisting the Sisters team time were Whitney Engstrom in 12th place and Stephanie Yopp, with her best run of the race season in 28th, starting from the 78th position in the run order. Sisters’ Annie Hancock and Kelly Morton also had clean finishes within the top 50 racers.
On the second run, Dale hooked a gate with her arm and lost her ski pole, but still managed to complete the course with the second- best time of the day behind Cudahy. But a tumble from Engstrom knocked her out of the giant slalom race, leaving the team needing step-up performances from the other girls.
And step up is what they did. Stephanie Yopp turned in a second personal best run of the day and Kelly Morton improved her position by 44 places (also a personal best) to seat the girls solidly in fourth position, the best State Championship team finish in Sisters High School history.
Day two was the slalom.
First out of the gate for Sisters was Liz Dale, who again rocketed to a second place first run finish, just 43/100th of a second behind Summit’s Lauren Huestis. Wilsonville’s Taylor Cudahy was third just .47 behind Dale.
Bobbles by Engstrom and Yopp in the first run left the girls relying on Hancock and Newport to round out the team time. Both racers completed the course.
On the second run the Liz Dale turned in a race that is becoming a Dale trademark, blistering the field with a scorching, flawless run. Winning the second run and assisted by an 11th-place finish by Engstrom and a top-25 finish by Annie Hancock, the Sisters team improved their morning placement to fourth place in the girls team slalom.
The combination of fourth team slalom and fourth team giant slalom left the Sisters girls in fourth overall in the team combined result for the state championship, again the best result in Sisters High School history.
The Sisters girls were overpowered by two of the teams they had competed with all season in the Central League. The Summit High School girls won the team combined event followed by the Bend High School girls and Ashland High School in third.
Sisters’ Liz Dale missed the individual combined first place finish by only .38 seconds behind Taylor Cudahy of Wilsonville, leaving Dale in second place for slalom, giant slalom and combined. The second-place finishes are also bests in school history.
Reader Comments(0)