Hill-Murray coach Mark Lindemer called Alpine skiing “one of the brutalist sports out there” given the variance that can occur on any given day.

Lose one edge heading around a gate on the wrong day, and your hopes and dreams — both individual and team — can be dashed. The course, the snow conditions, health, it all has to line up just right to achieve your goals, even for the best teams.

Ask the 2023-24 Pioneers girls team, whose attempt to defend a state title ended in sections when two of its stars , Taylor Voigt and Kate Reardon, fell in soft snow conditions.

“It’s a very unforgiving sport,” Voigt said.

But the pain of the lows tends to add to the jubilation experienced amid the highs, such as the one Hill-Murray experienced Tuesday. Both Voigt and the Pioneers returned to the top of the state podium, capturing the individual and team state crowns at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.

“It definitely feels really good, just because after last year (it) was so hard for our team,” Voigt said. “And individually, for sure, it was hard mentally. So, just coming back and proving to myself that I could do it again feels really good.”

The junior noted she had an entire offseason to think about the fall in sections. But heading into the season, she considered how she’d gone through her high in the sport — winning state as a freshman — as well as the low of last season’s conclusion.

After experiencing both ends of the spectrum, there wasn’t much left to fear.“I just really focused on bonding with my team and just having as much fun as I can,” she said, “because you never know what’s going to happen, and (I was) just trying my best in everything I do.”

Her best was required Tuesday. Voigt threw down the best run on each hill for a combined time of 1 minute, 15.09 seconds — but even that was just four-tenths clear of the defending champ, Blake’s Vivien Pihlstrom.

Voigt’s teammate, Reardon — who exacted some revenge of her own this postseason — turned in a two-run time of 1:15.83 for a third-place finish to wrap her senior campaign.

Even with a slim advantage after the first run, Voigt felt anything but comfortable.

“Because both Kate and Vivien are really fast,” Voigt said. “I didn’t have much of a lead; I think I had like 0.17. So, it’s basically starting a new race when it’s that close. I knew I just had to do what I did the first run, but I was definitely very nervous, because those two are fast.”

Voigt said she remained positive leading up to and throughout both runs, even in the bitter cold conditions. Nothing phased her.

“She had her plan. She is a really good skier, and sometimes if she doesn’t execute the line correctly, she gets behind and gets in trouble, “ Lindemer said. “But today, she skied the correct line, had a good space and it was a good day.”

Hailey Vogt finished fifth and Shea Reardon took 11th on a day where the Pioneers shined across the board. Hill-Murray finished with 179 points, 29 more than second-place Minnetonka.

Stillwater came in fourth. Visitation’s Claire Provencher placed seventh individually.

“We always believe we can win, because we know we can,” Taylor Voigt said. “But it’s just a matter of all of us being consistent.”

That’s something the Pioneers have largely been since the middle of the season when, Lindemer noted, the team established “good vibes” it rode all the way to Tuesday’s finish line.

“The whole team, they had a mission,” he said. “Sometimes when you have all that talent, it’s kind of a double-edged sword. And sometimes it goes well. Last year it didn’t go well, and this year it did.

“I think they went and won a couple years ago, and that was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s awesome.’ And then (after) what happened last year, I think this one means a little more to them.”