Buck: Jan. 26, 2005

The race was held on Buck tonight at Crystal Mt. The temperature dropped rapidly to just 2 degrees above zero causing some minor timing equipment problems in the beginning of the race. But, this is the weather the teams have been waiting for after all..cold! As stated previous years, Buck can cause problems of all sorts if a racer is not on their toes. Some feel too confident and blow the hill off, while others are intimidated by having to run gates on it. Both feelings/views can cause those unwanted upsets on course. This is how it played out for our teams as the spectators did the "I'm freezing shuffle" to stay warm.

Jackson in a beautiful tuck on course for Giant Slalom...

The Boys finished 4th overall as a team and the Girls team came in 5th place for OHS/BLHS/BHS.

Boy's Giant Slalom:

Jackson Carter posted the best finish in the GS event for the team with his times of :21.79 and :21.95 for an 8th place finish. Chris Smith came in 13th with his times of :22.83 and :22 flat. Garret Samsal (BHS) placed 21st with :24.06 and :23.44. Eric Colbrook (BHS) came in 24th with his times of 24.57 and :24.94 to help with the team score. Jesse Ketchum (BHS) logged in times of :25.45 and :25.49 for 29th place and BJ Jobbins (BHS) finished 33rd with times of :27.04 and :26.10.

Boys Slalom:

The Boys locked up 4th place as a team with 63 points in slalom. Chris Smith led the team effort in this event with his 8th place finish and times of :29.12 and :29.26. Jackson Carter placed 11th with :30.27 and :29.18, Garret Samsal 17th with :32.42 and :31.43. Eric Colbrook wrapped up the team effort with his 27th place and times of :37.43 and :37.81.

NOTE : Jackson Carter won the GS event with his first place finish at the Flushing Invitational this past weekend with his times of :19.63 and :19.80.

Girls Giant Slalom:

Erica Jach led the team in the GS event with her 14th place finish and times of :25.03 and :25.19. Dani Olson clocked :25.36 and :25.42 for 15th place. Monika Higley placed 20th with :26.79 and :26.30 while Kelli Waligorski nailed 21st with her times of :31 flat and 30.94.

Thank you,
Gwen Smith, reporter 889-4778
Coach Dale Miller

Logging in 63 points in Slalom as a team the Girls placed 4th in the event. Dani Olson led the team with her 10th place finish and times of :33.50 and :33.90. Erica Jach placed 13th with :35.97 and :35.78. Monika Higley finished 18th with her times of :37.61 and :37.98 and Kelli Waligorski raced down with a first time of :47.32. Kelli skimmed almost 3 seconds off her next run coming in at :44.73.

Kelli's asthma was trying to give her a hard time tonight, but she didn't let it stop her from shaving almost 3 seconds from her Slalom run and .06 from her GS run.

Jackson has no doubt picked his line he will travel for the course at the top of the course and is driven to keep it tight.

Photographs by Dawn Johnson

He makes the turn and heads for the finish line and nails 8th place.

Main Ski Page for 2005

Monika works her way through the flush in the girls Slalom event. You don't want to blink here, or you miss it...the racers really get through them fast. Swish, swish, swish and they are going through the finish line.

On his edges, Chris prepares for the next gate on the GS course. He shaved off :83 on his second run.

Working on getting as tight a line as possible, Chris races his way down the course.

Erica comes through the flush in the Girls Slalom event shaving :19 off of her next run.

BJ shaved off almost entire second on his second run in Giant Slalom tonight.

Photographs by Dawn Johnson

Garret has been improving rapidly and is an asset to the team, being a fairly consistent scorer in the team effort. He shaved off :62 on his second GS run and :99 off of his second Slalom run at the meet on Buck .

Dani flies through the finish line as she leads the girls with her 10th place finish in Slalom.

Main Ski Page for 2005

Gus Lagerquist, an Onekama 7th grader, has interest in being a team manager. He enjoys skiing with the team.

Here we see an elementary school girl on the hill. Students in grades 5 and up may join the ski club which meets at Crystal on Thursday evenings..

I believe this is Eric Colbrook from Brethren. Last Wednesday was his first race ever, and he did great. (picture was not taken at the race)