The Summit High School varsity alpine ski team finished in second place in the girls competition and fourth place in the boys competition at last Thursday’s giant slalom competition at El Dora.
Tiger freshman Jenna Sheldon paced Summit in the girls competition, earning the team 59 of their 163 points with her second-place finish. It came for Sheldon on the strength of her combined time of one minute and 37.37 seconds in her two giant slalom runs. The Tigers’ girls squad also earned a top-10 finish and 55 team points from freshman Paige Peterson (sixth place, 1:38.92) while senior Gracy Karoly earned the team 49 points with her 13th-place finish (1:43.00). In Colorado high school alpine and Nordic skiing competitions, each team’s top-3 finishers count toward the team tally.
In the boys competition, Summit was led by sophomore Joey Hodge. Hodge’s combined time of 1:42.36 earned him an 11th-place finish and 53 points for the team in the boys giant slalom competition. The Tigers tallied 153 total team points in the boys competition, bolstered by a pair of top-20 finishes from seniors Brennan Creen (51 points, 15th place, 1:44.68) and Ryan Adis (49, 20th, 1:47.16).
Summit is scheduled to return to action with a slalom event at Beaver Creek on Friday before the giant slalom and slalom state championships at Purgatory on Feb. 21.
Nordic
The Summit High School boys and girls varsity Nordic ski teams both finished in fourth place of 15 competing schools at Saturday’s 5-kilometer skate race at the Steamboat Ski Touring Center in Steamboat Springs.
In the 107-skier girls race, the Tigers amassed 143 points led by the 56 points accrued by senior star Noelle Resignolo’s fifth-place finish in a time of 16:59.1. Resignolo was joined in Summit’s point-scoring top-3 by Opal Koning (44 points, 21st place, 18:40.7) and Aubree Confer (43, 22nd, 18:48.3).
In the 145-skier boys race, Summit earned its 139 points in the team competition on the strength of senior star Peter Haynes’ seventh-place finish, crossing the finish line in 14:32. Along with Haynes’ 54 points, Summit received team points from Jacob Ammon (44 points, 17th place, 15:32) and Caleb White (41, 21st, 15:40).
The team will return to competition for the state championships in Durango on Thursday Feb. 21 and Friday Feb. 22. The mass-start classic race is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Feb. 21 followed by the individual-start skate race on Feb. 22, also scheduled for 3 p.m.
Swimming
The Summit High School girls swimming team competed at the Girls 3A State Championship meet at Chatfield Senior High School in Littleton over the weekend, racing to a top-10 finish in one race.
The highlight for the Tigers came with Saturday’s 400-yard freestyle relay race. The Tigers earned a spot into the A Final after swimming to a time of three minutes and 56.69 seconds at Friday’s preliminary race. Come Saturday, Summit finished in tenth place with a time of 3:56.69 in the final round of that race. Summit was represented in the race by lead-swimmer and junior Jasmine Laube, followed by junior Logan Simson and junior Hannah Anderson before senior Katerina Lee swam the anchor leg.
That was the only event at states where the Tigers qualified for the A final, though there were several other races where Summit qualified from Friday’s preliminary round to Saturday’s B final.
In the 200-yard medley relay B final, Summit finished in 14th place of 24 teams overall, as Laube, Simson, junior Molly Nikkel and senior Abbey Lau raced to a time of 2:03.18.
In terms of individual races, in the 200-yard freestyle B final, Laube finished in 15th place overall with a time of 2:05.21. In the 200-yard individual medley B final, Simson finished in 15th place overall with a time of 2:24.15. In the 50-yard freestyle B final final, Tiger senior Katerina Lee finished with a time of 26.52, good enough for 15th place.
In the 100-yard butterfly B final, Simson finished in 15th place with a time of 1:04.62. In the 100-yard backstroke B final, Laube raced to 16th place with a time of 1:06.49. In the 100-yard freestyle B final, Lee swam to 18th place with a time of 58.77.
Summit also finished in 21st place of 25 teams in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with Lee, Lau, Summit freshman Abby Anderson and the Tiger senior Hannah Anderson swimming to a time of 1:52.29.
And in the 100-yard breaststroke competition, Nickel swam to a time of 1:19.19 and a 28th-place finish among 44 swimmers.
Hockey
Leading up to this Friday’s final home game of the season, the Summit Tigers varsity hockey team dropped a pair of contests to dip their record down to 4-12-1 on the season and 0-8-1 in Peak Conference play.
On Feb. 2 on home ice at Stephen C. West Ice Arena, the Tigers lost to Battle Mountain 7-4. The Tigers spotted the Huskies a pair of goals before Summit defender Rudy Burki scored at the 4:56 mark of the second period, assisted by Tiger forward Zach Carleton, to pull Summit within 2-1.
From there, Battle Mountain reeled off four unanswered goals before Tiger forward Isaac Eland put Summit back on the board at the 5:51 mark of the third period, assisted by Tiger forward Ryley Cibula.
Then, in the final 10 minutes of the game, Summit made a 7-2 score a 7-4 final score via even-strength goals from forwards Ranger Stone and Dart Barson. The Tigers played a pair of goaltenders in the game, as Marco Vogelbacher saved 32 of 33 shots while Maksim Rashchupkin saved seven of 13 shots.
Then, on Friday, Summit traveled to Chapparal before losing to the Wolverines 10-0. Vogelbacher stopped 11 of 15 shots on goal while Rashchupkin stopped 26 of 32. The Tigers offensively managed 16 shots on goal to the Wolverines’ 47.
Summit will wrap up its home slate on Friday night at 6:30 p.m., at Stephen C. West Ice Arena versus Glenwood Springs. The Tigers’ season will conclude on Saturday after a 3:45 p.m. road matchup at Standley Lake.
Basketball
The Summit High varsity boys basketball team nearly knocked off Eagle Valley on their home court on Saturday before falling 50-43. Along with a Tuesday night loss at Palisade by the score of 52-28, it extended the Tigers’ losing streak to eight games in advance of Wednesday night’s Senior Night final home game of the season versus Rifle. The Tigers entered that Wednesday matchup with a 5-16 overall record and a 0-10 mark in 4A Western Slope league play. Summit was scheduled to conclude their season on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., at Steamboat Springs.
The Summit High varsity girls basketball team defeated Eagle Valley by the score of 56-38 during Saturday’s slate of home games at Summit High School. After the game remained knotted at 9-9 after the first quarter, Summit used an 18-10 second quarter to distance themselves from the Devils before outscoring them 29-19 in the second half.
Heading into Wednesday night’s Senior Night game versus Rifle, Summit sported a 7-14 and 3-7 record in 4A Western Slope league play after they suffered a road loss at Palisade on Tuesday. The Tigers’ season is scheduled to wrap up on Saturday at 2 p.m. on the road at Steamboat Springs.