The Summit High School Alpine ski team is always prepared to perform at its best.

After essentially sweeping the state competition last year at Loveland Ski Area, the Tigers once again outperformed most of their competitors at this year’s state contest in Aspen.

In the giant slalom race on Thursday, Feb. 20, junior Seth Montgomery successfully defended his state title from last year, winning the race in a time of 1 minute, 18.20 seconds. Montgomery was followed by junior Bergen Harberts in fifth (1:20.75) before sophomore Aaron Green rounded out the top 10 for the Tigers in seventh (1:21.46).

Summit Alpine and Nordic skiing athlete James Sowers was the final skier to complete both of his runs. With snow beginning to fall on the second of two runs, many athletes failed to complete the course. Sowers pushed past the adverse conditions in order to take 20th (1:29.17).

Despite having three of the team’s seven athletes not complete both runs, Summit scored a total of 170 points in order to be crowned the champion of the giant slalom race. Steamboat Springs closely followed in second with 167 points and Aspen took third with 159 points.

In the girls giant slalom, five Summit skiers were able to place within the top 20. Leading the way for the team was junior Mackenzie Cross. Battling sickness and fatigue, Cross managed to place third overall with a time of 1:16.03. Battle Mountain High School topped the podium with junior Ruthie DeMino taking first (1:14.08) and freshman Eden DeMino following in second (1:15.16).

Junior Kilee Blakely was the next Summit athlete to secure a finish within the top 20. Blakely finished in 14th place overall (1:19.40) while senior Kristiana Stoyanova took 15th (1:19.40). Sophomore Katelyn Lemon finished in 17th (1:20.44) and freshman Lauren Leffel finished in 20th (1:20.79).

Just outside of the top 20 was sophomore Zoe Nelson in 22nd (1:21.28) and junior Claire Jackson in 28th (1:22.96).

The Summit girls took fourth overall with a total of 153 points. Aspen won the giant slalom team title with 165 points and Battle Mountain and Middle Park tied for second with 154 points.

The final day of the state Alpine skiing championships concluded on Friday, Feb. 21, with the boys and girls slalom.

With the Summit boys leading the results after the first day, the team tried to score as many points as possible in hopes of winning a state title.

Montgomery helped Summit out by scoring the maximum amount of points for the team, winning the slalom race by 0.01 seconds. Montgomery recorded a time of 1:03.17 for first while Aspen’s Matt McDermott took second in 1:03.18. With the two, individual state titles Montgomery won last winter, the junior now has four titles to his name.

Montgomery was followed by sophomore Green in sixth (1:07.35), marking the final Summit athlete to finish within the top 25. Senior Tegan Snyder finished in 33rd (1:21.73) before Emmett Dalzell took 34th (1:22.07).

In the first year the state Alpine skiing championships have been held separately from Nordic, the Aspen High School boys won the overall state title with 332 points. Steamboat Springs took second and Summit rounded out the podium in third.

Sitting in fourth-place overall after the first day of competition, the girls managed to put together stronger performances in the slalom race.

Cross once again led the team, taking third overall with a time of 1:11.20. Cross was preceded by Durango High School senior Mathilde Roskam in first (1:10.29) and Eden DeMino in second (1:10.66).

Blakely took 10th in 1:15.09 before Lemon and Stoyanova rounded out the top 20. Lemon took 19th (1:20.00) and Stoyanova finished in 20th (1:20.79). Jackson finished in 22nd (1:21.54), freshman Foss placed 24th (1:22.49) and sophomore Alex Stoyanova finished in 32nd (1:24.96).

The Summit girls were able to move up a place to finish the state championship event in third place. Aspen completed the sweep of the team results, winning a state championship on the girls side as well.