Team Lutsen has great season finale at championships

The Lutsen Alpine team—Team Lutsen—is a group of young skiers, ranging in ages from six to 15 years old, who take part in the National Junior Ski Racing program.

The energetic team is coached by John Oberholtzer and Plamen Dimitrov. WTIP’s Rhonda Silence sat down with the coaches for a report on the season. Click below to hear that interview. 

Coach Dimitrov also shared the following report with WTIP Community Radio:

Lutsen Junior Alpine ski racers competed in all five regular season ski races this season. They earned multiple podium appearances in each race, within the various age groups.

The Championship race is the last race of the season, and brings another level of competition. In addition to the individual race and awards, this event includes a team competition, based on the performance of each racer.

This year’s Championship race was held Sunday, March 3 at Lutsen Mountains on the steep slopes of Koo-Koo.

Despite the cold weather 180 racers turned out, divided into several age groups, competing in one Giant Slalom and one Slalom run.  

Twenty-six of these racers were from Team Lutsen. Our racers had an excellent day, finishing in three 1st places, four 2nd places, along with a handful of top 10 finishes.

When the dust settled Team Lutsen took 3rd place, in a very close competition, just behind Team Mont Du Lac in 1st, and Team Mount Ski Gull, which came in 2nd.

It is worth noting these two teams have a larger number of racers, which makes the accomplishment by our Team Lutsen racers more impressive.

This race will not be possible without the help of Lutsen Mountains and over 30 parents and other volunteers.

Several seventh graders have participated in practices and raced with the Cook County High School team this season – Ray Dressely, Weston Heeren, Cy Oberholtzer, Andrew Hallberg, Elijah Blanck, Kalina Dimitrova and Alessandra Duclos.

It is good to see the continuation of their effort on the next level of competing, and to see them grow as racers and individuals.
I would like to add despite the long season, our racers have demonstrated resiliency, camaraderie, and sportsmanship, beyond what us coaches can teach.

For more information and photos of Team Lutsen, visit the team Facebook page.