The Summit High School Alpine ski team traveled to Steamboat Springs on Thursday, Jan. 13, to compete on a challenging Howelsen Hill course.

The Tigers girls team, which placed first last week at Loveland’s giant slalom race, was without heavy hitters Paige Peterson, Ella Snyder and Jenna Sheldon as they competed in a club Alpine race in Aspen.

The trio all finished within the top three last week, but that did not stop the girls team from competing well on the slalom course in Steamboat.

On the girls side, sophomore Keira Horvath led the way for the Tigers, placing first among the competition.

Horvath had her best run of the day on her first run, when she navigated the course with a time of 43.75 seconds. On her second run, she completed the course in 47.67 seconds to combine for a time of 1:31.42 to win and qualify to the state meet.

Horvath was followed by sophomore teammate Luci Brady in fourth. Brady completed the course in 1:38.86 with a top run time of 48.11 seconds in order to finish second on the team. She finished sixth on the team last week at Loveland.

Freshman Kristiana Stoyanov notched a finish in the top 10 with a top run time of 50.06 seconds on her first run. She finished with a combined time of 1:46.45 to qualify for state as a freshman.

Senior Olyvia Snyder, who finished in fifth place last week, had a solid opening run, finishing in a blazing 41.19 seconds, but on her second run of the day, she got tangled and ended up finishing in 12th while still claiming a state qualifying spot.

On the boys side, Stanley Buzek and Dylan Smith set themselves apart from the competition, finishing in first and second places, respectively.

Buzek came out of the starting gate hot on his first run, smoking past the finish line in 35.90 seconds. On his second run, Buzek completed the course in 42.47 seconds to combine for a time of 1:18.37.

Smith, on the other hand, completed his first run in 37.27 seconds and his second run in 44.22 seconds to combine for a time of 1:21.49.

Both Buzek and Smith posted their highest finishes of the season after placing second and third, respectively, last week.

Sophomore Michael Green finished in the top 10, placing eighth with a combined time of 1:24.17.

Like some of the girls, senior talent Gavin Masters also slipped on his second run, affecting his position in the final standings. Masters completed a clean first run in 42.90 seconds, but the slip made him finish his second run in over a minute, ending in 29th place.

“That’s the nature of ski racing and slalom,” head coach Karl Barth said. “You live or die by quick, little margins. It doesn’t take much to be really tight on the gate and be a little too tight and hook a tip or get tangled up.”

Next week, the team will compete close to home at Copper Mountain Resort in the slalom Friday, Jan. 21.

“Hopefully, we can get a few of the kids who didn’t qualify this week to put together a few runs,” Barth said about competing at Copper. “It’s nice to get a couple wins, … but the bottom line is getting as many kids qualified to state as possible.”