LAKE SHORE — For Gavin Hoelzel and Calia Chaney it was home sweet home Monday, Jan 30.
Chaney and Hoelzel both earned individual titles at the Brainerd Alpine ski invite at Mount Ski Gull.
Hoelzel finished first in both runs for a combined time of 44.14 to help the Warriors grab the team title in the boys’ race with a score of 161.
“He led the pack by over a second,” Warriors head coach Jim Ruttger said. “He just had a crazy first run and has just been solid for us all season. He’s having a great senior season.”
Chaney also won both runs for a time of 46.87. The Warrior girls finished second behind St. Cloud.
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“Calia was over a second ahead of the pack on both runs,” Ruttger said. “She had a great night.”
Ruttger said the boys showed their depth tonight with Parker Linn not skiing and Drew Cline getting disqualified after a fall on his second run.
“We’ve always said this is one of our better teams that we’ve had,” he said of the boys. “Parker, who is usually our No. 2 skier, is gone this week and our No. 3 and No. 4 skiers got DQ’d and we were still able to pull off a win with some of our deeper kids and it was a really satisfying win for that reason.”
Garrett Krantz finished fifth for the Warriors in 47.52, Peter Beritback sixth in 48.52 and Reef Sampson 11th in 50.79 to round out the boys.
“With Garrett and Peter we have seen some sizzling times from them in practice,” Ruttger said. “Not always consistent though, but Garrett has really come on in the last few weeks. Peter has always had great speed, but is an inconsistent finisher. Reef Sampson is only a seventh grader so this is his first time contributing varsity points, so we will see a lot of him for years to come.”
Brianerd’s Lauren Kalenberg placed third in 48.32 and Piper Grillo was seventh in 49.72 for the girls.
“It’s hard to compete with St. Cloud this season they have a tough team,” Ruttger said of the girls. “Piper is an eighth grader and competed in Colorado last weekend and is a part of the trio, who has experience. The rest of our lineup, it’s their first year racing.”
The Warriors added another meet on their schedule Friday, Feb. 3, in the Stillwater Invite at Afton Alps. It’s the last tune-up before Brainerd competes in sections Tuesday, Feb. 7.
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“We have Friday’s meet, Saturday’s practice and then Monday we will train on the section hill,” Ruttger said. “Everything comes down to that one race and we need to have our four best skiers, boys and girls give their best run. If they do that, especially on the boys’ side we have a good shot.”
Boys team scores: 1-Brainerd 161, 2-Lakes Area 153, 3-Annandale 149
Individual winner: Gavin Hoelzel (Brd) 44.14
Brainerd results: 1-Hoelzel 44.14, 5-Garrett Krantz 47.52, 6-Peter Breitbach 48.52, 11-Reef Sampson 50.79, 15-Beau Thuringer 57.99, 20-Ari Sibbert 1:07.41, 22-Jacob Halbur 1:08.92, 23-Quinnton Meyer 1:10.63
Girls team scores: 1-St. Cloud 153, 2-Brainerd 140, 3-Detroit Lakes 131, 4-Lakes Area 86
Individual winner: Calia Chaney (Brd) 46.87
Brainerd results: 1-Chaney 46.87, 3-Lauren Kalenberg 48.32, 7-Piper Grillo 49.72, 21-Katja Yliniemi 1:03.86, 26-Teagan Hartwig 1:07.23
Next: Brainerd at Afton Alps Invite 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 3.
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.
