Outlaw skiers tie school record at state meet

Under bright skies and with warm weather, the Sisters Outlaw Alpine Ski Team competed this week at the State High School Championship race hosted by the Mt. Hood League at Ski Bowl on Mt. Hood.

Representing the Outlaw girls were Liz Dale, Annie Hancock, Jenna Sneva, Joelle Hamilton, Kelly Morton and Kelsey Newport. Sisters’ Michael Cristiano was the sole member of the boys team to qualify for the state race.

Day One found the Sisters girls sitting comfortably in fourth place, tying the school team record set by last year’s girls team at the state race.

After the completion of the girls Giant Slalom the Outlaw girls were only .061 of a second behind the Ashland girls in third place. Central League’s Bend High School was in first place followed by Sandy High School.

“It was the start we expected,” said Head Coach Todd Williver. “We knew we were competitive, we just needed to ski to our ability.”

Sisters Liz Dale finished the day in second place overall, 1.24 seconds behind defending state champion Taylor Cudahy of Wilsonville. Supporting Dale were Annie Hancock in 24th, Jenna Sneva in 27th, Joelle Hamilton in 43rd and Kelly Morton in 89th of 93 racers.

Day 1 of the boys events saw Sisters’ Michael Cristiano place 41st of 115 racers in the boys slalom, the only event Cristiano qualified for at the Championship.

The second day of racing found the Sisters girls on the slalom course with Liz Dale leading the event after the first run by 1.40 seconds over the rest of the field.

Annie Hancock had a small stumble, but the team sat comfortably in fifth place, just five seconds behind the race leading Sandy girls.

During the second run race leader Dale straddled the combination gate four gates from the finish and had to hike to complete the course.

Strong runs by Hancock, Sneva and Hamilton left the team with a sixth- place overall slalom result with Sneva finishing in 21st place, Hancock in 26th and Kelsey Newport in 55th. Sisters’ Joelle Hamilton disqualified on the first run, nullifying an overall finish result.

“We had a few setbacks in the slalom,” said Coach Williver after the event. “We were in position to have our best result ever. But that’s racing.”

Overall the Sisters girls finished in fifth place with Liz Dale finishing in 11th place, Annie Hancock in 22nd and Jenna Sneva in 23rd.

“We had a good year,” said Coach Williver. “We didn’t ski our best, but we still finished in the top third of the state varsity teams. And, we’re a young team. We have no seniors and we’ll be right back next year to set things right.”