Submitted by Jennifer Herber

Hastings Raiders Alpine Ski Team continues its trek toward sections with a pair of successful races this past week. Thursday, January 27th found the Raiders competing at Welch Village. Varsity Girls finished a strong second behind Rochester with three top 10 finishers. Abbigail Pelava (10) placed second, Taylor Pelava (12) placed fifth and Mallory Karnick (11) finished closely behind her with a sixth-place finish. Top 20 finishers were Jolie Pettit (10) finishing 17th and Claire Caturia (8) placing 19th. Kira Lindstrom (12), Mia Molitor (12), and Maddie Herdt (7) brought in valuable points, and new skiers this year included Maddie Paulson (7), and Alexa Loritz (9). Varsity Boys swept in winning the race with a total of 268 points over St. Thomas Academy with 198 points. Varsity Boys had six top 10 finishers including Jackson Reents (10) in first, Aaron Herber (11) in second, Cole Caturia (10) in third, Caleb Kimmes (12) in fifth, Charlie Millholin (12) in sixth, Gavin Molitor (9) in 10th. Zach Rother (11) placed 11th, Joe Peine (12) placed 23rd, and Jacob Shield (11) placed 35th overall.

Showing promise for the future of Hastings Alpine Girls included eighth grader Addison Maniak (8), and JV Boys with three top 10 finishers including Finn Caturia (9) placing first, Charlie Vier (10) placing fourth, and Will Bauer (8) placing sixth, and Mason Leary (8) placing 10th. Top 20 finishers included Weston Chandler (8) placing 13th, Fernando Castello (12) placing 17th. Showing determination and spirit were Hayden Gunter (10) finishing 21st, Trent Schulte (9) finishing 22nd, Jadon Mike (9) finishing 29th, and Nathan Shield (7) finishing 30th overall.

There was no rest for the Raiders as they headed to Afton Alps competing in the Afton Invitational bright and early the next morning on Friday, January 28th. Temperatures plummeted to subzero, but that did not stop the Raiders from giving their all.

Varsity Girls placed sixth out of 17 teams. Top finishers for the Raiders out of 125 Varsity Girls were Abbigail Pelava (10) in ninth place and Taylor Pelava (12) who finished 21st. Mallory Karnick (11) finished 36th, Alexa Loritz (9) finished 60th, Jolie Pettit (10) finished 69th, Claire Caturia (8) finished 82nd, Kira Lindstrom (12) finished 101st, and Mia Molitor (12) finished 106th.

The Varsity Boys team competed on a couple of challenging courses that took out many strong skiers throughout the day. The Raiders showed fortitude finishing a close second, just 25 points shy of first place, behind Woodbury in a field of 17 teams. Taking home hardware with the top two spots out of 133 skiers were Jackson Reents (10) placing first, and Aaron Herber (11) placing second. Finishing in the top 20 was Caleb Kimmes (12) placing 13th. Zach Rother (11) placed 29th with Gavin Molitor (9) right behind at 30th. Charlie Millholin (12) finished 32nd, and Jacob Shield (11) finished 39th, followed by Cole Caturia (10).

The JV Girls put forth great effort for the Raiders including Madeline Paulson (7), Madeline Herdt (7), and Addison Maniak (8) . JV Boys skied their all to finish sixth out of 19 teams in a field of 103 skiers. Congratulations to Joe Peine (12) for taking home a third place po- followed by James Millholin (10).

The Raiders will move north to Wild Mountain on Monday, January 31st, and will compete in their final regular season race on Thursday, February 3 at Welch Village.

Photo by Tricia Pelava dium finish. Finn Caturia (9) placed 12th, Will Bauer (8) placed 35th, Fernando Castello (12) placed 67th, Charlie Vier (10) placed 81st,