Durango High School's girls alpine skiing team placed sixth and the boys eighth at the Colorado High School Activities Association state championships in Vail. The event featured giant slalom and slalom races amid challenging conditions. Coach Jill Carithers praised the team's performance against strong competition.
The CHSAA Alpine Skiing State Championships took place at Golden Peak in Vail, with Durango High School athletes competing over several days. The girls team finished sixth out of 13 schools with 250 points, while the boys placed eighth with 252 points.
Summit claimed the girls' team title with 347 points, followed by Battle Mountain at 316 and Aspen at 313. For the boys, Summit led with 319 points, with Steamboat Springs second at 315 and Middle Park third at 309.
In the giant slalom, which started on Wednesday, senior Corbin Horrocks led the Durango boys with a 17th-place finish in 1:47.51 (50.09 seconds first run, 57.42 seconds second run). Junior Johan Souders placed 29th in 1:50.86, and sophomore Brody Tomberlin was 34th in 1:52.23. Summit's Seth Montgomery won the event in 1:36.63.
The Durango girls were paced by freshman Jocelyn Mehaffie in 32nd at 1:54.40, followed by sophomore Isabelle Ratcliff in 33rd at 1:54.49 and senior Brianna Tomberlin in 38th at 1:57.64. Summit's Malie Dieterich took the title in 1:37.97.
Slalom races occurred on Friday. Horrocks achieved Durango's best result in 10th place with 1:21.48. Souders finished 17th in 1:25.40, and junior Nathan Mehaffie was 25th in 1:30.76. Montgomery again won in 1:10.11.
For the girls, Brianna Tomberlin led with 23rd in 1:32.41, Ratcliff took 27th in 1:34.52, and Mehaffie placed 36th in 1:38.52. Battle Mountain's Eden DeMino won in 1:17.76.
"Overall, we did fairly well," coach Jill Carithers said. "The girls competition is really tough. That sophomore group of girls coming in, including ours, is very competitive." She noted the high level of competition, with top skiers having international experience, compared to Durango's challenges with low snow in a warm winter. Carithers also mentioned favorable conditions at Golden Peak, with recent snowfalls creating a hard race surface.
Durango sent nine athletes, most qualifying in both events.
