Many changes occurred for the Ski Team this year. The team has had two major losses ahead of their season. Losing their top girl racer Avery Leiss due to graduation, and losing one of the coaches, the team is now adapting as they start their season this year.
The Ski Team started practicing on November 29th, and plans to dryland train up until the beginning of winter break. The first slalom race is scheduled to take place on January 7th, at Winter4Kids at The National Winter Activity Center in Vernon NJ. Bernards is in Conference B and raced against Tenafly, Jefferson, Ridge, Blair Academy, Immaculate Heart Academy, West Milford, and Don Bosco. The first day of on-the-snow training starts right after break on January 4th.
For most highschool ski racing teams they have six conference races, three giant slalom and three slalom races. Each time the teams go to race, the course-setter sets up different combinations. In addition, before each race, teams line up on the sides of the mountain to review the course, so you know what to expect beforehand. Each team gets a combined score, and after all the conference races, the top teams qualify for the states, while the rest of the teams are put into a qualifying race.
For the past few years the team has always been small, especially the girls team. In the last two years they have had a hard time filling up a full varsity girls team. In highschool ski racing, each level consists of six racers, and the top four times count towards the teams official times. Unlike past years, the team is expecting to have a full team with seven girls this year. Some returning racers are seniors Chiara Christen, Sammy Morris, and Ella Pesot, and junior Summer Schnabolk. Senior Captain Pesot shared, “I’m hoping to have a fun season and make more memories as a team. I’m looking forward to this season especially since it’s my senior year.”
The boys team has always had strong racers like seniors Crisitan Di Filippo, Matt Johnson, Alek Patoczka, and Austin Tondo and juniors Max Lukes and Tucker Edwards. Tondo had an impressive season last year coming in first place in many races, and qualifying for the Race of Champions. The Race of Champions is the final race of the season, and only a certain number of racers qualify from all over New Jersey. Tondo placed 9 out of 40 for the boys races with a combined time of 02:54.29 for both the slalom and giant slalom runs.
