Three Tech Athletes Will Compete At State Alpine Ski Meet

BIWABIK -- The State Alpine Ski Meet is Wednesday and St. Cloud Tech has three kids in the competition.

Two boys from Tech Nate Hilbert and Ben Nelson, and one girl from Tech Lauren Hobday, will be racing at the state meet. It will be held Wednesday at Giants Ridge near Biwabik.

Chris Longtin is the coach for the St. Cloud Breakaways. It's a coop made up of kids from Tech, Apollo, Cathedral, Sauk Rapids-Rice, and ROCORI.

Longtin says the high school competition is just like the Alpine skiing you're seeing at the Olympics.

We do what's called a slalom where you see the athletes hitting the poles and it's very tight turning.  So they basically try to pick the fastest route down the hill and it's variable on snow conditions, and ice, and all that kind of stuff.

He says the team has had about 30 athletes for each of the last eight years. He's hopeful the attention the sport is getting at the Olympics could create some new interest.

You know we might see some more interest from the younger athletes next year.  It definitely does draw more attention to the sport.  And, some of those who are already skiers might want to try racing.

The Breakaways practice and have their home meets at Powder Ridge near Kimball.

The State Nordic Ski meet is Thursday also at Giants Ridge. St. Cloud Tech has qualified three skiers:  Gabby Hennes, Wren Scott-Lumbar, and Tennessee Scott-Lumbar.