The Middlesex Ski Team travelled to Western Massachusetts on February 15th for the annual NEPSAC Class B ski championships. Both teams came in with high hopes, having achieved admirable results in league competitions to date, and left the mountain with those hopes more than fulfilled.
The girls started the day's racing with two runs of slalom in the morning on a very fast and technical course, and quickly proved that they were more than prepared to defend the Class B title they claimed last year. Sophie V.'s two runs placed her sixth in the slalom, Nina H. put together a pair of very solid runs to finish ninth, and Taylor M. rounded out the scoring in eleventh.
While the girls' were slightly down the hill, showing their dominance on the slalom, the Middlesex boys found the going a little more difficult on their giant slalom course. After a tricky, steep section at the top of the course caused top two racers Spencer B. and Grant B.--like a number of other top-seeded racers--to crash on their first runs, the boys team found itself in a precarious position, as the team needed three finishes to qualify for overall scoring. Having observed their compatriots, however, Nick K., Brendan C., and Jack S. changed their plan of attack, providing the three crucial finishes the boys team needed. At the end of the GS, Jack stood in seventh place, Nick ninth, and Brendan twelfth.
After a lunch break, the teams switched courses, with the boys heading down to the slalom for the afternoon. Buoyed by the impressive resolve of its 3-4-5 skiers in the GS, the boys proceeded to put the hammer down in their two slalom runs, leading to impressive results, as Brendan C. finished fifth, Spencer B. ninth, and Grant B. tenth.
The Middlesex girls meanwhile proceeded to the giant slalom course, having learned over lunch from the boys' experiences on the hill earlier that day. The girls, knowing their strong position from the morning's runs, took a solid, smart approach to their GS runs, leading to excellent finishes from Sophie V. (seventh), Taylor M. (eighth), and Nina H. (ninth).
At the end of the day, both teams found themselves rewarded for their hard work, both on the individual side and on the team side. The Middlesex boys showed their consistency and depth once again, as all five boys who raced received All-New England commendation, with Jack and Nick recognized for their results in GS, and Brendan, Spencer, and Grant for their finishes in slalom. The girls too displayed a number of All-New England medals as Sophie (both slalom and GS), Nina (slalom and GS), and Taylor (GS), captured one quarter of the medals handed out to girls on the day. As a team, moreover, the boys captured a well-earned second place overall finish in the 15 team field, losing to Berkshire by a mere nine points, while the girls successfully defended their New England championship, vanquishing the rest of the field of girls teams with a final margin of victory of nearly twenty points.
The teams will finish up their seasons on February 22nd where, thanks to the effort of the contingent of racers who also competed at Nashoba Valley today, the boys will be challenging for the first ISL championship in program history, and the girls will attempt to close out yet another solid league season with a final win.
