Alpine Skiing: 5 Warriors looking for big things at state

Brandon Niefert will finally get to compete at state.

This is the second-straight season Niefert has qualified for the final event of the Minnesota State High School League season. However, last season, the Brainerd Warriors' sophomore missed competing because of an injury.

Now he's one of five Warrior qualifiers who will be competing Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Giants Ridge Resort in Biwabik.

"He skies for a U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association team out of St. Cloud and they had a meet between sections and state last season and he went off course into the trees and ended up having an anterior cruciate ligament repair," Warriors head coach Jim Ruttger said. "He was injured before we could get him to state.

"He's had a tough year of rehabilitation before the season and with just getting his strength back. He did camps this summer and fall and he really, really worked hard. He's the one that doesn't want you to pull the course. He would just prefer to keep training until they shut the lights off. He's that kind of kid-lots of desire. We're just trying to get that under control and have him ski relaxed and trust his abilities and his equipment."

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State Alpine

• Who: Brainerd's Brandon Niefert, Cal Madison, Emma Hiebert, Erin Hoelzel, Maddie Kalenberg
• What: State Alpine Ski meet
• First run: 10 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 13
• Second run: 1 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 13
• Where: Giants Ridge Resort, Biwabik

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Niefert finished fifth at the Section 5 meet Thursday, Feb. 7, as Brainerd's top finisher.

"He's going to have a little better seed than the rest of our kids so he'll ski sooner," Ruttger said. "I think the best finish we've had for a guy is 15th place, so I think a good goal for him would be to try and be an all-state finisher."

Junior Calvin Madison also returns to state after a year away. The junior advanced as a freshman and missed qualifying last year.

Madison finished 41st at state as a freshman with a combined time of 1:26.54. During the Martin Luther King Jr. Day doubleheader Jan. 19 at Giants Ridge, Madison finished 20th in the morning event with a 1:26.86 and 21st in the afternoon with a 1:23.46.

"Cal has just been consistent for us all season," Ruttger said. "I don't think there was any question that he would repeat as a qualifier if he just skied like he's done all year."

Three Warrior girls will be making their state debut.

Junior Emma Hiebert finished 13th at sections to qualify. During the Jan. 19 events at Giants Ridge, Hiebert rebounded from a rough morning event to finish ninth in the afternoon with a combined time of 1:27.01.

Junior Maddie Kalenberg finished 16th at sections with a 1:10.72. She also rebounded from a rough morning race to place 24th in the afternoon with a 1:33.02 Jan. 19.

Sophomore Erin Hoelzel was 17th at sections. She was the most consistent skier during Brainerd's last event at Giants Ridge as she finished eighth in the morning event with a 1:28.99 and then scored a 15th-place time of 1:30.60 in the afternoon.

"We deliberately build our schedule around as many meets to the Ridge in anticipation of getting there for state," Ruttger said. "These kids have all skied Giants Ridge a number of times this year. They're comfortable with the hill. They're comfortable with the pace of the hill. One of the things you're trying to manage on all of these runs is managing your speed.

"For our girls, this is their first time qualifying for state so this will be a new experience for them in terms of the whole atmosphere of the state meet. Not in terms of the familiarity of the hill."

The girls' first run will be on Helsinki, while the boys will open on Innsbruck. They will switch courses for the second runs.

Ruttger said Helsinki is one of the steeper courses, making it one of the more challenging. The Warrior coach is still confident his skiers will post clean runs.

"I think all our kids will ski clean," Ruttger said. "I think we'll get two good, clean runs of slalom out of all five of them. When you look at where they finished in our section, we're going to certainly anticipate that out of each section those top 10 skiers will dominate the first 30 or 40 spots, so any movement we can get into the upper half or third of the field would be an incredible result."