On Wednesday, February 15, BSM freshman Abigail Swanson and senior Matthew Tucker competed in the State Alpine Ski Meet at Giants Ridge Recreation Area in Biwabik, MN. The weather was perfect for skiing: sunny, blue sky, and no wind.

Freshman Abigail Swanson started off strong, placing 17th after her first of two runs. “I saw a lot of people were struggling on the first run and the course was tight, so I took my time to make sure that I made less technical errors,” Swanson said.

Her second run didn’t go quite as well as the first, but she finished 39th out of roughly 90 skiers, which was quite an improvement from last year.  “The more times I go and compete, the more comfortable I will get and will be able to improve each time for the years to come,” Swanson said. For her, the Alpine State Meet was a great experience for her qualifying race this weekend. She is competing for a spot in the Junior Championships in Colorado and hopes to place in the Top 18 from the Midwest region.

Senior Matthew Tucker also raced at State, but only ended up completing one run after coming over the ridge and taking a tumble and falling due to the ice on the course. He was automatically disqualified from another race, but for him, he was still happy to have competed at the meet. “It was kind of a bummer, but I am glad that I qualified and participated in State this year,” Tucker said.

Tucker wasn’t planning on placing at State, but he just enjoyed hanging out with the team. Taking the team bus up to Biwabik the day before the race to practice, the team got to spend lots of time skiing, eating, and playing foosball together. Over those two days, Tucker had a blast and was grateful for the experience. “It was really nice to hang out with the group of seniors one final time,” Tucker said.