Month: February 2016

ASPEN — It’d been lingering near his fingertips, just out of reach for the past two seasons. Thursday, he seized it.

Battle Mountain senior Quintin Cook kicked off this season’s state skiing championships with a resounding victory in the boys’ Giant Slalom on a 45-degree day at Aspen Highlands. He was second in the event a season ago to teammate Sands Simonton, and finished fifth as a sophomore.

“It was a really good day — great snow, great weather,” Cook said. “Can’t ask much more than that. We also had a good week of training, so I was feeling confident going in.

“Last year, I was duking it out with my friend Sandy Simonton, who graduated,” Cook added. “It’s fun this year to finally pull it out in the Giant Slalom.”

Cook finished the event with a two-run time of 1:27.7, more than a second ahead of second-place Britt Walton of Steamboat Springs (1:29.3). Cook had the top time in each run, going 46.24 the first time out, and 41.42 the second.

“I put down two solid runs,” Cook said.

Cook may just be the biggest star at this event. He is the defending champion in the Slalom (where he beat Simonton last season), which races on Friday, and is also the reigning winner of the Colorado high school ski league’s Skimeister award, given annually to the top skier in both the alpine and nordic disciplines.

Cook raced from the Giant Slalom to the Nordic Classic event in the afternoon — but his day hit a snag. To start off, the alpine race was delayed, meaning he didn’t have time to inspect his gear for the nordic race, which was especially critical given the unusually high temperatures that call for a different kind of wax.

As a result, he was late to his starting time, but still managed to sprint over to the line and got underway a few moments late. Then, Cook got halfway through the course when his binding broke, and officials sent him back to the starting line for a restart. After it was fixed, Cook restarted — 17 minutes after his initial scramble to make the starting line.

“It was really hard not inspecting. I actually beat it pretty hard on the downhill,” Cook said, motioning to a large scrape on his arm.

He ended up finishing 35th in the Nordic Classic.

“I saw my teammates did pretty well, which helps us with (the state title chase) for the team,” Cook said. “I was hoping to try to help them out today.”

Indeed, Battle Mountain’s Franklin Reilly was seventh in the Classic, Koby Simonton was 21st, and Nick Apps was 28th.

After the first day of competition, including Giant Slalom results, the defending champion Huskies sit in second place with 297.5 points, just behind Aspen’s 312. Steamboat Springs, also in contention for the title, is third with 294 points.

Aspen’s point total was bolstered by a strong showing in the Nordic Classic as the Skiers had three of the top four finishers. Nick Sweeney won the event in 13:49.2, teammate Graham Houtsma was second in 14:35.1, Vail Mountain’s Cameron Wolfe was third (14:50.3), and Aspen’s Jack Sweeney took fourth (14:55.8).

Nick Sweeney also won the same event last season, and was fourth two seasons ago.

The girls’ team race is also being led by Aspen, which has 309 points after the first day. Battle Mountain is second with 287 points, three-time defending champion Summit (286) is third, and fourth-place Evergreen (282) is also close behind.

Steamboat Springs’ MacKenzie Gansamann won the girls Giant Slalom, finishing with a two-run total of 1:32.0. She had the fastest first (42.6) and second (49.4) runs on Thursday.

Evergreen’s Mallorie Miller placed second, going 1:33.3. Vail Mountain’s Whitney Merriman (1:34.0) was third.

Summit’s Ruthie Boyd captured the Nordic Classic race, finishing in 17:01.0. Vail Mountain took the next three placers, with Bridget Donovan (17:25.6) finishing second, Maddie Donovan (17:27.7) placing third, and Annie Blakslee (17:37.0) finishing fourth.

Boyd finished second in the Classic last season, and third in the Skate.

Friday, the alpine skiers will race the Slalom, while the nordic will take on the Skate.