BIWABIK — Fourteen Northland skiers will compete at the Minnesota State High School League alpine state tournament Feb. 10, at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.
The Cook County/Silver Bay boys won Section 7A at Giants Ridge on Tuesday, Feb. 3. They’ll look to repeat their success at state after finishing second as a team in 2025.
There is just one MSHSL class in alpine skiing, and the top two teams — consisting of four to six skiers — from each of the four sections qualified, as well as the top 10 individual finishers who did not qualify with their team.
Cook County is led by seniors Goshi Dimitrov and Hans Mehlhaff, who finished first (1:15.68 combined run time) and second (1:18.26) at sections. Dimitrov finished fifth at state last year.
Also racing for the section championship team were freshman August Gulstrand (sixth, 1:21.57), sophomore Cole Pederson (28th, 1:27.41), junior Graham Oberholtzer (30th, 1:28.24) and freshman Jack Radloff (79th, 2:14.53).
Five Northland skiers are repeat individual qualifiers.
Cloquet-Esko-Carlton's Tessier sisters will both return to the state tournament. Junior Teagen Tessier finished second (1:22.13) in Section 7A, and senior Nadia Tessier placed ninth (1:26.85).
Junior Piper Grillo of Brainerd (co-op with Crosby-Ironton, Pequot Lakes and Pillager) finished third (1:02.27) in the Section 5A meet Tuesday at Wild Mountain.
Senior Toby Schunk of PHAST (Proctor-Hermantown Alpine Ski Team) placed third (1:19.78) in Section 7A.
And junior Tristan Bristlin of Detroit Lakes (co-op with Frazee, Hawley, Lake Park Audubon, Moorhead and Perham) finished 11th (1:03.82) in Section 5A. This year, he’ll be joined by his sister, sophomore Alexa Bristlin, who placed fifth (1:04.08).
Brainerd and CEC each qualified one more skier.
Warriors’ freshman Cece Rasinski took 10th (1:05.19), and Lumberjacks’ junior Kolt Johnson also finished 10th (1:22.12).
The first run in the state alpine skiing tournament is at 10 a.m. Feb. 10 at Giants Ridge.
No tickets are needed to attend, and the meet will be streamed by NSPN with a subscription. Live results will be available at live-timing.com.
