Last weekend, Lauren Salter won the gold medal for the Women’s Skeleton race during the Empire State Games. With her are the other medal winners, silver medalist Veronica Day (left) and Bronze medalist Samantha Culiver (right). See page 15 for details about Salter’s race. Photo courtesy of Lauren Salter

Lauren Salter, Idyllwild, won the women’s skeleton race gold medal at the Empire State Winter Games. The Games were the weekend of Feb. 3 and 4 at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, New York.

Salter had the best two runs, totaling one minute, 55.18 seconds. She attained a top speed of 68 miles per hour. Salter had the best times, 57.47 and 57.71 seconds, in both heats.

Her combined winning time of 1:55.18 was only half a second ahead of Veronica Day, who finished second for the silver medal.

“After the rough beginning of the season, this was a good checkpoint for me to see where I was in my abilities leading up to Nationals,” Salter wrote in an email. When asked how she felt on the medal stand, she replied, “I was actually more excited because I was consistent in my runs and was able to fix things on my second run. I didn’t even think about the race or what anyone else was doing. I just had a good time.”

Salter’s next race will be the U.S. Skeleton Championships, March 2 and 3.

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