St. Paul Academy's Burns, Minnetonka claim Boys Alpine Skiing titles

Alpine Skiers competing in the Minnesota State High School League’s State Meet were greeted with a morning temperature of -23 below on Tuesday, Feb. 11 on the suns-splashed slopes at Giants Ridge near Biwabik. Fans and supporters of the participants certainly balked at the conditions, but not the skiers. 

The freshly-packed snow amid arctic-like conditions was the perfect recipe to end the year on a crescendo. 

“The hills were amazing, it’s always fun to ski in these conditions,” St. Paul Academy senior Caden Burns said. 

He capped his senior season with a third individual championship in as many weeks. The trifecta was completed when he blazed his way through two runs en route to the individual state championship. He compiled a two-run time of 1 minute, 12.97 seconds, which was nearly two seconds ahead of runner-up Tate Wilker, a senior at Eden Prairie. Minnetonka junior Oscar Anderson was third at 1:14.88. St. Thomas Academy Toren Piltingsrud and Cook County’s Goshi Dimitrov were fourth and fifth, respectively. 

Last week, Burns skied to the Section 4 crown. The week prior, he won the Independent Metro Athletic Conference championship. 

“When you take your jacket in the starting gate and the cold hits you right in the face, it is “go” time,” said Burns, who has skied since he was 1 ½ years old. “I told my coach at the beginning of the season that I thought I had what it takes to win a championship. I’ve raced against theses guys and knows what it takes to win. I just had to go out and ski and not feel any pressure.”

Burns set the tone for his convincing victory with a run of 34.96 seconds on his first run on the Innsbruck Course. That was nearly a full second faster than Wilker, who was in second place following the first run. On the Helsinki Course, Burns let loose again with a time of 38.01. Wilker was second again, this time at 38.77.

“Today is like the cherry on top,” Burns said. “What I’d really like to do is give a shoutout to all of my teachers that have been supportive when I’ve had to miss some school here and there. They have been great during this senior run.”

Minnetonka captured the team championship for the third time in the past four seasons. Only Minneapolis Washburn, the state champion in 2024, has prevented this from being a four-peat of titles for the Skippers. Minnetonka finished with 176 points, 27 better than runner-up, Cook County. Hill-Murray was third with 134. 

It is Minnetonka’s eighth state championship in Alpine Skiing.

Scoring for the Skippers were Anderson, ninth-grader Julian Ferrales, sophomore Chip Scott and ninth-grader John Turcotte.