The 2017-18 all-state skiing teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created based upon results at the state meet. Skiers of the year were selected based upon the number of team points they produced during the meet. Coaches of the year are voted upon by their peers prior at the state meet.
Skimeister is a season-long event conducted by the Colorado High School Ski League which honors the top skier in both disciplines.
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Girls
Devan McSwain. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Alpine skiier of the year: Devan McSwain, Aspen
Nordic skiier of the year: Kate Oldham, Colorado Rocky Mountain
Skimeister: Kiana Brausch, Battle Mountain
Alpine coach of the year: Bill Gooch, Lake County
Nordic coach of the year: Jonathan Mocatta, Summit
First team
Name
School
Event
Emma Blakslee
Vail Mountain
Nordic Classic
Molly Blakslee
Vail Mountain
Nordic Skate
Winter Boese
Steamboat Springs
Nordic Skate
Kiana Brausch
Battle Mountain
Skimeister
Emily Creek
Nederland
Slalom
Alex Cregan
Platte Canyon
Giant Slalom
Amber Eliott
Steamboat Springs
Slalom
Olivia Flake
Steamboat Springs
Slalom
Grace Johnson
Battle Mountain
Nordic Classic
Devan McSwain
Aspen
Giant Slalom, Slalom
Chelsea Moore
Aspen
Nordic Skate, Nordic Classic
Kate Oldham
Colorado Rocky Mountain
Nordic Skate, Nordic Classic
Kylee Ornstein
Evergreen
Giant Slalom
Noelle Resignolo
Summit
Nordic Classic
Madeline Robbins
Durango
Giant Slalom, Slalom
Tai-Lee Smith
Summit
Nordic Skate
Levyn Thomas
Aspen
Giant Slalom
Second team
Name
School
Event
Lizzy Barsness
Aspen
Nordic Skate, Nordic Classic
Nancy Brown
Lake County
Slalom
Kaela Fahrney
Battle Mountain
Nordic Skate
Analise Gates
Durango
Giant Slalom, Slalom
Katy Jane Hardenberg
Vail Mountain
Nordic Classic
Katy Jane Hardenbergh
Vail Mountain
Nordic Skate
Emily Jensen
Middle Park
Nordic Skate, Nordic Classic
Sonja Kainulainen
Colorado Rocky Mountain
Slalom
Gabby Myers
Summit
Giant Slalom
Alexandra Raichart
Battle Mountain
Nordic Classic
Edie Sherlock
Aspen
Slalom
Estelle Sweeney
Aspen
Giant Slalom
Ella Wiser
Middle Park
Giant Slalom
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Boys
Cameron Wolfe. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Alpine skiiers of the year: Luke Bailey, Platte Canyon; Michael Resnick, Vail Mountain
Nordic skiier of the year: Cameron Wolfe, Vail Mountain
Skimeister: Henry Barth, Aspen
Alpine coach of the year: Bill Gooch, Lake County
Nordic coach of the year: Jonathan Mocatta, Summit
LEADVILLE — Aspen increased its trophy haul on Friday, capturing both the boys and girls state skiing titles.
The Skiers won the boys event with 661.5 points, and their girls team won with 650.5 points.
Vail Mountain was the boys runner-up with 572 points, and Battle Mountain finished second in the girls competition with 581 points.
Aspen’s all-around performance in each event proved to be the difference during the two-day championships held at Ski Cooper.
Both the boys and the girls team either had the most points, or the second-most points in all four events — the Giant Slalom and Nordic Classic on Thursday; and the Slalom and Nordic Skate on Friday. Speaking to their team depth, Aspen had just one individual champion: Chelsea Moore in the Classic on Thursday.
It is the first time the Skiers have won both team titles since 2012. For each program, it is their eighth championship — the second-most of any boys team, and third-most of any girls team.
Individually, Vail Mountain Cameron Wolfe swept the Nordic events. He won the boys Skate on Friday with a time of 14:16. Aspen’s Everett Olson was second (14:51), a feat he duplicated from the Classic event. Summit had a trio of boys finish third through fifth: Quintin Weinberger, Peter Haynes, and Oliver Trowbridge.
Aspen’s boys placed three among the top seven finishers in the Skate, including Olson, Jacob Barsness and Noah Wheeless.
Colorado Rocky Mountain’s Kate Oldham won the girls Skate with a time of 16:28. Oldham had placed second in the Classic a day earlier.
Tai-Lee Smith of Summit and Aspen’s Moore tied for second in the girls race at 16:46, while Vail Mountain’s Molly Blakslee (17:20) was fourth, and Winter Boese (17:44) of Steamboat Springs placed fifth.
Aspen’s Lizzy Barness and Jordan Miner also finished among the top 11 for the Skiers.
The day started with the Slalom, and it was Vail Mountain’s Michael Resnick who took the title for the boys, finishing with a two-run time of 1:08.33. Resnick was second in the Giant Slalom on Thursday; he had also placed second in the GS last year, and was third in the Slalom a year ago.
Luke Bailey, Thursday’s GS champion from Platte Canyon, finished second in the boys Slalom (1:10.23), and Aspen freshman Noah Forman was third (1:11.53). Aspen also had Reed Beidlemann place fourth, and Alex Illic finish 11th.
Nederland’s Emily Creek won the girls Slalom with a time of 1:11.65. Creek was 24th in the Giant Slalom.
Steamboat Springs senior Amber Eliott placed second in 1:12.89, and Aspen’s Devan McSwain was third in 1:13.80. McSwain placed third in the GS.
Durango sophomore Madeline Robbins was fourth in the Slalom. It is the school’s highest finish in an individual event since the Demons brought their skiing program back last season.
Edie Sherlock (eighth) and Levyn Thomas (14th) also placed highly for Aspen’s girls in the Slalom.
Next year’s state skiing championships will be hosted by Durango at Purgatory Resort. The 2020 championships are scheduled for Vail, and 2021 will be hosted by Middle Park at Winter Park.
LEADVILLE — Platte Canyon had never won an individual skiing title in the 53-year history of its program.
Now, the Huskies have two.
Alex Cregan. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Luke Bailey and Alex Cregan each won the Giant Slalom events during the state skiing championships at Ski Cooper on Thursday. They are the first-ever individual champions from Platte Canyon. The school had never placed an individual higher than third.
Bailey won the boys event with a two-run total of 2:09:09. Vail Mountain’s Michael Resnick was second (2:10.02), and Evergreen’s Hayden Holtrop was third (2:10.97). Bailey had the top time in each run, improving his first-run time from 1:05.13 to 1:03.96 in his second.
Bailey finished seventh last season in the GS during the state championships.
Evergreen led the team score in the alpine event, finishing with 163 points. Aspen was second with 162, and Battle Mountain (151) was third.
Cregan captured the girls event by finishing her two runs in 2:15.44. Aspen’s Devan McSwain was second (2:15.90), and her teammate Levyn Thomas was third in 2:16.11.
Cregan had never finished higher than fifth this season in the GS, and was 12th at state last season.
Aspen had the most team points from the Giant Slalom with 167, Evergreen had 141, and Durango was third with 137.
Cameron Wolfe. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
In the Nordic side of things on Thursday morning, Vail Mountain’s Cameron Wolfe captured the Nordic Classic title, winning the event in 16:48. Everett Olson of Aspen was second in 16:56, and his teammate Jacob Barsness (17:25) finished third.
It was Wolfe’s first state title. He finished second in the Classic last season, and was third in the Skate. He also placed third in the Classic in 2016. This season’s Nordic Skate race is on Friday afternoon.
Olson and Barsness paced Aspen as the Skiers jumped out to the lead in the team race. Combined with an 11th-place finish from Noah Wheeless, Aspen finished with an event-best 167 points. Summit (162) was second as a team, paced by Peter Haynes’ fourth-place finish.
Chelsea Moore. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Aspen’s Chelsea Moore won the girls Classic event, finishing in 19:23. Kate Oldham of Colorado Rocky Mountain placed second (19:45), and Noelle Resignolo of Summit (20:26) was third.
Moore had placed third in last year’s Classic, and was fourth in the Skate. In 2016, she was 12th in the Classic.
Aspen and Vail Mountain tied for the lead in the Classic as a team, both earning 163 points. Emma and Molly Blaksee finished fifth and sixth for Vail Mountain, while Aspen also had Lizzy Barsness place eighth.
In terms of the overall team race, Aspen heads both the boys and the girls events.
The Skiers are on top of the boys event with 329 points. Battle Mountain sits in second with 296. Vail Mountain, the defending champion, is third (295), Steamboat Springs (284) is fourth, and Middle Park (281) is fifth.
Aspen also leads the girls event, totaling 330 points after Thursday. Battle Mountain (280) is second, Summit (267) is third, Lake County (265) is fourth, and Vail Mountain is fifth (252).
Dakota Ridge joined this week’s hockey rankings, entering at No. 7 this week.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, the poll will release each Monday.
With the regular season set to end on Saturday, these will serve as the final rankings of the regular season.
THORNTON — Davy Brown responded to a DQ in a huge way.
Brown, an Aspen junior, lowered her own meet record during the Class 3A girls swimming and diving prelims on Thursday, an hour or so after she was disqualified for a stroke infraction in the individual medley.
Brown’s time of 56.86 in the 100 back lowered the mark of 57.37 she set at last year’s 3A meet. She now has the top qualifying time in the event heading into Friday’s finals. The time was 2.78 seconds faster than her seed time of 59.64.
Her time was even more impressive given that Brown swam the lead leg of Aspen’s 200 freestyle relay in the event prior to the backstroke. The Skiers finished with the second-fastest prelim time at 1:43.06. Pueblo County will enter the finals as the top seed with a time of 1:41.92 in the 200 free relay.
Among the favorites to win a state title for much of the season, Pueblo County had a great first day of the 3A meet.
The Hornets also qualified with the fastest time in the 200 medley relay (1:51.79), and junior Amanda Blickensderfer was the fastest qualifier in the 100 breaststroke. Blickensderfer finished in 1:05.88 — she set the 3A record last year at 1:05.26.
Abbey Selin. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Also shining during Thursday’s prelims was D’Evelyn senior Abbey Selin. A University of Wyoming recruit, she swam the fastest qualifying time in both the 200 and 500 freestyle races. Selin won the 500 last season.
Likewise, Longmont sophomore Lucille Matheson positioned herself well in multiple races. She had the top time in the 200 individual medley after the prelims, and was second in the 500.
Longmont is also expected to challenge for the team title on Friday. The Trojans qualified first in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:46.08. Kent Denver was second in 3:48.27.
St. Mary’s Caitlin Cairns qualified first in both the 50 free and 100 butterfly.
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Tight leaderboard after diving semifinals
Rachel Alexander. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Discovery Canyon sophomore Rachel Alexander seized the lead after the diving prelims on Thursday morning, but there are three others close behind.
Alexander’s score of 279.85 led the group, with Durango junior Kylie Behn nipping behind at 279.30.
St. Mary’s Retta Smith, runner-up in the event last season, sits in third at 278.10, and Fountain Valley’s Harriet Townsend is fourth at 276.40.
Alexander finished fourth last season, while Behn was sixth, and Townsend was fifth.
The top 16 divers, out of 21 who qualified, advanced to Friday’s finals.
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Friday’s schedule
The 3A meet resumes on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at VMAC. The 4A swim prelims will be held at the venue on Friday morning.
Aspen has jumped into this week’s hockey rankings, at No. 9.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, the poll will release each Monday.
