February 24, 2022 – Slinger, WI – The Slinger girls and boys snowboard teams brought home the hardware from the WIARA Snowboard State Championships at Mt. Lacrosse. The boys team secured back-to-back wins and the girls registered an historic first-time win.
Seven girls and seven boys were selected to represent the Slinger team. The team was selected based on times and performance from the regular season. The boys team included Luke Schmitt, Joe Hefter, Ethan Smith, Isaac DeWalt, Grayson Krueger, Jack Bullis, and Gabe Kebbekus. The girls team included Kallie Weyer, Sydney Kebbekus, Ava Stortz, Mickey DeLong, Skylar Brandt, Emma Smith, and Delaney Braun.
The racers traveled to Lacrosse on Friday for a practice day. Coaches set courses similar to what they would see on Saturday starting with the boardercross event followed by giant slalom, then slalom.
Lucky for Slinger, these courses had been seen before, two weeks ago before the team’s USASA club race. Mt. Lacrosse is home to the Midwest’s steepest run called Damnation at a 516 vertical drop.
There were 35 girls who were part of 4 different teams and 59 boys who were part of 10 different teams competing at State.
The mindset for the Slinger boys team was to “defend the gold” as the team described it on an Instagram post introducing their state racers. The mindset for the girls team was to “work on strategy to get the gold this year,” after a second-place finish in the 2021 State Championships.
Morning temperatures on race day were in the teens, which racers prepared their board waxes for the night previously.
The first event was boardercross, traditionally not one of Slinger’s strongest events.
Finishing in fourth was Emma Smith followed by her teammates Mickey DeLong in fifth, Ava Stortz in sixth, and Delaney Braun rounding up in tenth.
For the boys, Isaac DeWalt podiumed taking home silver despite a wrist injury. The team was ecstatic and impressed with DeWalt’s result despite his injury. Following the boardercross was the easier but very fast giant slalom course.
Finishing in seventh was Braun followed by Smith in eighth, and DeLong in tenth. For the boys, Ethan Smith finished fifth followed by teammates DeWalt in seventh, Grayson Krueger in tenth, and Luke Schmitt in eleventh.
To finish up the day was a tight but rhythmic slalom course. Finishing in seventh was Stortz, and eighth for Braun. Slinger had another podiuming athlete where Ethan Smith crushed the course and took home third place. DeWalt wasn’t too far behind finishing seventh, Joe Hefter taking the ninth spot and Luke Schmitt rounding up tenth.
In all three events for both boys and girls, Slinger crushed the opponents. “It was no surprise,” said a parent from the team. “But the moment you actually get your hands on the trophy, it finally sinks in.”
For the first time in school history, Slinger girls won state. “It has taken us seven years to get here,” said team mom Paula Bullis who has been a part of the team since the beginning.
The boys defended their state championship title as well for the second year in a row. Both teams accomplished their goals.
On top of that, Braun took third overall in the State for combined times. Ethan Smith also podiumed for overall times taking second. The hard work and perseverance of these kids has now been shown. Most of the athletes will be getting an invitation to compete in the 2022 USASA National Championships in Copper Mountain Colorado later this spring.
During this competition, we will see just how these snowboarders from small town Slinger compare to others across the nation.
