Josie Marshall (Lenox) on her way to her second league win of the season.

By: Alex White

Warm weather makes for soft snow and soft snow makes for slow races. Those were the conditions the Berkshire County nordic skiers faced this Saturday at Prospect Mountain for the county’s first classic race in two years. With temperatures hovering around forty degrees and a light rain falling at times, skiers slogged through the 5K course. Some resorted to striding the downhills just to make it through.

In what is becoming a bout Marquez and Pacquio would be proud of, Lenox’s Josie Marshall took round three—her second in a row—over Greylock’s Kat Chenail. Chenail befell some serious misfortune in the second half of the race when she lost a ski and had to fight to make her way back into the race. Despite the fact that Chenail and Marshall were in the same wave, foul play has been ruled out of the question due to the fact that Marshall has never done anything mean to anybody. In the end, Marshall’s powerful skiing created too big of a gap for Chenail to overcome. In a post-race interview, Marshall expressed her delight to be back in the tracks saying, “I was just happy to be classic skiing on any conditions because haven’t had a classic race in so long.” Greylock’s Sophia Dastoli, Alexa Adams, and Steph Adamczyk took third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.

Following closely on the heels of the Girls Varsity skiers was the JV Girls, led by Greylock’s Greta Savitsky, Sophie Gerry, and Christina Butcher. Savitsky crossed the line in an elapsed time of 26:01 for the victory.

Greylock’s Sean Houston on his way to finishing second, a career best performance.

A Greylock one through five sweep in the Boys Varsity race was more than enough for the Mounties to snag the victory with a perfect score of ten, McKayla Maroney style…oh wait. Too soon? Senior Alex White took the victory in a time of 19:28. Close behind White were fellow seniors Sean Houston and Will Kirby. Cracking the top five for the first time this season were Jonah Majumder and Jake Foehl. Northfield skiers Estevan Velez and Henry Colt each scored notable top ten finishes, while Mohawk’s Tom Damery quietly continued his impressive season as he snuck in in eighth place. Houston, doing his best to contain his excitement upon hearing the results, stated, “Going one through five was a goal of ours entering the year, and today was as good a day as any to achieve it. I think it’s a real testament to the hard work a lot of these guys have put in both at practice and in the offseason.”

In their best effort to emulate their varsity brethren, the Greylock JV boys ultimately one-upped the Mountie V-Squad by placing six in the top six. Caleb Raymond recorded his first victory on the year, and first year skier Carter Stripp’s third place victory was an inspiration to all.

While the next few days’ weather has next week’s race location up in the air, one thing is for certain: there will be a race, and skiers better bring their game faces…as well as their skis, boots, etc. Don’t just bring your game face cause that won’t get you very far.

Complete Results:

Berkshire League -1-12-13- Boys Varsity

Berkshire League -1-12-13- Girls Varsity

BerkshireLeague -1-12-13- Boys JV

Berkshire League -1-12-13- Girls JV

Olivia Cannon (Dover-Sherborn) on her way to becoming the state champion.

By: Luke Costley and Josh Harrington

The girls’ race kicked off the competition at this morning’s Massachusetts State Championships, as skiers from thirteen different schools took to the course at Prospect Mountain in Woodford, Vermont. The girls worked hard throughout the 7.2-kilometer race, pushing themselves over a series of Prospect’s longest hills and down the subsequently challenging descents. The freshly fallen snow, a novelty in this mild winter, was another factor, as it could be squirrelly in spots, and powdery in others. But paying little mind to the difficult conditions, the girls put forth tremendous efforts across the board; their fierce competition set the tone for the rest of the day’s races.

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