For the first time in 20 years, the Sandy High School (SHS) Girls Ski Team won the annual Mt. Hood League Race. The Sandy girls came in first place out of eight schools in the competition held on Feb. 17 at Ski Bowl East.

“It was an amazing outcome. It was definitely supposed to be a team building
year,” Sandy High School Ski Team Coach Josh Kanable said. Kanable has
been the coach for both the Sandy boys and girls ski teams for 13 years.
“This is the first year (in my tenure) the girls have come out on top of the Mt.
Hood League,” Kanable said.

Both the Sandy boys and girls teams had several youth from Welches and
Rhododendron that made a strong showing at the Oregon Interscholastic Ski
Racing Association (OISRA) ski races at the Hoodoo ski resort in Sisters
Oregon on March 2-3.

Aeris Eaton, Bode Burke, Denali Barrett, Dylan Brown, Elle Schreiner and
Grace Burke represented SHS in the race and competed in the slalom and
giant slalom.

Sandy junior Elle Schreiner placed 16th overall combined out of 113 girls in
the OISRA state competition.

“I am on the mountain four to six days a week, and I love sharing that with
the Sandy High Ski team,” Schreiner said. “There is no better place than on
the mountain, and the team has the kindest atmosphere around.”
Eaton, a senior, took home the Sportsmanship award at the Mt. Hood league
competition for her display of team spirit and kindness to other teams and
participants throughout the season.

“You would think the great part is skiing on beautiful Mount Hood three days a
week but the best part is the people,” Eaton said. “Being a senior on this team
and having the opportunity to get to know everyone was one of the best parts
of my senior year.”

The SHS ski team exemplified sportsmanship with the team’s practice of
welcoming skiers of all experience and skill levels.
“This year we had four athletes who had never skied before on the team,”
Kanable said.

He added that skiing has traditionally been a hard sport for many youth to
have access to.

With the support of the Oregon Trail School District’s funding for bussing and
coaching, Kanable has been able to develop the program from eight
participants in 2010 to 31 students this season.

“They light up at the end of the night,” Kanable said about the positive
response from participants of all skill levels on his team.
With the majority of the team returning next season, Kanable anticipates
another positive season next year.

The Sandy boys team placed first in the Mt. Hood League the last three
seasons before this year. The boys finished fourth in the league this year and
are not losing any seniors on their side.

“The squads will be bigger, stronger and more experienced. I think they
improve every season, and we’ll have some skilled skiers coming in as
freshmen,” said Kanable. “It’s a wonderful group of kids, who excel on and off
the slopes.”