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Summit’s Ruthie Boyd wins state 5K Nordic title in Aspen

Dale Strode
The Aspen Times
Battle Mountain's Sarah Smith starts the girls classic on Thursday afternoon at the state meet in Aspen;
Jeremy Wallace / The Aspen Times |

Ruthie Boyd of Summit High School added a state championship to her growing collection Thursday.

Boyd won the girls 5K classic cross country race at the Colorado High School Ski Championships in Aspen.

Battling temperatures approaching 50 degrees at the 3:30 p.m. start time, Boyd navigated the challenging course and conditions, holding off a strong charge from the Vail Mountain School skiers. She dominated to win in 17 minutes, 1 second.



Bridget Donovan of Vail Mountain was second in 17:25.6.

Maddie Donovan, also of Vail Mountain, was third (17:27.7).



Annie Blakslee was fourth, elevating Vail Mountain School into the state lead on the Nordic side.

Logan McNamee of Aspen finished sixth, just behind fifth-place Natalie Bohlmann of Steamboat Springs.

“My wax was good … on the hills,” McNamee said of the klister combination she used under foot. “Some of the downhills were really fast.”

She said the Skiers enjoyed a home-course advantage.

But, she said, they also know the tough parts of the course, which can make it more difficult.

Nina Beidleman, also an Aspen senior, finished eighth and earned all-state honors Thursday. She finished in 18:37.7.

Teammate Chelsea Moore, a freshman, was 12th in the state championship classic race.

Jozie Wille and Adair Pattillo were 15th and 16th, respectively, giving Aspen five skiers in the top 16.

Vail Mountain School leads in the girls Nordic division after the opening day of state competition. The Gore Rangers totaled 174 points.

Aspen in second

Aspen sits in second place with 159 points.

Summit, behind winner Boyd, is third with 146.

The Battle Mountain girls are in fourth place with 138 Nordic points.

Middle Park, Lake County, Evergreen, Steamboat Springs, Eagle Valley, Colorado Rocky Mountain School, Clear Creek and Nederland follow in order.

The girls will race in a 5-kilometer mass start skate race, starting at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Alpine — MacKenzie Gansamann

Senior MacKenzie Gansamann led the girls giant slalom Thursday from start to finish.

The senior from Steamboat Springs High School won the girls GS state title in a combined 1:32.00.

Mallorie Miller of Evergreen finished second in 1:33.30.

Vail Mountain bronze

Whitney Merriman of Vail Mountain School won the bronze in GS in 1:34.04.

Fourth place went to Haley Frischholz of Battle Mountain.

“They both are two very different courses,” Gansamann said of the two GS runs. “But they both are fun. The snow was pretty good, too.”

She said that as a longtime FIS racer she was familiar with the race hill at Highlands.

“It was fun to be back,” said Gansamann, a senior who will attend Fort Lewis College in Durango next year. “Overall, it was a fun day of GS.”

Aspen leaders

Pascale Augspurger led Aspen with her 10th-place finish in 1:39.68.

Teammate Estelle Sweeney, a freshman, finished 11th in 1:40.33.

Aspen Skiers also finished 12th (India Cardamone) and 13th (Ellie Oates) in the state championship giant slalom.

Dolores Sharaf was 17th for Aspen.

Linzhi Douglass was 20th.

Also racing for Aspen were Elli Gorsuch, Annabelle Ward, McKenna Kiker, Nikki Blizzard and Lacey Newhard.

At the end of racing on Thursday, Evergreen led the girl’s alpine standings with 157 points.

Aspen is tied for second at 150 with Nederland.

Battle Mountain is right behind at 149 points.

Summit’s next at 140.


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