to its home track for a cold and chaotic mass-start skate on the 5k Gold Run Nordic Center course Saturday.

“It was definitely a really cold start today. But it's always nice to have a home race, so they were very familiar with the course,” said head coach Hannah Taylor. “I think everybody came out of the mass start unscathed.”

In keeping with the dominant trend of this year's Summit Nordic team, the boys skied to a first-place finish as a team; the girls took second.

Of course, everyone's mind was only half on the race, with skiers remembering their fellow student and friend Tristan White, who passed away Friday. Wearing headbands with “Tristan” across the front, the team managed the emotions and turned out some great performances.

“(White) was definitely on everybody's mind,” said Taylor. “It's a pretty small school and losing a classmate always leaves a huge impression. Several of the kids were pretty close to him. They raced with headbands and ribbons for him, and I think being able to do that together meant a lot to the kids.”

Summit junior Jackson Hill won the race with Sam Piehl finishing 48 second back for a third-place result. They were joined in the top ten by Liam McDonnell (fourth), Cameron Bobb (fifth), Henry Trowbridge (sixth), Joel Sawyer (ninth) and Wade Rosko (10th).

“Having as many boys as we did in the top ten was really awesome,” Taylor said. “We had two more kids today qualify for states. I was really happy to be able to see them be able to do that. I was proud of everybody today, basically, for coming out and having such a strong performance after such a tough week at the high school.”

Shane Arnold and Miikka Wickman were the day's two state-meet qualifiers. There are currently 15 boys and seven girls qualified for the state meet.

The second-place girls' team was led by freshman Taeler McCrerey, who won the race and was the lone top-ten finisher. Other notables include Claire Anderson (13th), Claire Vandeyacht (15th) and Christa Gutzel (18th).

“One thing that's been key for us is it's such a large group, and they have a great training group,” Taylor said. “When you're competing against your competition in practice every day, that's just going to make you stronger come race day.”

The Summit Middle School competed in a 3k skate race before the high school races. Summit won both the boys' and girls' races, with Ruthie Boyd winning the girls' race by nearly a minute. Meanwhile, Parker Shell won the boys' race by out sprinting another skier at the finish.

The girls won the team title aided by Mckenna Ramsey (fourth) and Carly Hough (ninth). The Middle School boys were edged out of the team title, finishing five points behind Vail. Rylan Miller finished a solid ninth place and Tuomas Wickman finished 11th.

Boys' 5k free team results

1 Summit High School 175

2 Steamboat High School 150

3 Eagle Valley High School 149

4 Middle Park High School 149

5 Evergreen High School 138

6 Battle Mountain High School 137

7 Aspen HIgh School 131

8 Lake County High School 123

9 Clear Creek High School 105

10 Ridge View Academy 98

11 Nederland High School 40

Boys' 5k free Summit finishers

1 Jackson Hill 13:02.300

3 Sam Piehl 13:50.600

4 Liam McDonnell 13:51.200

5 Cameron Bobb 13:52.700

6 Henry Trowbridge 13:53.300

9 Joel Sawyer 14:18.000

10 Wade Rosko 14:22.000

21 Emmett Bailey 15:38.700

24 Shane Arnold 15:43.700

30 Troy Meeker 16:09.700

— State Qualifying Line —

34 Colin McGrew 16:30.400

35 Tyler Shaw 16:33.100

36 Derek Hill 16:38.300

37 Liam Meirow 16:41.900

50 Danny Cuadrado 17:43.900

54 Steve Ragle 18:18.700

Girls' 5k free team results

1 Vail Mountain School 174

2 Summit High School 158

3 Steamboat High School 150

4 Middle Park High School 148

5 Nederland High School 133

6 Eagle Valley High School 132

7 Battle Mountain High School 131

8 Lake County High School 125

9 Aspen HIgh School 108

10 Evergreen High School 99

11 Clear Creek High School 94

Girls' 5k free individual results

1 Taeler McCrerey 15:04.400

13 Claire Anderson 17:40.000

15 Claire Vandeyacht 17:52.900

18 Christa Gutzel 18:05.800

22 Tessa Piehl 18:51.600

31 Miikka Wickman 19:58.200

— State Qualifying Line —

52 Olivia Lockwood 22:10.400

59 Kailey Lockwood 24:48.100

60 Katherine Pappas 24:48.800

61 Ani Casabonne 24:49.900

64 Robyn Kresge 26:55.200