Windham progresses nicely in early season ski meet

By Matt Pascarella

In their first giant slalom (GS) meet of the season and their second meet altogether, Windham High School’s alpine ski team hit the slopes on Monday, Jan. 15 at Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton against Cape Elizabeth, Yarmouth, York, Traip, Edward Little and Westbrook. Windham girls finished in fourth place with a score of 79. The boys also finished fourth with a score of 88.

Windham sophomore Tucker Roy digs the edges of his skis
into the snow during his first race of the giant slalom course 
at Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton in a meet against
several schools from Southern Maine on Monday, Jan. 15.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA   

“The racers wholeheartedly supported each other on the course,” said Windham High School’s alpine ski coach Christine Fredette. “There is a lot of camaraderie on the team and even though they compete individually, they know that their team is 100 percent behind them. We are building our fundamentals, many of the racers need help learning how to care for their race equipment and need to build their skills base to be more successful on the course. We will work on the fundamentals for the rest of the season. We are already seeing improvement, and hope that the team's skills base continues to improve.”

Girls

Senior Lilly McLean finished 12th overall and first for Windham with a combined two-run time of 1:14.44 minutes.

Right behind her was freshman Maya Dries who finished 13th overall and second for Windham with a combined time of 1:15.55.

“I think the conditions were really good, especially in the first run,” said Dries. “The course was set pretty nicely and coming up the headwall was good conditions. The course wasn’t breaking away too much considering it’s all been man-made snow. I thought I did pretty good; I’m a freshman and I was a little bit scared because the courses are much longer than they have been in years past. I was definitely nervous but happy about ... the race.”

Dries thought team encouragement went well but thinks the more the team gets out on the snow, the better they’ll do as the season progresses. Also getting lower and using their downhill edge a lot more needs some practice.

Junior Kolet Chudy finished third for Windham and 27th overall with a combined time of 1:23.93.

Sophomore Maddy Cook finished fourth for Windham with a combined time of 1:27.28 and 28th overall.

Junior Katelyn Cotter finished fifth for Windham with a combined time of 1:31.68.

Sophomore Ella Washburn finished sixth for Windham with a combined time of 1:33.55.

In her first alpine ski race ever, junior Nichole Allegra finished seventh for Windham with a combined time of 2:02.14.

“The second time the trail was icy,” said Allegra. “I was nervous in the beginning, but during the second race it was better. The first run was good; the support of the team [went well]. I would like to go faster [in future races].”

Boys

Sophomore Tucker Roy finished first for the team and 14th overall with a combined time of 1:10.38.

“For our first giant slalom race we haven’t had any practice,” said Roy. “Our team really went out – we’ve been working with chemistry together ... everyone did really well. The course felt really good, it was really firm, so everyone was able to get a good edge and helped ... both our runs. I think everyone had really good outside ski pressure, rolling their ankles, really driving toward the gates – getting wide. I think if we practice some more on the courses ... we could really get stronger and work better toward our next race.”

Junior Preston Stretch was second for Windham and 20th overall with a combined time of 1:15.90.

Sophomore Finn Jorgensen was third for Windham and 25th overall with a combined time of 1:25.10.

Fourth for Windham was sophomore Nick Davenport with a combined time of 1:32.56.

Not far behind Davenport, was freshman Bryce Jarvais who finished fifth for Windham with a combined time of 1:37.02.

“As a team, we performed really well together,” said Stretch. “The course was nice and easy, and it was a good start to the season. It was really good snow, really firm snow, easy to ski on, easy to carve. I thought it was great. I think we need to work on our different skiing disciplines and our different styles of skiing and ... ski more to improve. It was a success because it was our first GS race, we all had great improvement, and we all got a feel for the snow; got a feel for what we’re doing this season, and we know how to progress now.” <