HIGH SCHOOL ALPINE SKIING

Camden Hills skis Black Mountain, first giant slalom of season

Tue, 02/02/2016 - 7:00am

RUMFORD The Camden Hills/Watershed Alpine ski team made the five hour round-trip trek to Black Mountain Friday, Jan. 29, to participate in our first giant slalom of the season and the results were superb.

Ella Simon of the Watershed school blistered the course and the field to claim top individual honors with a combined time of 1:08.76, a full second ahead of her nearest competitor and despite losing a ski pole midcourse second run.

Camden Hills girls put in a gutsy performance to edge Mt. Blue of Farmington by a team total of 42 points to 44 points (lower score wins in skiing). The Windjammers were paced by Audrey Heriz-Smith who finished in fourth place (1:10.23), freshman Jessi Mann in seventh place (1:12.97), senior captain Brynne Wrona in 11th place (1:14.61) and Abby Chamberlin in 20th (1:17.91). Also finishing for Camden Hills were Courtney King in 27th (1:20.77), Sydney White in 32nd (1:23.58), Katherine Dailey in 45th (1:31.43), and Berglind Sigurbjornsdottir in 61st (1:47.22).

The Windjammer boys showed some steady improvement finishing in sixth place of the 11 teams competing. Senior Captain David Flint led the way with a very good performance and 17th place finish (1:11.33). Also scoring for Camden Hills were Sawyer Kind in 22nd (1:12.64), Lucas Fischer in 42nd (1:17.33), and Thomas McLellan in 43rd (1:18.20). Henry Chamberlin showed steady improvement finishing in 64th (1:32.10) and Simon Fedarko bounced back from a fall first run to claim the 75th spot (1:54.48). Jesse Dunn was the lone Watershed Boys skier and put in a solid 34th place finish (1:16.35).

"It was a beautiful night at Black Mountain with saucer sized snowflakes floating down upon us," said Camden Hills coach Ryan Hurley. "Our skiers put in some excellent performances and I'm very pleased with our results in our first Giant Slalom race. Everyone is working hard on their skiing and the results are bearing witness to those efforts. We are very excited to be hosting a Giant Slalom at the Camden SnowBowl this coming Wednesday Feb. 3. It should be a great kickoff to Toboggan weekend with six schools participating. If you have ever wanted to see a ski race up-close come on out and watch. The race begins at 4 p.m. and skiers will finish at the bottom of the slope which should make for great spectating. Come on out and bring your cow bell!"