Ski Team: January 13, 2004

Coach Miller was a very busy man at tonight's race. Onekama hosted this race and with that comes much responsibility and a LOT more work!

Dani Olson glances up at the course as the next racer makes their run.

Travis and Joe try to figure out Joe's ski pants as Joe scampers to get warm clothes on after his race down the course. The racers climb out of their warm gear so fast at the start shack, that zippers come all the way undone and snaps all unsnapped, making it difficult to get them back on in the dark. This was a common problem tonight for some reason amongst most racers.

Christopher and Coach Miller look up at the slalom course and talk over what caused Chris's fall on course. Christopher said he must have had some ice or snow in his binding when he took off at the start gate as his ski just plain ejected from his boot. This in turn caused him to fall and slide and tumble 3/4 of the length down the course. *OUCH*

Hosting a race brings many jobs and responsibilities that your team in charge of. Chris and Kaylie take down the GS course in this photo. That's a lot of gates to carry as you ski down Thor, but they do it with ease!

Photographs and Text by Reporter Gwen Smith!

Page Created January 14, 2004 by Barb

Ski Index Page for 03-04 Season

Boys Team Results

1st Glen Lake 35 points
2nd Onekama 77
3rd Manistee 96
4th Bellaire 122
5th Benzie 127

Girls Team Results

1st Manistee 50
2nd Bellaire 65
3rd Benzie 89
4th Glen Lake 115
5th Onekama 119

Onekama's Boys' team remains solidly in 2nd place in the conference as they begin to narrow the gap between them and Glen Lake!

Onekama hosted the conference race tonight held at Crystal Mt. on Thor. In the boys competition, Glen Lake refused to give up their reign of first position from last week. The Portager boys did manage to shorten the gap some more tonight placing 2nd over all once again. Glen Lake's Alex Wiesen won the Giant Slalom competition with a combined time of 36.53. The Portager's finished solidly in 2nd place in GS with a score of 38 points. Wiley Heller finished 7th with 38.68, Jackson Carter 8th, 39.32, Travis Berklund 11th, 40.21, Chris Smith 12th, 40.49 and Eric Baumler 29th after a hike, 1:12.04. Joe Dontz did not finish.

Slalom:

Glen Lake's Kevin Fisher won the boys slalom event with a combined effort of 41.37. Onekama placed 2nd as a team with 39 points. Wiley Heller led the Portagers with a 5th place finish and a combined of 44.78. Jackson Carter 6th, 45.34, Eric Baumler 10th, 47.30, Travis Berklund 18th, 53.24 and Joe Dontz 27th, 1:01.20. Chris Smith did not finish.

Girls Competition:

Manistee's girls team bumped up to first place tonight: placing 2nd in Slalom with 33 points and 1st in GS with 17 points. Manistee's Danyeil Schubert won the GS race with a time of 39.86. The Portagers, still short a couple racers, finished 5th overall with Kaylie Mathieu pacing the team with a 6th place finish and a combined effort of 41.35. Dani Olson 16th,45.85, Stephanie Griffin 47.13, 19th and Monica Higley 21st , 53.90.

Bellaire's Emily Rames won the girls Slalom event with 47.73. Kaylie Mathieu once again paced the Portager girls in slalom with a 7th place finish and combined time of 51.27. Stephanie Griffin 12th,53.09, Dani Olson 17th, 57.79 and Monica Higley 21st, 1:06.49

While Chris skied the armful of gates over to the storage area, Kaylie took down the safety netting that "catches" racers that fall or have trouble stopping. The stakes are pulled out and the fencing neatly rolled back up for the next race.

Coach Curt Mathieu took charge of the OHS/BLHS/FHS race banner: a very important item to the team. Can't leave THAT behind!

Once again as the temperatures dipped to frigid, hot chocolate became the beverage of the night for the team members. The hard part, was trying to open the thermos up with frozen fingers!