One last race and a lot of great memories for talented Niwot High skier

It wasn't the final run that Niwot High School senior Emily Creek dreamed of, but she's grateful she got to be part of a team and go to the state championships all four years of her high school career.

Creek raced for Nederland High School and was in second place in slalom after her first run at Loveland Ski Area on Friday. But on her second run she went over a gate and had to stop and hike back up to get back on course. She still finished in 19th place.

"My nerves get to me at state, and I freak out," Creek said. "I'm happy that I finished and at least got to go to state and I went for it. I'm happy that there was at least one run I did well."

Creek won the state championship when she was a freshman and had four years of being a top competitor at the high school level after racing for two years in middle school for Nederland. "I'm definitely going to be sad," Creek said. "Besides tennis, that's my team."

Through the years, Creek tried to be a friendly face and a helpful teammate. "Hopefully, I'll leave an imprint on other kids. I know our team is not maybe the fastest, but you can still be fast even if you're not from Aspen or Summit. You can be as good as anyone else if you try and go for it. You can be nice and try to help each other out," Creek said.

"She puts her heart into it," said Nederland coach Seth Waldman. "She's got a lot of background training from club skiing and she brings that with her. She brings friendship and good camaraderie - cheers her teammates on. She also is very knowledgeable and has a lot of knowledge to give to our less experienced racers."

Creek has enjoyed helping her teammates, though she was always careful to ask first. "I like watching people get better and seeing them happy that they are improving," Creek said. "As an athlete, I know when something clicks and you feel it and it's nice to share that with someone else when they also get something and it clicks and you go faster."

Slalom and giant slalom are Creek's events, but she was only able to do slalom on Friday so that more of her teammates could get a chance to compete because of pandemic limits. During the season, there were fewer races and racers and the team didn't travel together. "We were incredibly fortunate to have a season at all," Waldman said. "The biggest thing about it was to be able to give the kids a team season, which was huge."

To limit the risk of COVID, Waldman put skiers in small cohorts for practice. He said it helped new skiers feel comfortable and created an even stronger sense of community - a silver lining that he plans to continue in some form in the future.

Nederland had skiers from 10 different high schools this year. Creek said there were nine new racers from Silver Creek and Skyline, a big difference from the past four years when she was the lone St. Vrain Valley School District skier, or one of a few.

Niwot High had one other skier at state this year, Sophomore Cielle Burnett, who raced in giant slalom and placed 49th. "I was actually pretty impressed with myself," Burnett said. "Most teams picked their best skiers and club skiers. And since I don't do club, I'm surprised I didn't get last."

Burnett is also on the Niwot High swim team. The season overlaps with skiing, but she plans to do both sports again next year.

Nederland's girl's team finished 9th in the combined alpine and nordic competition. Aspen won the team title.

Creek plans to ski on a college club team this fall. She isn't sure where yet. For now, she'll treasure her high school experience. "It helped me appreciate ski racing. I also ski better in high school. I think I care about it more. And that has transferred into club [skiing] now. It's really a blessing."