It’s all downhill

Published 4:00 am Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Local Alpine prep ski racers have something special to look forward to as their competitive season gets under way: the Central Oregon league of the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association will play host to the 2005 OISRA State Championship, slated for March 2-4 at Mount Bachelor.

”Having the state meet here in Central Oregon is something that only comes around every seven years or so,” said Greg Timm, Central Oregon league representative to OISRA.

The OISRA Alpine Division, which has organized high-school ski racing across the state since 1961, oversees more than 1,500 athletes and 200 coaches from 60 schools divided into seven regional leagues. The OISRA Alpine season begins Jan. 8 with giant-slalom races on the Cliffhanger run at Mount Bachelor.

Timm explained that the opportunity to host the state championship rotates between the regions. Only the top teams and skiers who have qualified by placing well consistently through the regular race season compete at the state meet. Naturally, the prospect of competing on home snow has local coaches and athletes excited.

”We’ll do the best we can every weekend,” said Timm, who coaches the 28-member Bend High School team. ”We have as good of a chance this year as any, but we have to evaluate the new competition that’s out there.”

Eight boys and eight girls are returning for the Lava Bears, who finished third overall at the 2004 state championship, held at Mount Hood Meadows. Timm expects veterans Karli Coggin, Nicole Pressprich, Courtney Schwartz, Erica Skatvold and Molly Ziegler to be among his top girls. On the boys side, Timm said he’s counting on returners Cody Cowper, Cody Doolan, Brian Engle, Reed Johnson and Michael Timm, who all represented Bend High at the state meet last season.

”We did graduate some skiers, but we overcame graduation with some new, young talent this year. It’s exciting,” Timm said.

Across town, Jerry Wetherbee, Summit coach, said his team also he lost a number of skiers to graduation last spring.

”We are starting over with a mostly new team this year,” he said of his 16 skiers. ”We have a lot of building to do in the next four years.”

While feeling the loss, Wetherbee said his returning skiers are strong and experienced, and he expects the veterans to help bring the new skiers up to speed. Additionally, the Storm’s girls squad has a promising new member, Wetherbee noted. Lauren Huestis, who moved to Bend from Utah, has racked up some impressive Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) points in the giant slalom (177.84) and slalom (153.67) events, Wetherbee noted. FIS is the world governing body for ski racing.

Summit skiers to watch include returners Ben Brinich, Travis Durtschi and Dylan Reynolds on the boys team, and Cassidy Kohlmoos and Trisha Shogren for the girls.

”I think we will qualify for state, and I think we will show well. And I hope they surprise me,” Wetherbee concluded.

Mountain View is fielding the smallest Central Oregon team, with only nine skiers. But Kyle Frick, the Cougars’ head coach, doesn’t feel that size is the most important factor in determining what team comes out on top in ski racing. In fact, he said that although the Central Oregon league is the smallest in the state, with only five schools fielding teams, it is also the most powerful. In contrast, other leagues in the state have at least 10 to 15 schools participating.

”We have some great skiers returning and some talented new kids this year,” Frick said, pointing to returners Ryan Anderson, Chelsea Brown and Kevin Sykora as key racers for his team.

”Really, the kids are training hard and they are working toward their goals,” Frick said. ”I haven’t seen a group of kids in a while that have wanted to come up and do gate training all the time. They are all determined to do well.”

While the Cougar skiers are eager to race, the Mountain View girls face a special challenge – there’s only three of them. Brown, Sarah Puddy and Mary Ray make up the girls squad. According to OISRA rules, a team must have at least three members to compete. The Cougars meet that number, provided no one gets injured or sick.

”If one of them skis out or falls, we won’t get a team score,” Frick said. ”With the races and the formats in the high school league, the girls will have to stand up and ski really consistent.”

He’s not concerned, though.

”They are all really solid skiers,” Frick said.

The team is well supported and is gelling well as a group, he added.

”The parents are awesome,” Frick said. ”We get together every Friday before a race and have spaghetti dinners, and watch World Cup videos. The kids hang out together and form some long-lasting friendships that are awesome.”

At Redmond High, coach Josh Udesen reports tremendous growth in his squad. He has 12 starters this season, up from seven last year, including three new girls. The girls squad has no veterans, just the three newcomers.

”None of them have ski raced before, but they are giving it a go,” Udesen said, adding that one of the girls, a Norwegian exchange student, has extensive snow experience despite the lack of racing time.

The main emphasis for the Panthers, he said, is to have fun as a team and send a few skiers to the state meet.

”We have a solid group of competitive kids that gives Redmond both depth and experience,” Udesen said. ”It’s really kind of fun to have a big team after all these growing years.”

Top Cougar returners include Michael Maloney, Corey Roy and Chris Shisler.

”We would like to send a few individuals or even a whole team to state,” Udesen said. ”They have been putting in the time, so it would be good to see that happen, especially since the races are at Mount Bachelor.”

Udesen added that one of his biggest challenges as a coach is to ensure that his skiers earn the proper recognition for their efforts in the Redmond community and at school.

”Nobody realizes how hard they work,” Udesen said. ”They get up early every weekend to get up on snow and work hard all day.”

Like the Panthers, the squad from Sisters High has to travel farther than some of its local rivals to get to the snow. Typically one of the smaller teams, the Outlaws have greater hopes for qualifying individuals rather than teams for the state meet, said coach Todd Williver.

However, the 2004-05 season may offer a change of pace for the Outlaws.

”We have an extremely big girls team, and I see good things for our girls,” Williver said of his nine girls, noting that returning girls to watch include Liz Dale, Whitney Engstrom, Annie Hancock and Stephanie Yopp. ”My girls team is fat’ this year. We will be a team to contend with.”

The Sisters girls team is a horde compared with the four skiers who make up the boys squad, Williver said.

”The boys are mostly young. This is a building year for our boys team,” he said, noting that two returners – Michael Christiano and Ryan Schneringer – are skier to whom he looks to encourage new squad members and to lead by example.

”We would like to see both teams go to state this year, since the Central Oregon league is hosting the championship,” Williver said. ”It’s a lofty goal, but if we did, it would be the first time in a decade that Sisters is able to compete at state with both a girls and boys team. The kids are digging the challenge, and they are working hard to get there.”

Overall, the Central Oregon prep coaches said that the late and relatively spare arrival of snow is their main challenge.

”It has been a dismal snow year so far,” Williver said. ”We haven’t had much hill-training time, and what we have is not real quality.”

However, all of the coaches said that with snow in the winter forecast, they’re counting on enthusiasm among their teams to bridge the gap between training and the start of the racing season.

Inge Scheve can be reached at (541) 295-9112 or skiinge@yahoo.com.