Cougar boys snowboard champs by a mere point over Union Mine

SIERRA-AT-TAHOE — El Dorado High's Lars Bolster knew the score and he knew he had to do something about it. Throwing caution to the wind — which was aplenty for Monday's final regular season South 1 Division race — the senior Cougar snowboarder went for it in his second slalom run on Sierra-at-Tahoe Lower Main course to turn in the fastest time to leap from fifth to second place.

That daring move, with El Dorado's title chances hanging in the balance, helped the Cougars win another South 1 banner — this one by the slimmest of team scores, 995-994, over Union Mine.

The Diamondbacks trailed by three points going into Monday's competition and behind Ian Diem, Dylan Staples, Stephen Tindell and David Michaels, out-pointed El Dorado after the first run. But Bolster and Co., feeling the heat on the cold afternoon, rallied to hold on behind Bolster, Cody Horan, Takoda Casias-Rogers and Colten Hanson.

"It was a tough battle — both teams are really fast," Bolster said. "Coming in with just a three-point lead we knew we had to do our best. After the first run someone had to step up so I went out there and went as fast as I could which I don't normally do. I knew if I didn't take a risk Union Mine would win it so I went from fifth to first and that sealed the deal."

After six races, tallying the scores for each team's top four riders times two runs, the difference between the Cougars and D'Backs was a mere point — the closest wire-to-wire race in the division in several years.

"That was something," said El Dorado coach Julie Horan about the neck-to-neck finish. "It was fun having to step up and be so competitive. It pushed the kids — they were challenged. It was also nice having a full boys snowboard team for the first time this season."

Union Mine's challenge was gallant. The D'backs actually won Monday's race 167-165 but still fell a point shy overall. Staples came in first and Diem, who posted the fastest time after the first run, ended up fourth.

"Darn it," were the first words Union Mine coach Nathan Foltz said. "We talked at Sunday's practice that we had to win it and we won it (the race) but came up a point short. They (El Dorado) won fair and square so give credit where credit is due.

"We went at 95 percent in the first run and on the second pushed all our chips to the middle of the table, doubled down and let it ride. We felt we won the race but didn't know by how much. We did everything we could but when the numbers were crunched we were a point away.

"The kids are disappointed but excited for both of our chances at states. These are two good teams and if we both put together clean runs (we) can clean house at Northstar," Foltz added.

Lady Cougar Sage Hoffee cleaned up on the girls side with a perfect sweep of the division. Monday's win gave the junior six wins in six races and the El Dorado girls took the team championship in holding off Ponderosa's challenge. Hoffee's teammates, Brooke Beals and Katie Harris, finished 2-3 while Monica Zutter, Kirra Lisson, Ashley Ritters and Maggie Nuttall were 3-4-5-6 for the Bruins. The Cougars won Monday's race with 110 points while Ponderosa had 102

The Cougars also won the banner for combined boys/girls snowboard points for the entire season.

All league teams and state qualifiers will be posted in a future Democrat. Listed below is Monday's top 20 finishers and team scores along with combined points for the season.

Top 20

Boys snowboard: 1-Dylan Staples, UM, 1:12.22; 2-Lars Bolster, ED, 1:12.49; 3-Cody Horan, ED, 1:12.88; 4-Ian Diem, UM, 1:13.88; 5-Stephen Tindell, UM, 1:16.25; 6-Takoda Casias-Rogers, ED, 1:18.65; 7-David Michaels, UM, 1:19.66; 8-Colten Hanson, ED, 1:22.19; 9-Forest Heirholzer, ED, 1:22.80; 10-Thomas McKinney, ED, 1:23.03; 11-Tyler Cordero, ED, 1:23.71; 12-Austin Prewitt, PHS, 1:26.17; 13-Colby Haffner, ED, 1:26.40; 14-Jacob Hunter, PHS, 1:29.74; 15-Brian Williams, UM, 1:31.52; 16-Matthew Bradshaw, PHS, 1:31.99; 17-John Phillips. PHS, 1:33.62; 18-Victor Stefan, UM, 1:34.53; 19-Nate Glyzewski, PHS, 1:37.38; 20-Mathew Bateson, PHS, 1:38.31.

Girls snowboard: 1-Sage Hoffee, ED, 1:19.73; 2-Brooke Beals, ED, 1:28.99; 3-Katie Harris, ED, 1:28.88; 4-Monica Zutter, PHS, 1:30.16; 5-Kirra Lisson, PHS, 1:30.95; 6-Ashley Ritters, PHS, 1:34.12; 7-Maggie Nuttal, PHS, 1:35.55; 8-Taylor Caldwell, ED, 1:40.51; 9-Kassi Hoelscher, UM, 1:40.78; 10-Morgan January, PHS, 1:41.41; Olivia Ortiz, ED, 1:42.66; 12-Katie Merrill, AM, 1:44.87; 13-Madison Orr, ED, 1:45.64; 14-Rebecca Bradshaw, PHS, 1:47.55; 15-Kyli Fantoni, PHS, 1:52.72; 16-Rachel Cuffe, UM, 1:52.82; 17-Stacy Hayhurst, UM, 1:53.06; 18-Breanne Morley, UM, 1:54.31; 19-Torianna Green, PHS, 2:12.48; 20-Amanda Fogelman, UM, 2:14.39.

Team scores

Boys snowboard: 1-Union Mine, 167; 2-El Dorado, 165; 3-Ponderosa, 125; 4-Capital Christian, 67; 5-Amador, 40.
Girls snowboard: 1-El Dorado, 110; 2-Ponderosa, 102; 3-Union Mine, 64; 4-Amador, 19.

Combined: 1-El Dorado, 1,626; 2-Union Mine, 1,460; 3-Ponderosa, 1,359; 4-Capital Christian, 370; 5-Amador, 277.

Code: ED-El Dorado; PHS-Ponderosa, UM-Union Mine; CC-Capital Christian; AM-Amador

Jerry Heinzer

Jerry Heinzer is going on 12 years as an employee of the Mountain Democrat and is currently the Sports Editor. Contact Jerry at 530-344-5074 or jheinzer@mtdemocrat.net. Follow @ JHeinzerMtDemo on Twitter.

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