of three siblings, Wong has followed in the foot-
steps of his older brother, Billy, and older sis-
ter, Julia, who also skied for Ausblick; they have
been successful as FIS racers as well. At the
2011 State Championships, Wong took second
overall, and the year before that Billy took first.
Senior Andy Colombe, another Ausblick ath-
lete, has consistently been the team’s second-
seed competitor. “I’ve been racing there since I
was 4 years old,” says Colombe, “It’s really fun
because a lot of the kids who ski in high school
also do club and USSA.”
Senior P.J. Fechtmeier has been standing on
the podium with the team every year of his high
school career. He has been skiing since he was 6
years old and although he no longer participates
in USSA, Fechtmeier consistently places in the
top five for Wisconsin Junior Racing (WJR).
“P.J. has really broken out of his shell this year;
he’s skiing slalom better than he’s ever skied,” says Stevens. “It’s nice to see that he’s pro- gressed that much as a senior.” On average, the boys are on snow together six or seven days a week. Skiing on the club side for the Southern Wisconsin Alpine Team (SWAT) out of Alpine Valley, Wis., junior Jake Richter is also a key member of the boy’s varsity team and typically skis in the third or fourth seed. Soph- omores Joey Fechtmeier and John Jacobson usually finish out the varsity roster in the fifth and sixth spots. The boys have commented on how they enjoy racing against competitors who have also become friends as well. High school racing, they say, also allows them to compete as a team in a sport that is mostly individual in nature. “It’s really fun because everyone’s there [state] racing against each other, and even though we’re all on different teams a lot of us know each
Chris Colombe
The Catholic Memorial Team
had a reason to smile at last
season’s State Championhips.
BARB RICH TER; MARGE COLOMBE
Catholic Memorial is skiing
better than it has in 30 years.
