ALPINE

Four alpine skiers, the most from any individual school, represented Saint Paul Academy and Summit School in the state meet at Giant’s Ridge on Feb. 10.

On the girls team, freshman Bailey Donovan placed 4th and junior Katie Brunell placed 54th.

“I haven’t been able to put two good runs together this year until this race,” Donovan said about her top-ten finish. “I beat a whole bunch of older kids.”

On the boys team, senior Peter Baker placed 4th and junior John Soranno placed 27th.

“This was my first year in the state meet, but I’ll be back next year. In the meantime, I’ll be training and lifting weights,” Soranno said.

The skiers described the state meet experience as particularly enjoyable because the amount of fan support.

“I crossed the finish line to lots of noise from parents and teammates from SPA,” Brunell said.

The day of the race was remarkably chilly for the racers, leading to slight variations from ideal conditions.

“Skiing is a hard sport in that the conditions constantly change yet your performance still needs to be perfect,” Brunell said. Despite chilly temperatures, the SPA team was well-represented.

NORDIC

Three nordic skiers raced at Giant’s Ridge on Feb. 11 in the Nordic State meet. Despite chilly temperatures and close competition, sophomore Val Hart placed 43rd, senior Lexi Hilton placed 77th, and freshmen Peter Moore placed 44th.

“The state meet was an amazing experience, I was racing against all the top guys from all over the state in really close quarters,” Moore said.

Despite the close competition, Moore succeeded in being the highest-placing freshman boy of the meet.

“I mostly enjoyed racing in the pursuit, which is the second half of the race in which you start based off of how far back you were from the winner of the first race,” Moore explained.