The Blair ski opened their season at Mountain Creek on January 9th, resulting with the girls' team finishing in 2nd place and the boys' team finishing in 3rd place. It was a great night of skiing and filled with excitement of what's to come of this year's squad.
For the varsity girls', all six racers on the team earned top 20 varsity times for at least one run. Chloe Rayer '20 led the pack finishing 7th overall. Ilyssa Gibson '22 skied unbelievably and earned her first varsity top ten. Kendra Payne '20 also flew, finishing just .02 seconds back in 11th. In her second varsity race, Katie Schultz '22 came away with an awesome top 20 finish, earning 16th on the night. Emia Musabegovic '20 also skied impressively, earning a 16th place run on her second of the night. Avery Lehman '21 finished impressively at 6th place.
The boys team skied to a third-place team finish. Kirk Holton '20 led the way with two phenomenal runs and one ridiculous headbutt of a gate, earning 6th place overall. In his first high school race, Patrick Payne '23 came up huge from the 6-slot to earn 14th overall on the night. Naivee Ni '20 skied well in his first varsity race, getting his first top 20 with a 17th place finish. Up next was Peak Viprakasit '22, who's been skiing fantastically this year. He cut a second off his first run time to earn a 26th overall on the night. Aaron Gibson '20 and Ben Kotch '22 each lost a ski in the first run, but they both came back strong in the second. Aaron put down a beautiful run to earn 11th pace and Ben, in his first high school race, skied strong and fast to a 24th place run.