Taylor Noakes skis to an 11-place finish in giant slalom for the Rams.Week two of the Greater Grand Rapids Area Ski Conference (GGRASC) kicked off Tuesday, Jan. 19, at Cannonsburg Ski Area with 11 area high school teams competing. After an impressive first-place finish in the first week of the competition, Rockford High School boys finished this week in second place behind a strong East Grand Rapids team.
Leading the Rockford boys team was senior Michael Dix with a third-place finish in slalom with 1:04.84 and a fifth-place finish in giant slalom (GS) with 57.31. Also placing in the slalom event was fellow senior John Milewski in fourth place (1:06.65), freshman Ben Avink in 10th (1:07.99), and senior Tyler Manikowski in 16th (1:10.97). In the GS event, Ben Avink finished close behind Dix in sixth place (57.47), junior Taylor Noakes placed 11th (58.98), and Milewski placed 12th (59.17). Senior Travis Fleming also competed on the varsity team, but did not post a qualifying finish.
Michael Dix races in the giant slalom event to place sixth for Rockford.
Rockford’s combined score of 67 was well ahead of third place Forest Hills Central (FHC) at 119, but just behind East Grand Rapids (EGR) with a total score of 40. Forest Hills Northern (FHN) placed fourth and Grand Haven finished in fifth place.
Rockford girls placed fifth this week after finishing in second place on the first race of the season. The girls were once again led by junior Julie Daukss with a first-place finish (1:09.77) in the slalom event and a second-place finish in GS (56.09). Junior Carly Funk placed fifth in GS (57.70), freshman Ashley Rister placed 25th in slalom (1:35.59), freshman Emily MacCauley placed 27th in slalom (1:38.58) and 31st in GS (1:04.34), freshman Kaiti Bartholomy placed 34th in slalom (1:42.03), and junior Bethany Hicks finished 33rd in GS (1:05.67) to round out the girls’ scoring. Emily Kommer also raced, but did not have a qualifying finish.
The Rockford girls’ total score was 158. Grand Haven won the event with a total score of 55, FHN was second with 116 points, FHC was third with 129 points, and EGR was fourth with 151 points.
On Thursday, Jan. 21, the junior varsity team raced at Cannonsburg and the boys had another excellent night, once again demonstrating the depth of the team this year.
In the GS event, Rockford boys placed four racers in the top five, with senior Casey Hefferan in first place (54.60), freshman Ryan Donley in third (55.97), sophomore Jake Lewis in fourth (57.28), and senior Dan O’Connor in fifth (57.30). Filipo Rosseti placed 10th.
On the slalom course, Donley placed second, O’Connor placed fifth, Rosseti placed 11th, and Michael Kommer placed 15th.
For the girls, Alysse Quinn finished 22nd in GS and 23rd in slalom, while Christina Cayetano placed 24th in GS.
The next races are Tuesday, Jan. 26 and Thursday, Jan. 28 at Cannonsburg Ski Area. Then the team travels to the steeper slopes of Caberfae Peaks outside of Cadillac on Friday, Jan. 29.
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