Slip-up hands Union Mine boys CNISSF state snowboard title

NORTHSTAR — Never foul the shooter with a two-point lead and seconds left, intentionally put the winning run on base in the bottom of the ninth inning, scratch on the 8-ball or slip (inspect) the course when it's not permitted at the CNISSF State Championships.

Colfax High found out the hard way that rules are rules after it's top snowboarder and the team was penalized five points apiece on the violation  — stripping the Falcons of first place and handing the 2011 state banner to an unsuspecting Union Mine squad at Tuesday's awards ceremony at Northstar.

The victory was poetic justice for the Diamondbacks who took second after the South I Division regular season by a mere point behind El Dorado. Tuesday, Union Mine, expecting another second-place banner, trailed Colfax by nine points after two days of racing but the 10-point bump gave the D'backs the title by a point — catching everyone off guard when it was announced.

"I knew we beat Colfax by two points in the second race so I factored in that and five penalty points (instead of 10) which didn't cover the spread (deficit)," Union Mine coach Nathan Foltz said. "I had told the kids we were second (place) and at the ceremony when Colfax was announced at that spot my instant reaction was 'did we get fourth? I must have butchered the results,' and you could hear the air being sucked out of our section and every one's morale and hearts drop.

"Something wasn't right. There was a lot of confusion and I was worried I'd have to tell them we didn't 'podium.' But when we were announced at No. 1 the kids exploded and couldn't get up there fast enough — it was definitely a good feeling."

Despite a sub par performance in Monday's giant slalom that saw the D'backs' No. 1 and 3 boarders fall, Union Mine stayed in the hunt as Ian Diem was third, Carter Price, in his best race of the season, sixth, David Michaels, 10th, and Dylan Staples, 13th.

After the Colfax gaffe, Staples and Diem took first and second in Tuesday's slalom, Michaels was seventh, Stephen Tindell, 12th, and Price, 15th, as the D'backs won by seven points. Before the surprise, the Union Mine team, which also included Victor Stefan, was resigned to taking second place.

"It's great to win — it's one of those things that you think is possible but also at the same time impossible so when it happens it's hard to believe," Diem said. "We had a sophomore (Price) step up the first day so it turned out pretty well for how badly we rode.

"When Colfax was called we had the thought maybe we didn't make the podium but we all went crazy when Union Mine was called. All those mornings of getting up at 5 a.m., getting on the bus, missing school and making up the school work finally paid off. After losing league that was our season because you never have (doing well at ) state as a concrete goal but I'll take a state title over a league title."

Diem was second on the all state team; Cougar Cody Horan was fourth; Staples, fifth; Michaels, sixth; and Price, ninth. El Dorado's team took fourth and Ponderosa 18th in the 30-team field. In combined snowboard points, the Cougars took third place.

The banner was Union Mine's second at the state level. Last year the D'back boys boarders took third.

"It's a bummer to win on a technicality  — I'd rather win outright — but I'll take it because anyone else would if it were the other way around. I've never lost a banner on a technicality but I have lost a race," Foltz said.

In girls action, El Dorado's Brooke Beals was ninth on the all state team while the Lady Cougars took fourth overall. The Lady Bruins were 10th and Union Mine 14th.

Listed below are Tuesday's slalom results for area boarders.

Boys

1-Dylan Staples, UM; 2-Ian Diem, UM; 6-Cody Horan, ED; 7-David Michaels, UM; 12-Stephen Tindell, UM; 15-Carter Price, UM; 18-Lars Bolster, ED; 34-Tyler Cordero, ED;
38-Takoda Casias-Rogers, ED; 49-Colby Haffner, ED; 58-Danny Gassuan, PHS; 63-Colten Hanson, ED; 68-Jacob Hunter, UM; 69-Andrew Prewitt, PHS; 80-Victor Stefan, UM; Forrest Heirholzer, ED, DQ; Thomas McKinney, ED, did not race.

Girls

10-Brooke Beals, ED; 27-Katie Harris, ED; 29-Monica Zutter, PHS; 41-Kassi Hoelscher, UM; 42-Kirra Lisson, PHS; 44-Taylor Caldwell, ED; 45-Stacy Hayhurst, UM; 46-Sage Hoffee, ED; 63-Breanne Morley, UM; Ashley Ritters, PHS, DQ.

UM-Union Mine, ED-El Dorado, PHS-Ponderosa

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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