2021 Boys Alpine Ski State Meet Recap

Forest Lake’s Zach Trotto made school history on Wednesday, March 10 when he captured the individual championship during the Boys Alpine Skiing State Meet at Giants Ridge near Biwabik. The senior, making his third appearance at the state meet, recorded a two-run time of 1 minute, 12.04 seconds to become the school’s first individual champion in Alpine Skiing. The Minnesota State High School League has sponsored a Slalom Skiing or Alpine Skiing state meet since 1939.

Trotto, who finished 75^th out of 88 skiers during the 2020 state meet, was the third skier during the first run and second during the second run. He had the fastest time of the field on his first run with a time of 36.49 seconds. On the second run, Lakeville South senior William Nida had the fastest time in 35.46, which was just ahead of Trotto, who was clocked at 35.55. Nida’s time allowed him to climb into second place overall with a time of 1:12.61.

Breck senior Sam Shideman was third in 1:13.44 and MAST senior Oliver Mueller was fourth 1:13.75. Rochester Century senior Maxwell Sargent rounded out the top five in 1:14.05.

Lakeville South claimed the team championship for the second consecutive season with a score of 165 points. That was six better than Stillwater, which was runner-up with 159. Edina was third at 138, one point ahead of Lake Conference rival, Hopkins. Duluth East was fifth at 114.

The Cougars are the first repeat champion since Minnetonka was back-to-back crowns in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Lakeville South is also the first South Suburban Conference school to win the team title since Lakeville North in 2008. Scoring for Lakeville South were Nida, senior Joe Olson, senior Kyle Wentworth and sophomore James Nida.