Hermantown Girls Win Hibbing Ski Invitational

Megan Danelski competes in the Hibbing Alpine Ski Invitational at Giants Ridge.
Danelski won the meet with a combined time of 1:17.20
helping the Hawks to a first place team finish as well.
– Contributed Photo

Jan 6

By: Wade Petrich

Hermantown had three skiers in the top five, including champion Megan Danelski, as the girls alpine team won the second annual Bud Fontana Hibbing High School Alpine Ski Invitational Thursday at Giants Ridge.

The Hawks finished with 243 points, four better than runner-up Cook County/Silver Bay and 17 points better than third-place Duluth East.

Cloquet-Esko-Carlton was sixth with 168 team points.

Danielski finished with a combined time of 1:17.20 to win the meet. She had the best time after the first race with a 39.67 and was second behind teammate Olivia Tusa in the second race with a time of 37.53. Tusa finished third with a combined time of 1:18.22. She came back from a seventh-place finish in the first heat to have the best time in the second race with a 37.24.

Madison Danielski took fifth overall for the Hawks, finishing with a time of 1:19. 31. McKenzie Bremel rounded out the team scoring with a finishing time of 1:36.16.

Also competing for the Hawks were Faith Schaefer, 48, 2:20.43; Paige Sinner, 49, 2:03.23; and Rachel Humes, 52, 2:13.57. Ashley Irwin finished the first race, but not the second one.

For CEC, Carly Boder led the team with a 14th-place finish and combined time of 1:31.60. She was followed by Kelsey Anderson, 21, 1:36.95; Tori Anderson, 23, 1:38.14; and Kaitlyn Knutson, 46, 2:00.32. Paige Tranah was 13th after the first race with a time of 43.57, but did not finish the second race.

Brainerd won the boys varsity race with a team score of 278. Duluth East was second with 275 and Hermantown third with 270.

CEC boys were seventh with 189 points.

Daniel Padden led the Hawks with a fifth overall finish and a combined time of 1:15.36. He was 12th after the first race with a time of 38.78, but was third in the second race with a time of 36.58.

Matthew Borash was second on the team with a ninth-place finish overall and a time of 1:16.90. Hans Eggert also finished in the top 10, taking the 10th place with a combined time of 1:17.10.

Sam Thielen was 18th with a time of 1:19.44 to round out the team scoring. He was followed by Joe Sipper, 40, 1:31.08; Nathan Nelson, 48, 1:42.94; Alexander Willoughby, 52, 1:44.13; and Syndre Opsahl, 64, 2:00.68. Derek Haedrich finished the first race, but not the second.

For the Lumberjacks, Sam Sinnot led the team with a 20th overall finish and combined time of 1:19.93. He was followed by Anthony Schrier, 29, 1:24.12; Isaac MacMillen, 35, 1:25.98; Alex DeRocher, 39, 1:30.08; Jack Fossen, 50, 1:43.47; Travis Bartlett, 58, 1:52.69; and Charlie Franklin, 61, 1:56.84.

DeRocher was second after the first race with a time of 36.79, but did not have a strong second race to allow him to compete for a top spot individually.

Henry Roningen of East was first overall with a time of 1:08.64. He also finished in the top spot in both races.

Teams competing at the meet were Brainerd, Duluth East, Virginia, Cook County/Silver Bay, Hibbing, Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, Duluth Marshall and Duluth Central/Denfeld.

In the Junior Varsity race, Hermantown had four skiers with Andrea Guinto, 5, 1:14.47; John Tverberg, 7, 1:54.61; and Ben Willoughby, 8, 1:55.36 racing for the boys and Taylor Johnson, 5, 2:15.58 competing in the girls JV race.

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