Mother nature continued her wild ways by swinging from last week’s sub zero temps to balmy temps and foggy and even rainy conditions this week; all of which produce less than ideal slopes, but that did not stop the Raiders who have proven that they can ski through any conditions.

The team was able to get some valuable practice in at Wild Mountain before their race later that evening on January 22. The hill at Wild Mountain is unique with a section that actually goes back uphill in the middle of the run. Scoring points for Hastings at Wild Mountain were, Jackson Reents in 1st, Cole Caturia (6), Finn Caturia (16), Axton Bauer (21), Will Bauer (24) and Weston Chandler (28). The top girls were Abbi Pelava in 7th, Kate Nowak (12), Addison Maniak (18), Claire Caturia (19), Maddie Herdt (21) and Khadijah Wane in 24th. The fastest Raider boys and girls will try to tackle Wild Mountain in a couple of weeks at section races which will determine who goes to the MSHSL State Meet in Biwabik, Minn.

Thursday, January 25 the Raiders celebrated graduating seniors back at their home hill of Welch, including Abbi Pelava and Jackson Reents who both took 1st place at that night’s race. Kate Nowak finished 4th for the girls followed by Alexa Loritz in 5th, Claire Caturia (13), Maddie Herdt (19), and Maddie Paulson (20) all finished inside the top 20. Lia Ferguson was 22nd with Khadijah Wane in 24th, and Claire Montgomery in 25th. Addison Maniak rounded out the girls varsity. Following Jackson closely was Cole in 2nd, James Millhollin in 10th, Axton Bauer (11) Finn Caturia (13) and Max Bauer rounding out the top 20. James McNamera was 21st, James Samii finished 22nd with Will Bauer in 24th and Weston Chandler just behind him. The Raider JV girls Evie and Kylee both skied well in very difficult conditions, as did the JV boys. Says Coach Gergen of his team, “It's great to see the depth we have on our boys team!” Leighton Stoffel, Jadon Mike, Nathan Schield, Henry Naber, Lenox Bauer and Fischer Kaufman finished 2-7 on JV. Sawyer Chandler, Tor Ronning, Matt Muench, Hayden Gunter, Jens Kauffman, Chase Sampson, Henry Featherstone, Jed Chamberlain and Trent Schulte all skied hard and made the most of the fog, drizzle, and rutted race course.

This week the Raiders will battle it out for the top spot at their regular conference race at Welch on Wednesday, January 31 followed closely by the Afton Invitational on Friday, February 2.

Go Raiders!