By Bruce Karnick

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The wonky 2021 winter sports season has come to a close for the Hastings Ski Teams. The Raiders Alpine team sent two boys to state this year. Sophomore Aaron Herber returned to his third state competition and Freshman Cole Caturia joined him for his first. Nordic Sent Seniors Linnea Urban and Sam Rabaey.

The state meet, normally held in the middle of February, was pushed back to early March due to COVID concerns. The toughest part of pushing the meet back in to March is those few extra weeks tend to produce much warmer weather. Sometimes that may only mean a difference from 25 degrees to maybe 40 degrees, but remember, snow starts to melt at 33 degrees. Melting and refreezing snow causes less than ideal conditions for skiing and can cause dangerous conditions on the hills.

The state meets were both held at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, MN. Skiers were greeted with warm and soft conditions even being an hour plus north of Duluth. State ski meets are both for Team and Individual skiers. Unfortunately, Hastings did not qualify any of the teams for the team portion.

Alpine competed on March 10th. Out of 88 skiers, Herber had his best finish ever at a state meet and finished 26th, missing All State Honorable Mention by one spot. Caturia had a very respectable appearance for his first state meet and finished 38th.

Nordic competed on March 11th. Out of 158 skiers, Rabaey finished 117th overall. Urban finished 22nd, just 1:36 seconds behind first place, earning her All-State honors.

Alpine Head Coach Jason Gergen summed up the season with this. “The state meet also concluded an abbreviated, but exciting alpine season. The Raiders boys ended the season with only one loss and will return all athletes next season. The girls graduated three last season and will lose senior Lydia Huntington this year. The squad is young and eager to regain their competitiveness within the conference.”

The Journal would like to thank Coach Gergen and Parents Jennifer Herber, Tricia Pelava and Julie Urban for their assistance this year providing information and pictures for both teams. Without your help and communications, these stories would not have been possible.