Girls Alpine

Claire Provencher, Visitation

At the 2026 girls Alpine skiing state meet, Claire Provencher, a sophomore, was determined to improve on her performance from the previous year’s state meet.

Provencher, who finished seventh in 2025, had a combined time of 1 minute, 15.01 seconds Feb. 10 at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, Minn., to edge two-time state champion Taylor Voigt of Hill-Murray by 0.76 seconds and become the first individual champion from Visitation in the 50-year history of the state meet.

“I was an individual last year,” Provencher, the All-Minnesota Girls Alpine Skier of the Year, told Neighborhood Sports Network, “so bringing my team to state this year with my sister, with other teammates, it was amazing.

“The snow was great. I don’t think the course sets were too difficult. The first one took out a lot of great competitors. It was challenging and fun.”

Provencher and her younger sister Marlo Provencher, an eighth-grader who finished fifth in 1:17.76, helped Visitation, which had just one senior on its state meet roster, to a third-place finish in the team standings with 129 points.

Girls Nordic

Lila Golomb, Wayzata

After finishing third at the previous two girls Nordic skiing state meets, Wayzata senior Lila Golomb’s intent was to not let a championship elude her again.

“I‘ve wanted this for so many years, and it kind of felt out of reach until recently, and I had really good section races and I was like, ‘This is my last year to do it, and I need to do it,’ ” said Golomb, the All-Minnesota Girls Nordic Skier of the Year.

Golomb, who was in third place after the 5-kilometer freestyle portion of the event Feb. 12 at Giants Ridge, had the best time in the classical portion to earn the overall pursuit title with a combined time of 31 minutes, 38.3 seconds.

“I was skiing with the other girls until about like two [kilometers], and over the top of the hill I broke free and I decided I’m going to win this for myself and I’m going to be really disappointed if I don’t, so I kind of took it and I didn’t look back,” she said.

Two weeks before the state meet, Golomb had a health issue that could have jeopardized her pursuit of the state title. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and endured episodes of coughing that might have created a stress fracture in her ribs.

The illness did have an effect on her performance at the state meet.

“The skating [freestyle] is my best event,” she said. “I felt just horrible during the entire race. I was really down in the dumps after that race. My mom saw that and pumped me up. It worked, and I had a different mindset.”

After the freestyle run, Golomb started the 5K classical race 21 seconds behind. Golomb made up the deficit and posted the best time (15:53.1) of the classical portion to become the first girls pursuit champion from Wayzata since 2019. Her combined time was more than five seconds faster than the runner-up finisher.