Skiers face rough conditions at Mt. Ashland

The Outlaws ski team traveled to Ashland to compete with the southern league in an invitational race held Friday and Saturday, February 17-18. The invitational was a cross-league event, so scores did not apply to season league totals.

Coach Gabe Chladek told The Nugget that the Outlaws skiers showed up with a competitive attitude and pushed for some wins, but the challenging conditions resulted in several crash-outs and disqualifications from Sisters’ usual varsity finishers. The JV skiers stepped up, stayed on their feet, and filled in the missing varsity finishes.

Bela Chladek finished first overall on the boys side with a combined time of 1:50.40, which was almost three seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Gus Patton finished 17th (2:11.96), Emerson Backus 18th (2:12.15), John Berg 19th (2:13.92), Jack Turpen 35th (2:33.47). The final Outlaws’ varsity score was brought in by first-year racer Hudson Hayes with a combined time of 2:34.77.

Joseph Derksen was the lone skier to score for the Outlaws JV squad, as Corbin Fredland, Cooper Merrill, and Spencer Tisdel all crashed on their first run. They did, however, bring in respectable finishes on their second run.

The Lady Outlaw racers had slightly smoother course conditions and fared a bit better on the steep giant slalom course. Charlotte Seymour was their fastest racer, who came in fifth with a combined time of 2:02.61, followed by Tallis Grummer, who finished sixth (2:02.64). Ava Riehle finished ninth (2:05.41), Presley Adelt 15th (2:10.60), Mae Roth 18th (2:15.86), and Payton Adelt 23rd (2:20.47).

The JV girls in order of finish were Kate Singleton, Freja Peterson, and Teagen Welsh.

Saturday was the giant slalom event, and challenging course conditions continued.

Styopa Myagkov was the fastest racer for the Outlaws boys, who finished in third place with a combined time of 1:28.22. Spencer Tisdel filled the second Outlaws varsity spot with a 10th-place finish and a combined time of 1:37.83. Gus Patton finished 11th (1:38.06), Hudson Hayes 16th (1:49.09), Cooper Merrill 20th (1:52.82), and Joseph Derksen rounding out the final varsity spot with a combined time of 1:58.37.

Bela Chladek missed a gate and was disqualified on his first run, as he slid out and had to hike up a gate on his second run. Jack Turpen crashed on his first run and had a respectable finish on his second.

Chladek made special note of Corbin Fredland, who crashed on his first run but logged the fastest time of the day on his second run with a time of 39.66, the only athlete to get a time under 40 seconds on the slalom course.

“Corbin’s winning run on course was really outstanding,” said Chladek. “This was some of the best skiing I’ve seen from Corbin all season.”

On the girls side, Presley Adelt led the Lady Outlaws with a second-place finish and combined time of 1:33.12. Freshman Payten Adelt finished 10th (1:51.01), Mae Roth 11th (1:52.45), Ava Riehle 14th (1:54.05) Kate Singleton 18th (2:03.12), and Freja Petersen 19th (2:06.23).

Tallis Grummer and Charlotte Seymour pushed hard but suffered crashes and did not get combined times.

Emerson Backus recorded the only JV boys time of the day, and Teagen Welsh was the lone JV finisher.