Girls Alpine Skiing State Meet : 2024 Recap

Move over, older sister, there is another state champion in the Pihlstrom family.

Blake junior Vivien Pihlstrom, a third-place individual finisher in 2023, took command during her two runs to capture the Girls Alpine Skiing individual state championship on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at Giants Ridge in Biwabik. Her two-run time of 1 minute, 20.66 seconds was nearly a second faster than Eagan junior Courtney Bumpers, who was runner-up in 1:21.42. Minnetonka eighth-grader Charlotte Kinzer was third in 1:21.67.

Pihlstrom’s title matches the feat of her older sister, Ava, who was the state champion in 2021.

“She has really been supportive of me, not only this season, but always,” Pihlstrom said of her sister. “She has been texting and calling with words of encouragement. That was really nice.”

Pihlstrom grabbed the lead with a first-run time of 40.50 seconds. That was just more than a half-second faster than Bumpers. Edina junior Ally Adair was third after the first run.

During the break between runs, Pihlstrom didn’t dwell on her advantage going into the second race. She decided to keep things light and not over-analyze her lead.

“My races today came with a few flaws,” she said. “They could have been a little cleaner, but the two were strong enough to push me through. It was a great day with great competitors.”

Pihlstrom is the fifth skier from Blake to win an individual championship. Preceding her were her sister, Nellie Ide (2017), Maddie Dekko (2016) and Becca Davenport (1993).

Minnetonka won the team championship for the second time in three seasons and sixth time overall.

The Skippers finished with 168 points to outdistance Minneapolis Washburn, which was runner-up with 141. Brainerd was third with 137.

Scoring for Minnetonka were Kinzer, junior Stella Stinnett, senior Marissa Witte and junior Sephina Switz.