Edina's Berghult blazes to individual title; Minnetonka captures team crown
Posted: Thursday, February 17, 2022 - 8:41 AM
Edina senior Adam Berghult, winner of the Individual Alpine Ski Meet
Edina senior Adam Berghult led from start to finish during the Boys Alpine Skiing State Meet on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 at Giants Ridge near Biwabik. Amid a soft snow flurry that accented a fast course, Berghult was the first skier of a combined boys and girls field of 176 participants to cross the finish line during the first of two runs.
His dazzling first run made it clear he was the skier to beat in the 88-skier field when he recorded a time of 35.80 seconds. That was nearly a second quicker that West Lutheran junior Josh Nelson, who was in second after the first run with a time of 36.52.
“I liked going first because it helped set the tone,” Berghult said. “I learned my lesson, though, from last year that you can’t let the first run dictate the second.”
During the 2021 state meet, Berghult was in second place following the first run, but fell during the second run and was disqualified.
A year later, he stayed on his skies for the second run and recorded a time of 36.45 which gave him a combined winning time of 1:12.25. Nelson actually had the slightly faster time of 36.04 on the second run to inch him to a second-place finish in a time of 1:22.56. Edina senior Will Utendorfer was third overall in a time of 1:13.75.
Berghult is the sixth Edina skier to win and individual championship and first since Jamie Engelking in 1993.
“Everything kind of just fell into place for it to be a great day of racing,” Berghult said. “Yes, this is an individual championship, but many other people play a valuable role in making it happen."
The first three places in the team race went to Lake Conference schools. Minnetonka won the team championship with 170 points. Edina was runner-up with 144 and Eden Prairie was third with 131. Scoring for the victorious Skippers were junior Stephen Reddington, junior JD Landstrom, freshman Steve Conlin and senior Evan Jones.
It is the seventh team title for Minnetonka and first since 2018 when the Skippers won the second of consecutive crowns.