The Hastings Boys Alpine ski team made a clean sweep of the Welch and MLK at Giants Ridge Invites competing in three races over the course of two days placing first as a team in all three races on January 13th and 14th.

At the Welch Invite, Jackson Reents led the field finishing in first place, followed by Aaron Herber in third, Zach Rother in seventh, and Gavin Molitor in 13th place. Cole Caturia and Jacob Shield rounded out the team that took first place for the second year in a row!

The girls’ varsity team of Abbi Pelava, Kate Nowak, Mallory Karnick, Alexa Lorentz, Jolie Pettit and Claire Caturia skied to a hard earned fourth place. Abbi Pelava finished in ninth overall, with Kate Nowak and Mallory Karnick both in the top 20. The ladies demonstrated strong skiing!

The boys Hastings first JV team really showcased the team’s depth. Finn Caturia dominated the race with James Millhollin in second. These guys easily top varsity skiers on so many other teams. Axton Bauer, Will Bauer, Mason, and Weston have skied hard and together earned a second-place overall finish for the team.

The boys Hastings second JV squad of Jadon Mike, Fischer Kaufman, Nathan Shield, Jens Kaufman, and Chase Sampson finished in eighth place and also gained valuable race experience.

The JV girls team took seventh at Welch, and more importantly gained a lot of race experience. Elin Kirkesaether, Maddie Herdt, Anna Lena Seipelt, Addison Maniak, Maddie Paulson and Hannah Millner all had a successful day.

The varsity boys took their momentum to Giants Ridge for the MLK weekend invite on Saturday, January 14th. There was a sunrise race and a sunset race that also featured section rival Stillwater Ponies. When the snow settled the boys once again came out on top of both races finishing first out of 17 teams and over 100 racers. Jackson Reents finished a strong second in the morning and went on to win the afternoon race on a demanding and challenging racecourse. Aaron Herber skied to a fourth-place finish in the morning, while grabbing the second spot on the podium in the afternoon. Zach Rother cracked the top 10 in both races finishing eighth in the morning and 10th in the afternoon. Cole Caturia finished sixth in the morning race and managed a 16th place even with a bobble in the afternoon. Gavin Molitor and Jacob Shield both finished in 22nd and 32nd respectively. Jacob Shield finished 35th and James Millholin finished 41st with two strong runs in the afternoon on a beat up racecourse.

The girls also skied consistently and strongly on challenging sunrise and sunset courses with Abbi Pelava finishing in ninth for the morning race and skiing her way up to a fifthplace overall finish in the afternoon. Kate Nowak was 23rd and 26th while Alexa Loritz and Mallory Karnick had a close battle with Mallory finishing 32nd in the morning and 34th in the afternoon, while Alexa Loritz, who was 41st in the morning cracked the top 30 in the afternoon finishing 29th. Jolie Pettit was strong and consistent, finishing 57th and 43rd, with Claire Caturia, Anna Lena Seipelt and Elin Kirkesaether skiing well and gaining confidence. The girls team finished sixth overall in the morning and moved into fifth for the afternoon out of 15 teams.

There is no rest for the Raiders! The team will head north to Wild Mountain to compete in the Jack Zahr Memorial Race on Monday, January 16.