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| Savannah Blide |
This year’s team is made up of a group of Nordic skiers (Kelly Habibi, Cassidy Cichowicz, Joelle Romo, Katrin Larusson, Laurel Fiddler, Danielle Nivinski, Savannah Blide, Alec Wiltz, Sam Zabell, Peter Carroll, and Skyler Mullings), but also features Lauren Dunn from the Alpine team and Erika Klenk from the Freeride squad.
The team competed in three school XC running races and also branched out by competing in a Summer Biathlon race. Summer Biathlon combines a 5k running race with marksmanship-athlete shots at 10 targets during the race and a short 100-meter “penalty lap” for each missed target.
SBA athletes dominated the podium with Laurel Fiddler winning the women’s 5k and Katrin Larusson coming in third. On the men’s side Sam used excellent shooting (9 out of 10 hits) to finish second in the 5K.
Probably the highlight of the season was the South Tahoe Retro Relays. This unusual race has athletes dress up in creative and fun costumes and then run a 4 x 2 mile race. SBA had a very strong day with the girls’ Varsity squad of Laurel, Katrin, Lauren, and Cassidy winning the girl’s relay in a strong field of over 20 schools. The SBA coed team of Alec Wiltz, Joelle Romo, Savannah Blide, and Sam Zabell also medaled with a strong fifth place in the stacked Coed division.
The XC running team has been a great success this year. We have not specifically trained for these races but instead have focused on our rigorous ski training and have counted on that fitness to carry us through the running. The amazing thing is how strong our results have been against teams that are 100% training for XC running. I think this shows two things that SBA can be proud of; 1) our students are top-notch athletes and 2) the fall conditioning that all of the skiers are doing is building an incredible level of fitness across our student body.
Yes SBA is full of skiers, but skiers who can run! Based on the results of this fine group of athletes I think this XC running season is an indication of great things to come on the ski trails and hills this winter.
Thank you, Coach Schloss!
