The Minnesota state skiing meet was at Giants Ridge on Thursday February 16th. A couple of South High School students participated. Ethan Nelson(senior), Nick Carter(freshman), Anna Mulhern(junior), Ethan Davenport(senior) and Sam Kleven(junior) all raced, as well as Ella Hoch Robinson who is a 7th grader at Sanford.

Sam Kleven explained his excitement for the meet: “I really wanted to go last year and I didn’t make it. So it’s a pretty big deal for me, I trained all year round to get there.”

Kleven also talked about his background in skiing, “I started [skiing] on the South team as a freshman, but I skied for probably five years before that with my family.” And now that State is over, he’s relieved. “I really like the satisfaction of being done with skiing,” Kleven said. “It feels really good, like you accomplished a lot. And it’s a really great way to get outside at a time when otherwise you wouldn’t be doing stuff outside.”

Ethan Davenport, another student who went to state has a different background in skiing. “Sophomore year my friends started doing it,” Davenport explained. “So they invited me to try it and I tried it… just to spend time with them and then I actually really like the sport now.”

Davenport also talked about how the atmosphere at the state meet was very different than a normal meet, “Cause there’s schools from all over Minnesota that you never compete against, and it’s all the top athletes.” Davenport said, “You get to compare yourself against some of the best young skiers in the U.S.”

As for the future Davenport explained, “It’s a lifelong sport.” He will definitely keep skiing, not as much competitively. “But if whatever college I end up going to has like a club team or something I’d like to be a part of that. It’d be fun.”