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Summit High Nordic ski team performs in Steamboat

Janice Kurbjun
summit daily news

The Summit High Nordic team was slated to race in Leadville Saturday, but lack of snow in the highest incorporated city in the United States caused the race to shift to a golf course on Mount Warner in Steamboat Springs.

There, the teams did well in the absence of their club-racing counterparts, who were in Utah for Team Summit’s races.

Sam Piehl placed won the boys’ race in 17 minutes, 25 seconds, helping his team earn a fifth place finish overall in the 5k classic race. Summit came in behind Eagle Valley, Evergreen, Aspen and Middle Park. Shane Arnold finished 16th to further the team’s performance, and Steve Ragle finished 22nd in 20:21.



The top finisher among the girls was Katherine Pappas, who crossed the finish line fifth with a 21:19 time. Claire Anderson was seventh (21:31), McKenna Ramsay was eighth (21:32) and Tessa Piehl was 10th (22:21) to round out the women’s top performers and to earn the girls a second-place rank overall. They came in behind Steamboat.

“It was a beautiful day,” head coach Bevan Frost said. “It was warm with 18 inches of fresh snow in Steamboat. … The temperatures were warming up so fast, it was quite a process to figure out which kick wax to apply. We nailed it – and everyone needed all the kick they could get.”



At Friday’s giant slalom race at Beaver Creek, Summit’s girls’ and boys’ teams placed second overall.

Patrick Gruber was solidly in first place, finishing in 2 minutes, 8 seconds. But the team had to hold on following poor second runs from Daniel McFadden and Lucas Michieli. Michieli raced to 7th in his first run and McFadden wasn’t far behind in 15th. But Michieli didn’t finish his second run, and McFadden put 11 seconds on his time.

Gruber, Levi Asher and Ryan Wignall ended up earning points for the team to earn a total of 159 points and second place. Battle Mountain beat Summit out for first place with 169 points.

In the girls’ race, Katy Harris placed second, then first in her two runs, and Anne Parker placed third, then second, helping the girls move toward a second-place finish overall with 164 points, behind Battle Mountain with 173 points.

Finishing in 19th place, Gretchen Werkman raced a state-qualifying run to add to the ranks of students who will be racing at state. So far, there are eight girls and eight boys.


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