Hill-Murray Alpine Ski Team Well-Represented at 2022 State Meet
Led by 8th grader Taylor Voigt, the Hill-Murray girls ski team dominated the Section 4 meet February 9th at Wild Mountain, topping 20 other teams to advance to the State Meet for the third year in a row. Taylor also claimed the individual section title.
Taylor is one of five H-M skiers to qualify as an individual at the State Meet. The others include her 7th grade sister, Hailey Voigt, senior Kylie Reardon, her 9th grade sister Kate Reardon, and 10th grade boys skier Austin Mjanger. The Voigt and Reardon sisters, along with senior Caroline Given and junior Natalie Humbert make up the girls’ team that will be competing for the school’s first state title on February 16th at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, MN. The boys team finished a very respectable sixth place in the Section Meet.
It’s the latest in a series of successes for the Alpine ski team. Both the boys and girls teams have won conference championships, the boys team has advanced to the State Meet before and the girls team is headed there for the third consecutive year. And the future looks bright for years to come.
“We have several skiers currently on the team who have the potential of becoming individual State Champions. With such an incredible talent pool that is training hard, State Meet team titles should just be a matter of time,” said head coach Don Shipp, now in his seventh season. And while championships are nice, Coach Shipp has a bigger definition of winning.
“Winning means to improve,” he says. “Trying to help every student athlete improve is our real goal. Seeing student athletes progress so rapidly is really fun to witness.” Coach Shipp and his seven assistant coaches encourage any student in grade 7-12 to give it a try. He says no prior experience is needed.
“This program is for everyone and there are never any cuts of athletes. There is no limit to how large our squad is and the more students that join the Ski Team, the more fun it is for everyone,” he adds. In just the seven years he has led the program, the ski team has gone from nine skiers to 52.
To learn more, visit the Alpine Ski page on the school’s website.
