STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — On his final day of his senior season, Steamboat Springs High School skier Sumner Cotton finished third in the 5-kilometer classic race at the state championship at the Gold Run Nordic Center.

His time of 14 minutes, 50.46 seconds was less than half a second slower than the second-place finisher and 40 seconds behind the winner, Taiga Moore, of Aspen.

A few hours later, he competed in the 3-kilometer skate race, taking 16th with a time of 8:18.96. He was the fastest Sailor in either race.

The Steamboat girls were led by senior Zoe Bennett-Manke, who earned sixth in the classic race with a time of 17:47.09 and fourth in the skate race in 8:57.08.

“I think this is the best we’ve ever had a Steamboat skier do at state, how Zoe did,” said Steamboat head coach Jesse Wilkins.

In the boys classic race, Andy Henderson, Jaydon Fryer, Alex Colby and Jeremiah Kelley all finished in the top 30.

Jade Henderson earned 26th in the girls classic race, followed by Claire Bohmer in 35th and Caroline Bauer in 42nd.

Bohmer, a senior captain, got out of quarantine Friday and was able to compete in her final state championship.

“We were all worried. We weren’t sure if she was going to be able to make it or not,” Wilkins said.

The skate race saw first-year Nordic skier Caroline Bauer finish 29th, while teammate Anne Hager took 38th.

Senior Alex Colby finished 26th in the boys skate race and Jaydon Fryer earned 33rd.

The boys and girls are both seventh in the team standings ahead of the Alpine state championships Thursday and Friday.

“The thing that really surprised me about the whole day is how stiff the competition was. We hadn’t seen almost any of these kids,” Wilkins said. “That was surprising. I honestly thought as a team we would do better, but we still had really good individual results.”

5K classic

Boys team scores: 1. Aspen 338. 2. Eagle Valley 301. 3. Middle Park 291. 3. Vail Mountain 291. 7. Steamboat Springs 264.

Top 3: 1. Taiga Moore, A, 14:11.04. 2. Ferguson St. John, EV, 14:49.01. 3. Sumner Cotton, SS, 14:50.46.

Steamboat finishers: 22. Andy Henderson 16:38.28. 25. Jaydon Fryer 16:42.86. 27. Alex Colby 16:54.52. 28. Jeremiah Kelley 16:55.9. 32. Alden Wade 17:00.56. 45. Xander Dalke 17:34.99. 48. Jaxson Fryer 17:43.86. 52. Bowden Tumminello 17:49.19. 59. Ely Cariveau 18:56.3.

Girls team scores: 1. Aspen 333. 2. Summit 301. 3. Lake County 296. 7. Steamboat Springs 254.

Top 3: 1. Rose Horning, LCHS, 16:41.16. 2. Lola Villafranco, CRMS, 17:05.48. 3. Izzy Glackin, VMS, 17:25.81.

Steamboat finishers: 6. Zoe Bennett-Manke 17:47.09. 26. Jade Henderson 20:26.44. 35. Claire Bohmer 21:19.51. 42. Caroline Bauer 22:06.46. 49. Kendra Sollars 22:58.03. 51. Anne Hager 23:14.09. 55. Ella Chapman 23:42.97. 56. Emma Stewart 23:45.71.

3K skate

Boys

Top 3: 1. Taiga Moore, A, 7:21.4. 2. Ferguson St. John, EV, 7:37.94. 3. Noah Wheeless, A, 7:38.5.

Steamboat finishers: 16. Sumner Cotton 8:18.96. 26. Alex Colby 8:26.35. 33. Jaydon Fryer 8:42.01. 39. Xander Dalke 8:47.31. 42. Andy Henderson 8:50.18. 43. Jeremiah Kelley 8:50.21. 51. Alden Wade 9:06.04. 53. Bowden Tumminello 9:09. 64. Jaxson Fryer 9:51.28. 65. Ely Cariveau 10:06.64.

Girls

Top 3: 1. Elsie Weiss, A, 8:28.65. 2. Rose Horning LCHS, 8:37.83. 3. Eva McDonough, A, 8:55:31.

Steamboat finishers: 4. Zoe Bennett-Manke 8:57.08. 29. Caroline Bauer 10:10.67. 38. Anne Hager 10:17.61. 41. Claire Bohmer 10:20.4. 46. Jade Henderson 10:32.9. 47. Emma Stewart 10:34.7. 52. Ella Chapman 10:50.21. 59. Kendra Sollars 11:06.1.