THOMPSONVILLE – The Norway Knights girls alpine ski team finished third in the regional round Monday at Crystal Mountain and advanced to the MHSAA Skiing Finals for third straight season and fourth time in the last six years.

With their performance, the Norway girls will compete in the MHSAA Division 2 state finals to be held Monday, Feb. 23 at Schuss Mountain in Mancelona.

In the slalom race that began the day, Sophia Fornetti led the way for Norway with a 12th place finish, followed by Sofia Wentarimi in 15th, Annika Hill in 20th and Ingrid Holt in 22nd.

“The girls had a great slalom race today,” Norway coach John Bittinger said. “We put four in the top 22. Our depth has been great this year even though we start four freshmen out of our six racers.”

At that point in the competition, Norway held a narrow lead over three strong teams, Bittinger said.

“So, we knew we had a tough test in the giant slalom to keep our lead.”

And the Knights came through. Abby Hoy led the way with a 6th place finish, Fornetti skied to an eighth-place result and Hold and Wentarimi finished 18th and 29th, respectively.

These giant slalom results helped the Knights hang on to their third place standing.

“These girls really stepped up at a time where there was a lot of pressure and three teams trying to overtake us,” Bittinger said. “We had to ski our best and (we) did.”

In the overall in the team standings, Harbor Springs took home the title with Great North Alpine in second. Petoskey and Grayling finished close behind the Knights.

The Norway boys finished sixth overall.

Bittinger said the boys had a “very good day” on the slopes.

“They were only five points out of fourth place,” Bittinger said. “Similar to the girls team, (the boys) field four new racers out of five.”

The Norway boys also started with the giant slalom race. Levi Caruso finished in 21st place, while Conor Smith crossed the finish line in 24th. Skyler St. John was next in 25th and Tyler Phelps came in 32nd.

In the slalom, the Knight boys improved as Caruso wound up 18th, Phelps placed 19th, St. John finished in 24th, Smith took 31st and Kieran Hempel placed 36th.

“All five boys skied solid today,” Bittinger said. “Sixth place in what is considered the strongest region in the state is a great way to start a new boys team.

“They have a ton of potential, and we expect them to improve each year.”

Next up for the Knights are the U.P. Championships to be held in Houghton on Monday.

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(Compiled by Daily News sports correspondent Jerry DeRoche)