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Wild Mountain Invitational - Girls

With zero snow on the ground, one would figure that the alpine ski team would have to wait a while to start their season.

But, with Wild Mountain constantly cranking out man-made snow the past month and a half, the 25 team Wild Mountain Invitational went off without a hitch on Friday.

The girls realized right away that the absence of the graduated Sheila Stephani is going to hurt them this year.

They did get a top finish from Katie Rayer. The senior earned 11th place out of 129 skiers in the race by buzzing through a 33.11 second first leg and 35.63 second second leg.

Her total time of 68.74 seconds just edged out Emery Otopolik of Mankato West, who finished in 68.75 seconds.

Ashley Angel was the second fastest Wildcat finisher, getting down the hill on her first run in 36.39 seconds and finishing her second run in 39.08 seconds for a total of 75.47 seconds.

It became a theme for all the skiers -- not just Wildcat competitors -- that the second run was a few seconds shorter. The snow wasn't as packed down and the footing was a little more shaky, leaving the times a bit slower.

After Rayer and Angel, the 'Cats didn't have a finisher until 84th place, where Claire Eikens raced a split of 42.78/45.69 for a total time of 88.47 seconds.

Lauren Peltier, Kate Swanson and Danielle Dahlheimer were the other performers for CL. Peltier came in 90th place with a time of 89.54 seconds, Swanson finished in 96th with a time of 91.43 seconds and Dahlheimer finished in 113th with a time of 100.07 seconds.

Laura Post of Eden Prairie won the meet with a time of 64.36 seconds

The girls finished in16th place this year out of 25 teams with 360 points. They were only one back of Benilde-St. Margaret's at 361 points. Orono won the meet with a team score of 498.



Boys

The boys fared a bit better than the girls, riding the consistency of almost all of their returning skiers.

Jake Sandgren finished in 11th place, earning the top spot among CL skiers. He finished his first run in 32.49 seconds and his second run in a remarkably consistent 33.23 seconds His total time of 65.72 seconds put him less than four seconds off of the winner, Eddie Cox of White Bear Lake.

Hogan Haas was the next top finisher for the Wildcats, coming in 20th place. His first run was 32.98 seconds and his second run was 34.50 seconds for a total of 67.48.

In 42nd place, captain Joe Cartier had a little trouble in his second run and it cost him dearly in the standing. After the first run, Cartier was in sixth place with a time of 31.49 seconds.

However, a few hiccups in his second run gave him a 39.58 second second run and he finished with a combined time of 71.07 seconds.

Hunter Haas was close behind, finishing in 45th place. He finished his first leg in 35.02 seconds and his second leg in 36.65 seconds, giving him a time of 71.67 seconds.

Brandon Marvin finished in 55th place for the 'Cats, getting a split of 36.33/36.93 for a time of 73.26 seconds.

Miles Turk rounded out the Wildcats scoring, finishing in 68th place with a total time of 77.05 seconds.

In the team portion of the event, the Wildcats finished in fifth place with 462 points. Only some the biggest schools in the state were in front of Chisago, including Edina, Minnetonka, Minneapolis Southwest and Hopkins.

The Wildcats beat out conference rival and their main competition this year Centennial by 22 points.

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