LEADVILLE — Think of them as the three amigas.
Hugs were being handed out Thursday like Halloween candy among sisters Khyla and Rylee Burrows and their roommate/teammate Kristina Krone. The trio from Middle Park High swept the top three spots of the girls slalom race at the skiing state championships at Ski Cooper.
Led by Khyla Burrows’ combined two-run time of 76.81 seconds (38.4 8/38.33), Middle Park set the pace for a potential team title halfway through the two-day event, which features giant slalom today.
“It’s really cool,” the 18-year-old senior said of her first individual state championship title. “I set out to do this this year, and the best part is that our team is so good this year. Our girls team is really strong. To have the podium and a couple more in the top 10 is really cool for us.”
Sweetening the deal for the elder Burrows sister is the fact that she sat out her junior season after fracturing her skull in a tubing accident. She returned with a vengeance, finishing either first or second in every race she entered before capping it with the two fastest runs of the day for her first state title.
“It was a good season,” she said.
Sister Rylee Burrows, 16, was the only other skier to finish the flat slalom course under 39 seconds, placing second with a total time of 78.79 seconds (38.9 5/39.84). Krone, who recently returned from FIS world championship competition skiing for her native Puerto Rico, filled out the podium with identical times of 39.91 seconds for a third-place finish in 79.82 seconds.
“It’s really exciting having my sister in first and one of my teammates in third, and everyone else in the top 10,” Rylee Burrows said. “Pretty much the whole family is involved.”
Their father, Jeff Burrows, serves as a coach at the Winter Park Competition Center and trains all three of Thursday’s top finishers outside of the school program. Still, he understands the significance of a strong team performance in CHSAA competition in which state championship titles are awarded for a combination of boys and girls results in both alpine (slalom and giant slalom) and nordic (classic and freestyle).
Middle Park’s Nick Stenicka represented the boys alpine side with a hard-fought half-second victory over Summit County’s Hunter Black in the slalom.
“They’re working to get their own podium, but at the same time the thing that makes this really special is they want their teammates to do well,” Jeff Burrows said.
The coach did his part for the Middle Park team when he brought Krone into his home for her senior season.
“It’s pretty fun. You live with the craziness,” he said of the permanent slumber party. “The best part is that the success is contagious. If one gets a little bit ahead, the others chase her down. It’s kind of like the perfect scenario.”
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
