TAYLORS FALLS — The Ponies will be represented at state, but it will be a slightly smaller group of competitors this year as the Stillwater girls and boys alpine skiing teams each placed third in the Section 4 Meet on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at Wild Mountain.
The top two teams and the top 10 individuals not on a qualifying team advance to the state meet, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 13 at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.
That leaves the Ponies on the outside of the team event, but individual section champion Maycie Neubauer and Stillwater teammate Paige Stabenow advanced to state as individuals. The Stillwater boys advanced section runner-up Cash Jaeger and Ethan Stabenow to state.
This marks the first time since 2015 that the Ponies will not have one or both teams competing in the state meet.
“I’ve done this before with athletes at the state meet and it’s great for those athletes, but you feel part of the reason you do this is to bring your team there,” Ponies coach Kevin Neubauer said. “One team there is great, but when both teams are there it’s something special when we’re there. If one team is going we always feel like the other half is missing out. You’d never imagine with the talent that we have to not have one or both teams there.”
The margin was narrow for both teams.
Minneapolis Washburn won the girls team title with 412 points while Minneapolis Southwest earned the other state entry after edging the Ponies by a single point (405-404) for second place. Hill-Murray, which returned the key parts to a line-up that captured the state championship a year ago, placed fourth in the team standings at 387, just one spot ahead of fifth-place St. Croix Preparatory Academy (329).
In the boys competition, Hill-Murray edged Minneapolis Washburn 415-413 for the title while the Ponies followed in third with 407 points. Hastings finished fourth with 373 points.
The Ponies didn’t make any big errors, which they thought would be enough to qualify out of the 20-team section.
“The girls went 12 for 12 and the guys went 12 for 12,” Neubauer said. “The stuck their runs and did what they were supposed to do. It didn’t feel like it was the right decision to step on it because there was nothing firm underneath. For the guys we’re talking about maybe three or four turns and for the girls one or two. That’s what this came down to, just a couple of turns.”
An all-state performer a year ago, Maycie Neubauer captured the individual section title with a time of 1:07.12, nearly a second in front of Minneapolis Southwest’s Eva Voyakin (1:07.98).
Paige Stabenow landed in eight place with a two-run time of 1:10.25, comfortably inside the list of state qualifiers.
Maycie has been a state meet regular the past several seasons, but she also missed time this season due an injury.
“We didn’t see Maycie winning this when she was on crutches three weeks ago,” coach Neubauer said. “She skied really nicely up top and through the pitch on the first run. Then coming 30th out of the house on her next run, the plan was why force it and go for it when you don’t have to win this race, just get across the finish line and punch your ticket to state. She crushed it.”
Just one-and-a-half seconds separated Stillwater’s remaining four skiers as Callie Sampson (1:11.40) finished 18th and teammates Rosie Kubiak (1:11.67) and Ainsley Smith (1:12.03) followed in 21st and 22nd. Madison Komarek wasn’t far behind in 27th place with a time of 1:13.10.
“Callie Sampson had a fantastic performance,” Neubauer said. “A couple weeks ago she was struggling but got her skis tuned up and she went up on an upward trajectory. She was the sixth seed and she was 16th or 17th overall. She jumped up 80 to 90 spots and she just did fantastic.”
Cash Jaeger was the individual state runner-up a year ago while leading the Ponies to a third-place finish in the team standings. He finished second with a time of 1:00.76 on Wednesday, finishing just .04 behind Jackson Reents (1:00.72) of Hastings for the top spot.
Ethan Stabenow wasn’t far behind for the Ponies in fourth place with a time of 1:01.77.
Stillwater still appeared to be in a solid position for the second state bid after Dylan Riniker (1:07.23) and James Kalmon (1:07.83) placed 22nd and 25th.
Neubauer said he was surprised it wasn’t good enough to grab second place considering their position after the first run.
“I totally wrote off Southwest,” Neubauer admitted. “We just couldn’t close it out. I thought we would have had them beat, but they snuck in there.”
Kalmon, a junior, was a bright spots for the Ponies.
“He tore up the first run from the fifth seed,” Neubauer said. “They read his time and he was just a few seconds off the lead. We expected him to do well, but we didn’t expect him to do that well. He’s been working on some stuff and he just shined today. Both runs looked great.”
The season has been filled with challenges due to warm temperatures and the lack of fresh snow.
“The conditions were changing run by run,” Neubauer said. “It has been such a rough season to just get started and to have sections in 50-degree weather and behind another section meet, they were moguls. The kids were literally jumping and getting air, so that’s not a normal ski race.”
“It’s like the season that never got going and now we’ve got one race and we’re done. It’s bittersweet.”
But Neubauer appreciates the efforts from the athletes and the many coaches — a total of 11 who were on hand and pitching in at sections.
“I’m grateful to work with this group of guys and gals,” Neubauer said. “When that comes together with the boosters in support of the athletes, it just makes for a good program and success is usually followed. When we can’t deliver the last race of the year it just stings, quite a bit, actually.”
• Stillwater hosted the Afton Alps Invitational on Friday, Feb. 2, but results from the race were not available.
Girls team standings
1. Minneapolis Washburn 412; 2. Minneapolis Southwest 405; 3. Stillwater 404; 4. Hill-Murray 387; 5. St. Croix Preparatory Academy 329; 6. Hastings 324; 7. Mounds Park Academy 314; 8. St. Paul Academy 272; 9. Minneapolis Roosevelt/South 261; 10. Woodbury 260; 11. Visitation 258; 12. Holy Angels 257; 13. Cretin-Derham Hall 245; 14. St. Paul Academy 236; 15. East Ridge 201; 16. Mounds View 197; 17. Park 163; 18. Roseville 121; 19. Minnehaha Academy 96.
State qualifiers,
Stillwater results
1. Maycie Neubauer (St) 1:07.12; 2. Eva Voyakin (MSW) 1:07.98; 3. Gabby Harritt (MW) 1:08.87; 4. Hailey Voight (H-M) 1:09.02; 5. Lia Rulf (MSW) 1:09.36; 6. Lucy Renz (MSW) 1:09.87; 7. Else Wermager (C-DH) 1:10.03; 8. Paige Stabenow (St) 1:10.25; 9. Katherine Moore (MW) 1:10.44; 10. Greta Stanek (H-M) 1:10.49; 11. Jaclyn Lundeen (MPA) 1:10.54; 12. Abigail Pelava (Has) 1:10.68; 13. Reese Kuehn (MW) 1:10.80; 14. Liliana Molinaro (Vis) 1:10.94; 15. Ellie Arbeiter (MW) 1:10.96; 16. Bridget Muttonen (SCPA) 1:11.35; 17. Kate Nowak (Has) 1:11.36; 18. Callie Sampson (St) 1:11.40; 21. Rosie Kubiak (St) 1:11.67; 22. Ainsley Smith (St) 1:12.03; 26. Amelia Moertel (MW) 1:13.02; 27. Madison Komarek (St) 1:13.10; 34. Ingrid Hartzell (MSW) 1:15.74; 36. Avery Patterson (MSW) 1:16.67; 39. Mila Voyakin (MSW) 1:17.40; Julia Westphal (MW) DQ.
Boys team standings
1. Hill-Murray 415; 2. Minneapolis Washburn 413; 3. Stillwater 407; 4. Hastings 373; 5. St. Thomas Academy 369; 6. Woodbury 359; 7. St. Croix Preparatory Academy 354.5; 8. Mounds Park Academy 319.5; 9. Minneapolis Southwest 317; 10. Mounds View 274; 11. St. Paul Academy 258; 12. East Ridge 241; 13. St. Paul Central 234.5; 14. Holy Angels 234; 15. Roseville 171; 16. Minnehaha Academy 150; 17. Cretin-Derham Hall 150; 18. Park 147; 19. Richfield 112; Minneapolis Alpine, inc.
State qualifiers,
Stillwater results
1. Jackson Reents (Has) 1:00.72; 2. Cash Jaeger (St) 1:00.76; 3. Austin Mjanger (H-M) 1:01.59; 4. Ethan Stabenow (St) 1:01.77; 5. Owen Wendorf (H-M) 1:02.29; 6. Toren Piltingsrud (STA) 1:02.42; 7. Finn Cherveny (MW) 1:02,87; 8. Bennett LeVander (Wo) 1:03.26; 9. Cole Caturia (Has) 1:03.61; 10. Jack Bajek (MW) 1:04.28; 11. Andrew Sorensen (Wo) 1:04.52; 12. Vitto Bloyer (MPA) 1:04.69; 13. Levi Ehlers (MW) 1:04.92; 14. Artin Amariayan (SCPA) 1:05.01; 15. Parker Hunt (MS) 1:05.38; 17. Beckett Wedren (MW) 1:05.77; 18. Luke Lindemer (H-M) 1:06.16; 19. Luke Lobanoff (H-M) 1:06.24; 22. Dylan Riniker (St) 1:07.23; 25. James Kalmon (St) 1:07.83; 34. Stuart Durand (MW) 1:09.04; 40. Andrew Humbert (H-M) 1:09.67; 41. Camden Gage (St) 1:09.79; 45. Steffan Drekonja (MW) 1:11.41; 53. Logan Komarek (St) 1:14.17; Charlie Breien (H-M) DNF.
Contact Stuart Groskreutz at stuart.groskreutz@apgecm.com
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