HOUGHTON — The Norway High School alpine ski team kicked off its season Tuesday at Mount Ripley in Houghton with a third-place finish at the five-school event.

Houghton, Marquette, Ironwood and Harbor Springs also participated in the two-race competition featuring a combined time of two runs of giant slalom and two runs of slalom. Houghton girls won the overall event by 0.5 points over Marquette.

The Knights enter this season with a strong team that returns almost their entire group of girls from the 2021 state qualifying team.

The team is anchored by co-captain and All-State, All-U.P., All-Region racer senior Gabby Carey. She is joined by senior co-captain and All-U.P. First Team racer Brooke Bittinger.

Following the co-captains are junior Maria Fornetti who earned All-Region last season along with sophomore Megan Bittinger who earned All-Region and All-U.P. Honorable Mention status as a freshman. Finnley Lutz is the final returning racer who captured multiple top five finishes last season in the conference.

This group of girls along with newcomer’s sophomore Ella Rizzo and freshman Sofia Ruesch have the potential to surpass the 2021 season results.

On the boy’s side, freshman Ben Fornetti is the only racer entered.

“This kick off race was a slight struggle for the girls,” said Norway head coach John Bittinger. “We were missing both Bittinger sisters due to illnesses and had to rely heavily on the remaining five girls to score team points leaving little room for error in the races.

“Houghton is a very difficult race hill which we have had trouble with for many years,” the coach added. “The race carries much more speed than what we can train on so it makes for a difficult course to ski our best. Add to this the fact we were missing two all-conference racers in Brooke and Megan puts us in a tough spot before we start the competition.”

In the giant slalom, Maria Fornetti posted a career-best fourth-place finish, just ahead of Carey who finished fifth. Rizzo came through in 14th, followed by Ruesch’s 19th place result in their first high school races.

After the giant slalom event Norway held third place by 2.5 points over Harbor Springs.

“Maria and Gabby had excellent results in both the GS and slalom races and kept our team in good position,” Bittinger said. “In fact, Maria posted the two best results of her high school career which is a great way to start the season.

“Unfortunately, Finnley did not finish her second run of giant slalom after posting the eighth fastest time in the first run and was unable to compete in the slalom due to injury. She was skiing fast in the GS and has been one of our fastest skiers in our practices,” he said.

On the boys side, Ben Fornetti finished in 13th place.

“Ben’s 13th place in the GS is a great start to what is expected to be a very successful high school career for him,” Bittinger said. “We have a very deep and talented team and as the season moves forward we will get stronger and the results will follow.”

In the slalom, Norway was led by Carey’s and Fornetti’s third- and sixth-place finishes, respectively. Rizzo finished in 15th with Ruesch ending in the 17th position.

“Carey scorched the field in the first run by almost a second, but had a slip on run two that dropped her to third place,” Bittinger said. “When Finnley had to scratch in the slalom, we only had four racers remaining and all four need to finish to even qualify for a team score. That put a considerable amount of pressure on the girls, especially for Ella and Sophia racing in their first high school race.

“Coach Ted Fornetti and myself are very proud of how the team responded today,” the coach added. “Everyone wants individual results but they all realize in order to qualify for a score they need four finishers, and they did just that with only four racers which was impressive.”

The Knights get a short break before heading to Marquette for the second conference race of the season on Jan. 25.