After its first competition of the season, the Summit Alpine ski team has already qualified seven athletes to the 2023 Colorado High School State Skiing Championships in February.

The Summit High Alpine ski team opened up its 2023 Alpine skiing season at Keystone Ski Resort on Friday, Jan. 6. Following the the girl’s fourth-place finish and boy’s state title performance last year, the Summit Alpine team looked solid. 

“The first competition is always an interesting one because you are not entirely sure where people are at sometimes,” head coach Karl Barth said. “We had a mix of kids who had a lot of training and some who have not had a whole lot.”

Two second-place finishes

Leading the way for the Summit boys Alpine ski team were juniors Stanley Buzek and Micheal Green. Buzek placed first in the giant slalom single-course competition at Keystone, recording runs of 42.68 seconds and 44.41 seconds for a combined time of 1:27.09.

Buzek’s runs secured him first place by over two seconds, followed closely by his teammate, Green, who was able to put together two solid runs to record a combined time of 1:29.23. 

Freshman Seth Montogomery placed sixth in a time of 1:30.30 and senior Jackson Campbell placed 18th in a time of 1:39.05. Buzek, Green, Montgomery and Campbell all qualified for the state giant slalom competition. 

Outside of the top 20, senior Evan Sturges placed 31st, senior Liam Dalzell placed 34th, sophomore Tegan Snyder finished in 35th, sophomore James Sowers placed 38th and freshman Michael Citak placed 42nd.

Two of Summit’s projected heavy hitters — senior Micheal Cheek and sophomore international student Riccardo Novoa — failed to finish their first runs which resulted in finishes toward the bottom of the competition.

“I think Cheek and  Riccardo were probably a little bummed because they were 12th and 13th on the second run but didn’t finish the first run,” Barth said. “It is the nature of ski racing.” 

Summit finished with a total of 162 points to finish in second place behind the 171 points tallied by Aspen High School. 

A young Summit girls Alpine ski team was also able to notch a second-place finish at Keystone. 

Luci Brady got her junior ski season underway with two exceptionally clean runs. Brady — who placed seventh in the giant slalom and 11th in the slalom at state last year — recorded runs of 45.60 seconds and 46.40 seconds to combine for a time of 1:32.

Brady placed a little under a second behind Aspen High School senior Stella Sherlock, who finished in a time of 1:31.03. 

Brady easily qualified for the state giant slalom along with freshman Lauren McCalla and sophomore Kristiana Stoyanov. 

“Luci obviously had a great race,” Barth said. “She finished in second, and Lauren and Kristiana had great finishes.”

McCalla placed 10th with a combined time of 1:34.84, and Stoyanov placed 11th with a time of 1:35.24. 

Three sophomore girls rounded out the performances for the Summit girls Alpine team at Keystone. Sadie Slahetka finished in 20th, Adalaide Brady placed 29th and Katie Alexander placed 40th.

Summit finished in second place behind Aspen with 164 points.

Looking ahead

Throughout the rest of the season, both the Summit boys and girls Alpine ski teams will look to continue to finish atop the podium and qualify individuals to the state meet.

The Summit Alpine ski team is exceptionally excited about improving — or defending — its finish at last year’s state competition in front of the hometown crowd.

For the Summit boys Alpine ski team that means defending its 2022 state skiing title.

“Obviously they are super excited after pulling (the state title) last year,” Barth said. “We have some pretty good depth right now in the boys team and the idea of getting to do it at home at Copper is going to be pretty fun for a lot of these guys. Hopefully we can keep getting good results and stay healthy.”

The girls will look to improve upon their fourth-place finish at the 2022 state skiing meet. Although young and seniorless, Barth is hopeful that the team can breach the top three. 

“It will be interesting to see how the girls do,” Barth said. “Obviously we still have a really strong girls Nordic team, so if some of those youngsters can produce some results early on, we may have a chance on that side.”

Cheek, Green, Brady and junior Keira Horvath all finished within the top 10 as individuals at state last year and will look to break into the top five at this year’s state meet. 

Summit will compete again on Friday, Jan. 13, in a slalom competition at Loveland Ski Area. The team is looking forward to competing in its first slalom competition of the season to hopefully qualify more individuals to the state meet. 

“It’s our first slalom, which is a bit of Russian roulette sometimes,” Barth said. “You have to go fast, take chances. There is not much between finishing and not finishing. I would expect Luci and Stanley to lead the way. “