On January 19, an individually driven and collectively unified Nederland Ski Team hosted a slalom race at Eldora Mountain Resort. It was the third of six races that they will participate in this year.

Seventeen of the team’s racers had already provisionally qualified for the State Championships in either slalom or giant slalom and they were looking to add more to that list. There are 52 student-athletes from a dozen schools on the Nederland Ski Team. Thirty-six of them competed in Friday’s race. They faced skiers from Evergreen, Clear Creek, Middle Park, Lake County, Platte Canyon, and Durango.

The 40 inches of snow that had fallen the previous days on the LaBelle Dame course was soft and created ruts around the gates for the racers to navigate that only got deeper as the day wore on. Each racer would take two runs to achieve a combined time. Ned Ski Team junior Marley Farrior was first down the mountain. One by one the women sped through the carefully laid out course. Following them were the men, a lunch break, then a second run that provided a chance to improve upon their first runs.

Garrett Gillest of Middle Park took top honors in the Men’s division with a time of 1:28.97. Three racers, from a strong Middle Park squad, were the next fastest. With merely .86 of a second separating them, Ned Ski Team members Nicholas Bigelow, Cole Gjertson, and Ryder Lanning placed 6th, 9th, and 10th respectively.

Olivia Niedzweicki of Middle Park blazed down the hill, far outpacing her competition by a margin of 7.87 seconds. Middle Park landed three of the top five spots in the Women’s division. The Nederland Women’s finishes were identical to the Men’s. Marley Farrior was in good form coming in at 6th place with a time of 1:46.89. Isla Jones and Ava Eissinger took 9th and 10th places to bolster a strong showing by the group. The Men’s team placed 2nd overall and the Women’s 3rd overall for the day.

Head coach of the Nederland Alpine Ski Team Krista Crabtree said after the race, “The coaches are extremely proud of the sportsmanship and teamwork that our skiers display. Ski racing is a challenging sport full of early mornings, inclement weather and variable snow conditions. Our athletes display grit and determination that they foster during our intense season, but they also demonstrate a huge amount of support for each other.”

A slalom at Ski Cooper (January 26), a giant slalom at Keystone (February 2), and another giant slalom at Beaver Creek (February 9) are next on tap. The team now has 24 racers slated to appear at the CHSSL State Championships at Loveland Ski Area on February 15 and 16.