SUPERIOR — With most schools closed for Monday’s holiday, Alpine ski teams from across the area loaded up their buses and descended on Mont du Lac Resort.
Temperatures hovered near freezing for the traditional Martin Luther King Day Race at the ski hill.
Duluth East’s Wyatt Shultz was the fastest down the hill with a combined, two-run time of 1 minute, 7.19 seconds. He said he thought his first run was good, but the second wasn’t as easy.
“I skied pretty solid on the first run,” Shultz said before he was declared the winner. “It was a really good set. It wasn’t the fastest, but it was clean and my time showed that. The second run, the course was pretty funky, pretty cranky. It was a little bit of an odd set and I didn’t ski my best, but I think it might be difficult for other people as well.”
Shultz led a freight train of Greyhound boys, with Duluth East taking the top three individual spots and the overall team win. Carter Hegg was second with a time of 1:07.78 and Erik Carlson was third about .25 seconds behind.
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Duluth East coach Andrea Hendricks was proud of the way the Greyhounds — who took both the boys and girls team titles — attacked the hill and persevered even if they didn’t start well. “They’ve all been training very hard and attending practices,” Hendricks said. “Today, I think they were focused and they didn’t give up. If they had a blip at the top, I saw them fighting to the very end to finish as fast as they could.”
Cook County/Silver Bay’s Cy Oberholtzer was the first non-Greyhounds finisher. He completed his two runs in 1:08.38 and teammate Ray Dressely was fifth.
CCSB coach John Oberholtzer said his team did well on the first run, but wasn’t as sharp on the second.
“All of the first runs were good,” coach Oberholtzer said. “With some of the second ones, they weren’t really mindful about setting their downhill edge and staying on it.”
Duncan returns with win
After missing nearly two weeks sidelined with an illness, Duluth Denfeld’s Margaret Duncan returned to action with a win.
Duncan’s combined time of 1:14.07 was more than a second faster than second-place Emily Regas of Cloquet-Esko-Carlton.
“It was a nice, feel-good course,” Duncan said after the race. “I did have a little challenge because I was out with COVID, so this was my first race back. I haven’t practiced in about two weeks, but the course felt really good for not having been to practice.”
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Regas is part of a strong group of girls for the Lumberjacks that also includes Madysen Watters, Teagan Tessier, Nadia Tessier and Lauren Radovich. Coach Ryan Zimny said though it is the Tessier sisters' first season competing for CEC, they have raced before, just not at the high school level. Waters and Teagan Tessier each finished in the top 10 Tuesday for the Lumberjacks.
“We’re in the mix,” Zimny said. “We’re young, but we should be good for a while.”
Duluth East’s Mia Arnold was the top finisher for the Greyhounds. Arnold was third overall with a two-run time of 1:16.2. Lauren Carlson, the Section 7 runner-up in 2021, completed a first run but did not make a second for the Greyhounds.
Martin Luther King Race
At Mont du Lac Resort
Boys
Teams
1. Duluth East, 216; 2. Cook County/Silver Bay, 204; 3. Hibbing, 164; 4. Rock Ridge, 157; 5. Duluth Marshall, 156; 6. Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, 54.
Individuals
1. Wyatt Schultz, DE, 1:07.19; 2. Carter Hegg, DE, 1:07.78; 3. Erik Carlson, DE, 1:08.04; 4. Cy Oberholtzer, CCSB, 1:08.38; 5. Ray Dresseley, 1:09.63.
Girls
Teams
1. Duluth East, 190; 2. Rock Ridge, 168; 3. Cook County/Silver Bay, 155; 4. Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, 148; 5. Hibbing, 147; 6. Duluth Denfeld, 133; 7. Hermantown, 104; 8. Duluth Marshall, 46.
Individuals
1. Margaret Duncan, DD, 1:14.07; 2. Emily Regas, CEC, 1:15.57; 3. Mia Arnold, DE, 1:16.2; 4. Abby Myers, DE, 1:18.78; 5. Annabel Hanson, HT, 1:19.43.
