The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

MEAD - The Bluewood Alpine Race Team (BART) faced harsh conditions at the Youth Team's first com­petition at Mt. Spokane last weekend, but two skiers claimed one top-five and two top-ten finishes in the Giant Slalom event.

Heavy, wet snow and fog made even finding the race site difficult and led to rough course conditions. A hard freeze Saturday night turned the wet snow to boilerplate, making Sunday's course extremely fast - testing the athletes' ability to hold an edge on their skis.

Halle White (U14 Class) of Walla Walla led the team placing seventh on Saturday and fifth on Sunday. A slow first run Saturday kept her out of the top five, but she showed the ability to ski at the highest level in the most competitive age group.

Eva Siess of Dayton (U12 Class) had difficulty Sat­urday morning, falling at the end of the headwall and breaking one of her poles in half. However, she rebound­ed on Sunday with an eighth place finish.

The majority of the team was building experience. "Everyone skied great," said Head Coach Hal White. "A lot of our kids had never even been to Mt. Spokane, which is always a tough event, so I'm really proud of them."

The Youth Team is train­ing at Bluewood this week­end while the Junior Team takes their turn at Mt. Spo­kane for the first Junior Olympic Qualifier.

Participating skiers in­cluded: Clara Maxon, Gracie Batte, Dylan Grant, Melany Lane-Laudenslager, Evan­geline Siess, Sophie Pellet, Halle White, Brody Pingree, Mason Maheras, Tyler Max­on, Kaleb Stephens, Andrew Worden.