AFTON - Alex Stone and the Brainerd Warrior girls team capitalized on an opportunity to redeem themselves in the Section 5 meet Thursday at Afton Alps.
Last year Stone fell in the section meet and didn't qualify for state. Five of her teammates advanced but the Warriors fell 1/100th of a second shy of qualifying.
Stone and her teammates made sure there would be no repeat of last year's performance as they captured the section championship Thursday for the first time since 2009 which also was their last appearance at state as a team.
On Thursday, Stone finished fourth, Hannah Moen fifth, Emily Aga sixth, Ashley Fitterer eighth, Grace McGuire 10th and Payge Fitterer 20th.
"Last year was really disappointing so this year it just felt really good to have a strong finish," Stone said. "We thought we were going to go last year as a team but we ended up not by a half-point.
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"We were all really close today, like fourth, fifth and sixth. We were just cheering for each other. We wanted each other to do really good. There was a lot of excitement when our fourth girl was in and we knew that we had won unofficially."
Stone finished her first run in 32.75 and her second in 33:15 for a total time of 1:05.90.
"Last year didn't go so well so I was kind of nervous this year," she said. "I don't think I went all out on my runs but I skied clean, solid runs.
"The second course there was ice on the course so that was kind of tricky but when I was in the race it didn't even matter."
The Warrior girls accumulated 281 points to beat runner-up Minnetonka by 16. Warriors coach Jim Ruttger said it was a convincing win and only the third time in his 27 years as coach that the girls team has won the section title.
"We had such high expectations going in," Ruttger said. "Last year we missed second place to qualify for state by 1/100th of a second and the girls were determined that would not happen this year. But any little thing can happen in a race and I don't think I've been this nervous about a race since my own kids were racing in the section.
"I don't know if most people know how difficult it is to compete in this section. Most of the top schools have several skiers that compete in USSA races. Of the top 15 finishers, with the exception of Alex, the Brainerd girls were the only non-USSA racers. Coaches from others schools were wondering after the race, 'Who are these Brainerd kids? We don't see them at the USSA races.'"
Last year at state, Ashley Fitterer placed 52nd, Payge Fitterer 65th, Aga 68th, McGuire 76th and Moen 82nd
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Alex Stone finished 43rd at state in 2013 and 55th in 2012.
In Thursday's boys race, Brainerd finished sixth with Minnetonka and Breck claiming the two state berths.
Grant Kosobud led the Warriors in 20th place. Garett Lee finished 24th, Ben Thoele 29th, Tristan Elsenpeter 32nd, Calvin Johnson 46th and Nick Krantz 65th. The final boys individual state qualifier finished 14th.
"Five of the boys skied really clean," Ruttger said, "but the boys in the metro section are really pretty tough."
The top two teams advance to state along with the 10 fastest boys and 10 fastest girls not on those two teams.
Boys team scores: 1-Minnetonka 290, 2-Breck 289, 3-Orono 284, 4-St. Cloud Breakaways 281, 5-Hopkins 239, 6-Brainerd 235, 7-Mound Westonka 230, 8-Wayzata 187, 9-Maple Grove 178, 10-Armstrong 148, 11-Annandale 127, 12-Lakes Area Alpine 103, 6 teams did not meet team requirements
Individual winner: Peter Kiesel (Breck) 59.74
Brainerd results: 20-Grant Kosobud 105.48, 24-Garett Lee 1:06.55, 29-Ben Thoele 1:07.88, 32-Tristan Elsenpeter 1:07.91, 46-Calvin Johnson 1:13.58, 65-Nick Krantz 1:26.40
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Girls team scores: 1-Brainerd 281, 2-Minnetonka 265, 3-Orono 244, 4-Hopkins 197, 5-Annandale 197, 6-Wayzata 188, 7-Breck 161, 8-Mound Westonka 142, 9-Maple Grove 141, 10-Lakes Area Alpine 133, 11-Robbinsdale Armstrong 51, 6 did not meet team requirements
Individual winner: Rosie Hust (Orono) 1:02.17
Brainerd results: 4-Alex Stone 1:05.90, 5-Hannah Moen 1:06.58. 6-Emily Aga 1:06.90, 8-Ashley Fitterer 1:08.73, 10-Grace McGuire 1:08.79, 20-Payge Fitterer 1:11.74
Next: Brainerd in state meet at Giants Ridge, Biwabik, Wednesday: First run 10 a.m., second run 1 p.m.
