Norway senior Sofia Ruesch tackles the giant slalom at Pine Mountain during the U.P. Championships on Monday. (Courtesy photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Norway High School ski team senior Sofia Ruesch defended her Giant Slalom title Monday at the UP Championships at Pine Mountain. Ruesch helped lead the Knights to a second place finish in the finals behind Marquette. Ironwood and Houghton finished 3rd and 4th, respectively.

The race included a total of four runs, two slalom and two giant slalom. The top four racers from each school count for the final team score. There is a boys and girls division. Norway girls, coming off a recent successful regionals ski race where they qualified for the state finals next week started off the day slowly in the slalom. They took second behind Marquette, but due to a pair of crashes the gap between first and second was considerable.

Norway’s Grace Schiltz led the team with a seventh place finish followed by Ingrid Holt’s 9th place result. Sophia Fornetti and Ruesch both had to hike after missing a gate and came through in 14th and 15th place.

“The slalom was a bit tough on us today,” Knights head coach John Bittinger said. “However, a bright spot was Ingrid having her best finish when we needed her to hold second place. We had hoped the home hill advantage would help us, but unfortunately in the slalom it was not our day. We gave away too many points to Marquette making it almost impossible to overtake them in the overall.”

The giant slalom did go very well for the Knights. Ruesch’s first place finish led the way with Fornetti coming through in fifth. Teammates Schiltz and Holt crossed the finish line in eighth and ninth place.

Ruesch and Schiltz both earned All U.P. second team awards.

“We finally took advantage of the home hill in the giant slalom,” Bittinger added. “Ruesch repeating as the U.P. champion was impressive. She was not letting anyone dethrone her and won both runs easily. Fornetti and Holt both tied their best results of the year which was great to see. The giant slalom gave the girls the confidence they need for states next week. We needed to end on a great note and we did.”

The sole Knight boy, sophomore Skyler St. John who has skied this season as an individual, finished slalom in 13th and giant slalom in 14th.

“Skyler has been solid all season finishing in the middle of the pack,” Bittinger said.

“Being the only boy on the team is tough when a team requires at least four skiers,” he added.

This was the final UP Conference race of the season. Next up is the state finals on Monday. Marquette boys and girls qualified for the Division 1 finals while the Norway girls and Houghton boys qualified for the Division 2 finals at Boyne Highlands.