This past March, the Cleveland Girls Snowboarding team made history and walked away from their competition in first place, marking the first ever state championship for their team.
The categories include slopestyle, halfpipe, banked slalom, and boardercross, all of which give individuals scores that are tallied up to determine who did best. Out of all the events, the Cleveland girls rallied up the most points, which both the boys and girls teams are stoked about.
“The boys won last year, and so it felt good for the girls to win and get recognition. I feel like maybe they got a little bit more recognition, just because there’s more boys on the team, but I feel like people were also really hyped for the girls. Everybody’s super supportive,” notes junior Prue Bailey, who placed second in banked slalom, third in halfpipe and fourth in slopestyle.
“I was hella proud that they won–I had to leave because I was tearing up. They beat Hood River, which is Cleveland’s rival, and it’s the first time Cleveland girls have taken it home,” adds Lucas Benzien, a senior on the boys team.
The competition itself is a highlight for many members of the team because of the community as a whole, and the numerous team-bonding activities available for competitors to take part in. An average day at state week consists of waking up around 7:30 a.m., leaving the house by 8 a.m., and getting to the lifts by 9 a.m. to begin the competition. Each day of the week holds a competition for each different event, starting with practice runs.
“It’s really fun because everybody’s cheering for each other; it’s pretty lit,” says Bailey.
The week wraps up with the awards ceremony, including a raffle in which competitors get the chance to win various prizes such as skateboards, snowboards, sweatshirts, beanies, and boots.
“The night before awards we realized we had a chance at winning the Sato cup so we got super hyped and were talking about how we were gonna lock in for halfpipe the next day. Halfpipe rolls around and we do ok–we didn’t think we did well enough to win it, which was sad,” says junior Kaja Lommen. She explained that everyone was feeling doubtful after that part of the competition, and no one was expecting the Sato cup.
“They announced the winner and it was Cleveland girls, and everyone went crazy. I replayed that moment in my head for so long,” Lommen said.
Unfortunately, many girls on the team felt that the spotlight had been taken from their success when they didn’t receive initial recognition at the Versus assembly.
“They announced third place for CHS Snowboard Team, which is what the boys placed, and then went through all the individual accomplishments for band and theater,” Lommen said.
After a staff member took matters into her own hands, they received a brief shout-out at the end.
“Everyone was already done with all the announcements, so no one really heard it or cared. No one really gave us the recognition we deserved given that it’s the first time Cleveland girls have ever won state,” she added.
Special Events Coordinator Jan Watt describes some of the behind-the-scenes work on how the assemblies are run, and points out that having to combine multiple seasons worth of awards (due to the strike and the snow) threw everything off.
“It was an unfortunate oversight. It wasn’t deliberate. It wasn’t even a mistake because they had the info, they just didn’t announce it properly,” Watt said.
Regardless, the fact of the matter is that the Cleveland Girls Snowboarding team made an immense accomplishment for their team and women’s sports as a whole. They are the first girls snowboarding team from Cleveland to win the state championship, and are actively making history. But don’t get it twisted–the dubs don’t stop here.
“They’ll bring it back home again next year,” said Benzien.