Three Chester racers took first place overall in league standings this season. Pictured from left: men’s snowboarder Jesse Gorbet, women’s skier Bailey Smith and men’s skier Moises McCulloch.  Photo submitted

   After completing its last race of the regular season at Boreal Feb. 19, the Chester High School ski team won first place overall in the Central I League.
    

With all the points added up from the six races this season, Chester took second place in each of the men’s and women’s divisions, giving the Volcanoes first place overall.

   “This team this year is very young,” said Chester coach Dan Smith. “There’s been a lot of growth. They’re hungry, so look out for them next year.”

    In the individual league standings, Chester skiers Moises McCulloch and Bailey Smith each won first place overall in the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively.

    Likewise, Chester’s Jesse Gorbet earned first place overall in league standings in men’s snowboarding.

    Ten of the 12 athletes on Chester’s ski and snowboard teams qualified for this year’s state championships, which will be held at Mount Shasta Ski Park March 8-11.

    In the Feb. 19 slalom race at Boreal, Kenny Wilson won the men’s competition with a combined time of one minute, 2.08 seconds. This was more than 20 seconds faster than the second-place skier.

    Natty Brockway (third place), Michael Pixler (sixth place) and Logan Hitt (13th place) earned additional points for the Chester men’s team.

    The women’s race was also dominated by Chester, as Emily LaGroue and Bailey Smith claimed the top two positions. After the times of the two runs were combined, LaGroue took first by one-quarter of a second at 1:18.13.

    Bry Ward added a fourth-place finish for Chester in the women’s division.

    Chester also took first place in the men’s snowboard races, as Jesse Gorbet turned in a combined time of 1:22.40.

    Chester’s James Broussard was faster than all the other snowboarders on the first run, but a mistake on the second pass cost him more than half a minute.

  In the women’s snowboard competition, Claire Settlemire finished in 10th place overall.