After competing close to home in its first two competitions of the season, the Summit High School Alpine ski team traveled to nearby Routt County to compete in the slalom at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs on Thursday, Jan. 19.

With a smaller squad competing, Summit held its own against some of the best ski programs in the state with both the boys’ and girls’ teams placing fourth in Steamboat.

In the boys’ competition, senior Michael Cheek recorded his second consecutive fourth-place finish, placing fourth overall with a combined time of 1 minute, 26.33 seconds. Cheek had runs of 43.09 seconds and 43.24 seconds.

Following Cheek, was Jackson Campbell in 19th place and Alex Elsig in 24th. Campbell and Elsig had combined times of 1:38.93 and 1:42.17, respectively.

Rounding out the performances for the Tigers was Evan Sturges in 27th place with a combined time of 1:44.32.

Cheek and Campbell both qualified for the state slalom competition with their performances.

For the Summit girls, sophomore Kristiana Stoyanova improved upon her ninth-place finish last week to place eighth overall with a combined time of 1:36.92. Stoyanova recorded her fastest run of the day on her first run with a time of 48.01 seconds.

Freshman Claire Jackson just missed out on the top 10 with an 11th-place finish while Sadie Slahetka placed 16th overall.

Lucia Hoffman took 20th with a combined time of 1:47.02 and Katie Alexander placed 47th with a time of 2:08.57.

Junior Luci Brady was disqualified on her second run of the day after recording a time of 44.02 on her first run.

Stoyanova, Jackson and Slahetka all met the standard needed to qualify for the state slalom competition.

The Summit boys’ Alpine ski team placed fourth overall with 156 points while the Summit girls’ Alpine ski team placed fourth with 151 points. Aspen High School won the boys’ contest with 172 points while the Steamboat Springs High School girls’ Alpine ski team won the girls’ slalom with 172 points.

The Summit Alpine ski team will compete again on Friday, Jan. 27 when the team hosts a giant slalom competition at Keystone Ski Resort. The competition will be the team’s second giant slalom of the season.