Mount Greylock Girls Dominant as Nordic Skiers Head North
WOODFORD, Vt. -- Mother Nature has not been kind to the high school skiing community this winter, and this week she served up a mixed blessing.
The Berkshire County Nordic League got to run its first race of the season in daylight, but only because "Winter Storm Jonas" hugged the coast and did not bring the Saturday blast anticipated earlier in the week.
"Racing's great, but I'm really looking forward to the point when we get a foot of snow," Mount Greylock senior Ian Culname said after finishing second in the boys race at Prospect Mountain. "Hopefully, that's an inevitable fact about a New England winter. It's nice to be out here, but we need a storm, and it would be nice to have a big more snow."
Culnane was chased across the finish line by teammate Matt Wiseman in third. But Northfield-Mt. Hermon's Esevan Velez finished first overall to lead NMH to the team title with 21 points to Mount Greylock's 32.
Mount Greylock's girls dominated the competition. Grace Smith led eight Mounties in the top 10 to give her team an easy win with 12 points to Lenox's 45.
Sophie Gerry, Brandi Gill and Catherine Cavalli rounded out the scoring for Mount Greylock. Smith, Gerry and Gill finished 1-2-3.
Lenox's Alice Huth was fourth, and Northfield's Nevada Powers cracked the top 10 with a fifth-place showing.
NMH finihed third on the girls side with 49 points. Amherst, Wahconah, Hoosac, Mohawk, Taconic and Simbsury rounded out the nine-team field.
The league's first two races were held at night at Alpine areas in Great Barrington and Charlemont. The trip north to the Green Mountains was delayed by a few weeks; it was originally scheduled for the Christmas break.
Culnane said given the lack of snow, even at altitude, conditions were not perfect, but no one was complaining.
"The conditions were a little bumpy, but we can't ask for anything better because I think Prospect has the best snow cover right now," he said. "So what can you do?"
The league's skiers will keep watching the forecast and hope for better news ahead of next Saturday's meet at Nothchview Reservation, site of the Feb. 9 state meet -- an event that, barely into the season, looms just around the corner.
"It's definitely a surreal experience," Culnane said. "With the late start, it kind of makes me feel like it's early January. But, yeah, states are approaching fast. Hopefully, we'll be ready. The team looks pretty good. We have a lot of work cut out for us with Amherst, NMH is great competition. They looked really good. It's awesome having them out here. They're a great team and a lot of fun to be around."
BOYS TEAM SCORES
1. Northfield 21; 2. Mount Greylock 32; 3. Amherst 38; 4. Lenox 61; 5. Wahconah 88; 6. Hoosac VAlley 109; 7. Mohawk 141; 8. Simsbury 152. Taconic (no score, three racers)
GIRLS TEAM SCORES
1. Mount Greylock 12; 2. Lenox 45; 3. Northfield 49; 4. Amherst 68; 5. Wahconah 83; 6. Hoosac Valley 111; 7. Mohawk 138; 8. Taconic 155; 9. Simsbury 158.
BOYS TOP 20
1 1 Estevan Velez - 00:14:12.706 Northfield
2 2 Ian Culnane - 00:14:24.486 Greylock
3 3 Matthew Wiseman - 00:14:37.663 Greylock
4 4 Willy Wright SO 00:14:58.716 Amherst
5 5 Toby Weed - 00:15:23.140 Northfield
6 6 Emmett Flynn - 00:15:32.266 Northfield
7 7 Jared Haley SR 00:15:48.906 Hoosac
8 8 Wyatt Warner SR 00:15:54.343 Amherst
9 9 Rye Buckley - 00:15:55.383 Northfield
10 10 Luke Sedor Protti SO 00:15:59.146 Amherst
11 11 Miles Marshall JR 00:16:03.976 Lenox
12 12 Sean Harvey JR 00:16:06.590 Wahcoanah
13 13 Tommy Kirby - 00:16:20.993 Greylock
14 14 Jakin Miller - 00:16:37.166 Greylock
15 15 Linden Niedeck 7th 00:16:37.950 Lenox
16 16 Ciaran Young SR 00:16:49.053 Amherst
17 17 Joe Bouvier JR 00:16:49.813 Lenox
18 18 Harry Burns SO 00:16:58.863 Lenox
19 19 Cameron Castonguay - 00:17:02.923 Greylock
20 20 Evan Arthur - 00:17:04.546 Greylock
GIRLS TOP 20
1 1 Grace Smith - 00:16:37.566 Greylock
2 2 Sophie Gerry - 00:18:03.810 Greylock
3 3 Brandi Gill - 00:18:09.600 Greylock
4 4 Alice Huth JR 00:18:17.443 Leonx
5 5 Nevada Powers - 00:18:42.703 Northfield
6 6 Catherine Cavalli - 00:19:03.543 Greylock
7 7 Emma Polumbo - 00:19:14.410 Greylock
8 8 Greta Savitsky - 00:19:16.100 Greylock
9 0 Niku Darafshi - 00:19:17.400 Greylock
10 0 Ellie Williams - 00:19:23.636 Greylock
11 9 Lily Howes SR 00:19:38.046 Wahconah
12 10 Emma Jourdain JR 00:19:38.940 Leonx
13 11 Zofia Noble SR 00:20:03.116 Amherst
14 12 Isabella Lombino - 00:20:25.936 Northfield
15 0 Anna Butcher - 00:20:41.810 Greylock
16 13 Emma Lindale - 00:20:48.466 Northfield
17 14 Lauren Gamache FR 00:21:11.626 Leonx
18 15 Olivia Weld SR 00:21:12.153 Amherst
19 16 Katherine King JR 00:21:17.950 Amherst
20 17 Marion Huth FR 00:21:26.700 Leonx