ELDORA SKI RESORT – Eight alpine ski teams of the Colorado High School Ski League met on February 7 for the Eldora Giant Slalom.

The Boulder Valley School District Alpine Ski Team (also known as the Nederland Alpine Ski Team) was one of those teams. Defending their home mountain, it would be their next to last competition before the state championships.

Starting at 10 a.m., one by one at 30-second intervals, 68 boys raced down the carefully laid out course. Ned Ski Team member Cole Gjertson did particularly well, turning in a blistering combined time of 1:39.52 to capture second place. Just over a second behind him was Ryder Lanning, who took fourth place with a time of 1:40.78.

As a team, the Nederland boys were second overall.

Forty-nine girls were up next. Victoria Krol registered a very respectable combined time of 1:46.65, good for seventh place. Bianca Cirne came in twelfth at 1:48.14. A split second behind her was freshman Petra Bodam, grabbing 13th place.

The girls' team came in third overall.

Head Boys Coach Joshua Lynch noted that “Cole Gjertson has delivered as an exceptional skier over the past few years. He has come into his own with multiple top five finishes. Sophomore Ryder Lanning is one of the fastest skiers on our team and we’re looking forward to seeing his continuing development in the future.”

On the girls’ side, Lynch continued, “First year team member Victoria Krol consistently achieves solid results. Another girl in her first year with the team is Bianca Cirne, who has shown great improvement this year, culminating in qualifying for State after this race.

“Our team has a wide range of ability levels and the coaching staff is extremely proud of the progression shown by each and every one of our skiers. For some athletes it may be finishing a challenging course like the one at Eldora. For others, it might be a top three result.

“We want to thank Eldora for its continued support of Colorado High School Ski League racing, the Eldora Mountain Ski and Snowboard Club for running this race for us, and finally, our team parent volunteers, whose efforts supported this race from start to finish.”

The Nederland Alpine Ski Team's last race of the regular season takes place at Ski Cooper near Leadville on Friday, February 14.

The CHSAA Alpine Skiing State Championships will be held in Aspen on February 20 and 21. So far, 11 Nederland skiers have qualified to participate. Those skiers are: Grayson Shurr, Jacob Turczyk, Finn Mutuc, Cole Gjertson, Ryder Lanning, Ceder Schupe, and Jamie Albert for the boys; and Petra Bodam, Isla Jones, Victoria Krol, and Bianca Cirne for the girls.