Two RHS/Pines skiers compete for Team Wisconsin at Western Alpine nationals

Rhinelander/Northland Pines Alpine Ski team members Ben Olson and Eli Repenshek were part of Team Wisconsin’s squad that placed third in the men’s competition, second in the women’s competition and third overall in the 2026 Western Regional High School Championships, which took place March 17-18 in Loveland, Colo.

Rod Olson, head coach of the Rhinelander/Northland Pines squad, served as the lead coach for Team Wisconsin on the trip. 

“We were pumped. We were really after Minnesota. Because they’ve got some good racers, and it was a big thing for the ladies to take second and the boys hang on to third too. I think slalom was tough. I think talent-wise, we could have pushed Minnesota a little bit, but just attrition for everybody was really rough.

Ben Olson, a senior from Rhinelander, placed 41st overall out of 108 skiers in the giant slalom competition held March 17 and was 32nd in the slalom competition held March 18. The total time between two runs was used to determine the final rankings in each event. Olson was 48th in his first run of giant slalom (44.94 seconds) and 39th in his second run (42.45). In slalom, Olson was 37th in his first run (52:40) and 56th in his second run (1:07.73).

That second run of slalom included a hike after initially missing a gate. Coach Olson said, though the runs weren’t clean, simply getting four finishes at that level was an accomplishment.

“Every racer comes down, and they’re like, ‘Well, I should have been faster,’ and I’m like, ‘Dude, we needed to just survive.’”

Repenshek, a junior from Northland Pines, did not place in either race, after failing to finish in his first runs of both giant slalom and slalom. Repenshek was 50th in his second giant slalom run (43.66) and 32nd in the second slalom run (58.15).

Attrition was exceptionally high in slalom, with less than half of the races successfully finishing both runs.

“He really saved us at the end in that second run of slalom,” coach Olson noted.

Both Ben Olson and Repenshek were selected for Team Wisconsin based on their performances at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Alpine Racing Association (WIARA) state championships held last month in La Crosse. 

Ben Olson  finished eighth in Super G and 16th in slalom at state, though a disqualification in giant slalom dropped him to 65th in the final standings. Repenshek was 12th at state, led by a 14th-place run in Super G and a 15th-place finish in giant slalom. 

Coach Olson said the elevation — both in terms of the lack of oxygen at high altitudes and the amount of vertical drop on the courses themselves — served as a challenge for the midwest teams that competed. 

“It’s like going to a different world,” he said. “We didn’t talk about where to gain speed and do this. When I’m coaching the kids on inspection, I said, ‘We have to be clean up here, make no mistakes. Because we don’t want to waste our energy early in these courses. We got to save it for the bottom.”

In addition to leading team Wisconsin coach Olson was also honored with the opportunity to set one of the race courses for the girls’ competition — an acknowledgment of his expertise and leadership in the sport.