'Whole team did very well': St. John's places second at Alpine skiing state championships at Wachusett Mountain
PRINCETON — With temperatures inching toward 60 degrees Tuesday at Wachusett Mountain, a sunny, spring-like atmosphere descended on the MIAA Alpine Ski Championships.
Performing like the boys of winter, however, the St. John’s Pioneers of Shrewsbury, which this season posted a 45-0 record in the Central Mass. Ski League, turned in another fine day on the slopes, finishing as state runner-up to St. John’s Prep of Danvers.
“We’re very pleased with our results,” St. John’s first-year coach Will James said. “We had a strong showing in the slalom, and we were consistent in the giant slalom, and that’s with only one run in each event among 148 boys competing from across the entire state.”
With the three top finishers from each squad figuring in the team scoring, St. John’s had Mihai Gavala place seventh, Owen Ludden 10th and Tommy Robinson 18th in the slalom. In the giant slalom, Ludden was 10th, Maddox Lee 14th and Robinson 15th.
“I didn’t do as well as I wanted in the giant slalom, but I put that behind me and gave it my all in the slalom, and I felt like I left it all on the hill in my last high school race, so I was pretty happy about that,” said Gavala, the top skier in the Central Mass. League.
Robinson, who will enroll at Dartmouth College in the fall, was all smiles during the award ceremony, relishing in the medal-award ceremony following the Pioneers’ strong performance.
James praised Robinson and the team's three other seniors — Gavala, Robbie Cotter and Will Kelleher.
“They’ve left a great legacy of excellence, teamwork and sportsmanship here,” James said. “They’ve also been terrific mentors to the younger kids on the team, and I think that will help us build back and be even more confident in the future.”
“We did our best this year," said Ludden, a junior, "and we were pretty close to St. John’s Prep after the giant slalom, only about a second behind, but unfortunately we couldn’t pull it off in the slalom.
"But our whole team did very well," he added. "The conditions were soft, too, and we skied our best this year in the middle of winter.”
Starring in the girls' giant slalom were Nashoba's Jillian Bradford who finished second, and Shrewsbury's Anyee Li, who placed 12th. Masconomet won the team championship.
Also racing in fine form and earning individual medals in the girls' slalom were Wachusett Regional junior Kate Robinson (sixth) and Lunenburg senior Abby Reid (eighth).
“Kate works so hard for us, comes to race every day and is always training,” Wachusett coach Ken Lubin said. “She has a lot of ability and a willingness to try new things. Kate will now move on to the Eastern High School Championships next week at Attitash in New Hampshire.”
“It was definitely trickier skiing because of the warm weather,” said the 17-year-old Reid, who first stepped into skis when she was only 2 years old and began racing at Nashoba Valley when she was 7. “The conditions were better in the morning races because it was colder.”
“Abby’s been a key part of our race team for four years, and she’s a co-captain this year,” said Lunenburg coach Jay Conroy, noting that she finished second overall in the Mass. Bay West Ski League.
After placing 31st in the first race Monday, the giant slalom, Tai Sayarath, only an eighth-grader, a top skier for the Lunenburg boys team and fifth-ranked in Mass. Bay West, tumbled to the snow surface after slipping and crashing near a gate about 20 seconds into his slalom race.
“I lost an edge pushing too hard on soft snow,” said a disappointed Sayarath, whose spirits were soon lifted when he was reminded by his coaches and family members of how many more big high school races are in his bright future.
—Contact Jay Gearan at sports@telegram.com.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: St. John's places second at Alpine skiing state championships at Wachusett Mountain
