A successful year

The Ski Team and Race Association recently wrapped up a successful year. The Ski Team finished the year with a giant slalom on Challenge finishing at the lodge. Over 90 athletes competed, a grand day of racing! Also, thanks to everyone who participated in our raffle and auction supporting our coaches' education fund.

Far West coach Dana Randolph took six athletes to Far West events this year, gaining recognition from race organizers and teams from the Tahoe Basin. Noah Zegart twice started in the 120's and finished in the 40's. Way to move up Noah!

Our high school athletes traveled to Mammoth to compete in the high school state championship tournament. The home team, Mammoth High School, brought out a very talented and deep team. The level of competition was very high this year.

In women’s ski Mathilda Karlsson of Foothill HS took 12th in GS, and Logan Malee of Mount Shasta HS took 16th. In slalom Mathilda came in fifth, while Logan finished 13th, Madeline Towner (Mount Shasta) 19th and Angelina Malee-Koster (Mount Shasta) 20th.

In men’s ski Troy Chang of Shasta HS finished 10th in GS, with Addison Bond of Foothill not far behind in 14th. In slalom Bryce Harkness of Mount Shasta HS narrowly missed the podium with a 4th place, and Ryder Sluss of Weed HS finished in the top 20 with a 17th place.

In women’s snowboard Stella Hightower of Shasta HS took 19th in giant slalom.

In men’s snowboard giant slalom Shasta HS placed Lucas Scott in 2nd, Trey Guillory in 4th, and Hampton Hightower in 12th place. Enterprise HS added Davis Bailey in 17th and Jake Wagner in 18th. In snowboard men’s slalom Lucas Scott added a third place, and that earned him a third in the All-state Snowboard Team.

Congratulations also go out to Mount Shasta High School's Women's Ski Team which finished third overall behind power housed Mammoth and El Dorado High Schools.

Also on the leaderboard was Shasta High School's Men’s Snowboard Team, which brought home a second place at states.

While States were running at Mammoth the College Nationals were running in Lake Placid, NY. Sage Will of UNR, and a past high school racer at the Ski Park, won both the snowboard slalom and giant slalom to win her second collegiate alpine snowboard championship. She followed that up in early April with a USASA championship at Copper Mountain!

Marc Speake of Sierra Nevada University (Incline Village), also a past high school snowboarder from the Ski Park, took third in snowboard slalom, fourth in boarder cross and first in team boarder cross with Sierra Nevada winning the overall snowboarding championship.

I'd be remiss in not mentioning our hometown hero Robby Burns who earned a berth on the US Olympic Team in alpine snowboarding. What an incredible accomplishment.

Our race community may seem far removed from Tahoe, Mammoth and other bastions of alpine racing in the West. But we put competitors out there every year who make us proud. Not only in their competitiveness, but in their sportsmanship as well.

I am going into the off-season with my head held high, proud of all of our athletes from the U6's to our Masters. Proud of our coaches, race crew and especially the parents of athletes who have shown such support for the program.

Thank you all for making MSST/MSRA what it is.

Kareem Speake