And that's a wrap on weekend two! As we enjoyed the warmer weather of this weekend, we also faced some soft snow and treacherous course conditions. Nevertheless, those of us who were able to ski the into correctly, crushed the courses.
This week we faced our usual rivals MSU, OSU, Notre Dame, Calvin, and GVSU, but were also joined by Northwestern. In slalom, the Women won the race with a podium sweep from Lauren Carlson, Anna Grezlak and Kristen Gresla. Adding to Michigan domination, Wyatt Mattson and Benjamin Aulicino took first and second place, respectively, in the men’s slalom. Last and most certainly not least, our beloved snowboarder Stella Gaydek took second in her race! After a good day on the slopes, the team enjoyed the best lunch ever courtesy of the Hallas family in the Otsego parking lot, before heading back to our Airbnb, where the team enjoyed some much needed naps, friendship building and memory making, with the added challenge of no bathrooms! Finishing off an eventful day, was a delightful mac n' cheese dinner provided by the Smith family.
After a fog delay Sunday morning, the GS race was underway with the team’s performance almost as impressive as in the slalom. The girls took second place with Anna Grezlak, Lauren Carlson and Maria Fornetti taking first, second, and fifth place, respectively. In men’s GS, Wyatt Mattson and Benjamin Aulicino took second and third, with Elliott Lavigne rounding it out in sixth place. After a successful weekend, the team returned back to Ann Arbor, where the beloved lions were unfortunately not so successful, blowing a 17 point lead to lose the NFC championship game to the 49ers, disappointing everyone but SF native, Will Brodie who has since been kicked off the team (just kidding of course). I guess there’s always next year! And for Michigan ski racing, there’s always next weekend :)
