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Finishing third in the opening conference meet was a satisfying debut for the Elks, who got off to a bad start last year and never recovered.

"It went off a little late," White said of the meet. "They had some timing difficulties up there. But, once it got going, things seemed to run along smooth anyway."

Smooth as silk for the Elks, in fact. At least on the boys side.

The girls didn't fare quite as well, making some key mistakes that slowed their times and pushed them down in the pack.

One bright spot for the Elks was Kaylee Martinek, who finished eighth in the giant slalom. She had to hike a gate in one of her slalom runs, however, and slid down to 19th place in that event.

Mary Stroh placed 26th in slalom and was 29th in giant slalom. Kelly O'Shaughnessey was 25th in giant slalom, but fell during her slalom run and lost a ski.

Jena Bradley finished 29th in slalom and 30th in giant slalom. Jamie Bowen came in 32nd in giant slalom and fell on her second run of slalom, losing a ski.

Amber Lewis was 28th in slalom and finished 31st in giant slalom. But the boys' finish had White beaming.

"I still feel we are in one of the toughest conferences in the state," White said. "To finish third in the first meet of the year is real good.

"We might have had a little luck. We didn't have as many people falling as some of the other teams. But, we'll take it."

Elk Rapids was paced by Andrew Coates, who finished seventh in both the slalom and giant slalom races.

Cam Schaefer finished 12th in both slalom and giant slalom. Chris Craig took a 21st in slalom and finished 26th in giant slalom.

Gabe Leaf (a freshman) placed 22nd in slalom, and came in 24th in giant slalom. David Schaefer had a 25th in slalom and giant slalom. Conner Dittrich was 28th in slalom and had a 15th in giant slalom.

"Overall, I was happy," White said. "It's a good start. We came out of the gate running this year, anyway."

The Elks race in another conference meet today at Harbor Springs, which could be a little dicey with the sudden change in the weather. Much of the snow that fell before Christmas is gone.

White is worried about a quick freeze turning the course icey and hard. Elk Rapids is at Caberfae Peaks near Cadillac on Friday for an invitational.