KUA Varsity Ski Team Scores Gold & Silver at Lakes Region Slalom Finals

It was a real nail-biter at the Lakes Region Slalom Championships held at Proctor on Wednesday.  The KUA skiers came to play and play hard. The boys came home  with the gold at the end of the day, adding to their previous gold in the  Lakes Region GS Championship. Dan Scherding was able to keep up his reputation of being the fastest skier in the prep school series. He led the team placing first with a two second lead over the next competitor. Jim Herbert has been finding his stride of late and put two fantastic runs together, earning a 5^th place result.  Close behind was teammate Karl Menzel in 7^th place.  The surprise of the day, earning the fourth place points for the team, was Craig Tyer, landing in 14th position. Craig had a great season and was on a mission to pop into the top fifteen.  Freshman Sam Durst who has been out injured for a few weeks skied solidly and placed 18th.  Charlie Parry, Dylan Chauvin laid down two very solid runs. Charlie placed 34^th and Dylan 46^th place overall.  Freshman Levy Byrd had a great first run, attacked the second run, and unfortunately blew out of the course.

The girls’ team was on fire at Wednesday’s race. They were looking to add another gold to their trophy shelf, having brought home gold in the Lakes Region GS Championship a few weeks ago. However, they were barely edged out of the gold by a very competitive St. Paul’s team. Kayla Jacobs (4^th), Alicia Fairbrothers (8^th), Leah Cole Durst (9^th), Zoe Reed (14^th), Amalie Peterson (17^th) and Greta Hulleberg  (fell 1^st run, 5^th in the second run) were all in the zone. Each and every one of our girls skied the best they had skied all winter.  But ski racing can be won and lost by just hundredths of a second, and the amount by which St. Paul’s beat out our Wildcat girls amounted to about 1” of distance over two combined runs… only one inch! Congratulations girls on a great season.

KUA SKIING

Lakes Region GS Championships – KUA Team Brings Home Silver

This week the Varsity KUA skiers attended the Lakes Region GS Championships at Gunstock. Alpine skiing at the top level is all about hundredths of a second, and this race proved no exception; it was a real nail biter. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams placed second out of the ten teams competing, with the final placement coming down to hundredths of seconds. Prep school races are scored by taking the top three results on the girls’ team, and the top four results on the boys team. Notable results came from Greta Hulleberg who placed 5^th, teammate Alicia Fairbrothers who placed 6^th, and Zoe Reed who just missed the 10^th position by 2 tenths of a second. Leah Cole Durst placed 16^th and Amelie Peterson 17^th.  Top skier Kayla Jacobs had a mishap with her ski bindings and had to exit the course.

On the boys’ side, Dan Scherding was the fastest skier on the hill winning the race by an impressive three seconds. Fellow teammate Jim Herbert followed quickly behind, coming in 5^th place^.  Karl Menzel got the acrobat award for the day; in the middle of the course, he caught an edge, flipped over his skis, and with cat-like reflexes got back in the course and was able to pull off a 9^th place. Young and aggressive Ethan Levine placed in 27^th place, pulling in the last scoring points for the team. Daniel Pogust placed 29^th, Charlie Parry 33^rd, Dylan Chauvin 39^th and Craig Tyer 43rd.

The Prep School Championships are next Wednesday at Blackwater Ski Area. We hope to see you there supporting the team!