CHARLEMONT — People may be pleased to see the weather turning from winter to spring, but for skiers from around the state, the warm weather meant for rough snow to race on.
The slopes at Berkshire East on Wednesday for the Alpine State Championship were less than ideal, with multiple racers either slipping at some point or wiping out, resulting in disqualification.
On top of that, the course was longer than previous races, making it an adjustment for every skier.
“The course was differently setup than a lot that I’ve seen,” Frontier Regional’s Coriann Delaney said. “There was a lot of technical things. The surface, they iced it and got it down so that was good. The second run felt a lot better.”
Delaney placed 19th overall with a combined time of 1 minute, 41.43 seconds. The senior opened the day by taking 19th in slalom with a time of 50.81 before taking 21st in the giant slalom in 50.62.
Racing against the best in the state, as well as it being her last high school meet, were motivating factors for Delaney, who was coming off a first-place finish at the Western Mass finals.
“All these girls have made it here,” Delaney said. “This is the final race of the season to compete with all of us. It was such a fun day.”
Chloe Brush, of Groton-Dunstable, won the combined in 1:32.56. She was first on slalom (45.34) and second on giant slalom (47.22).
Julia Waal was first in the GS (46.90) and second in the combined for champion Hingham. Marblehead was second.
Northampton finished 10th behind Abbie Denhart, Ellie Mahoney and Abby Andrews.
Denhart was 28th in the combined, finishing the slalom in 52.60 (37th) and the GS in 52.25 (31st). Mahoney was 35th (52.08) in the slalom and 46th (53.68) in the GS to finish 30th overall. Andrews was 108th (1:05.18) in the slalom and 109th (1:00.04) in the GS to place 97th in the combined.
Maddie Raymond also competed for the Blue Devils. She finished the GS in 59.85.
Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School was 13th. Juliet Scott (54.86 slalom, 54.37 GS) was 43rd in the combined. Sarah Fardal (59.25 slalom, 55.77 GS) was 69th overall. Ella Gander (58.08 slalom, 57.64 GS) was 70th.
Sora Green, of Amherst Regional, was 78th in the slalom (58.48). She did not compete on the GS. Teammate Sea Kay Leung was 65th in the combined (57.92 slalom, 55.87 GS). Vivi Bernier was 107th on GS (59.81).
Gateway Regional and Hampshire Regional each had a pair of skiers compete.
Isabel Beaudry-Hathaway was 73rd in the combined (58.09 slalom, 58.25 GS), while Talia Gilman-Solomon was 105th (1:11.73 slalom, 59.67 GS) for the Gators.
Summer Duda was 77th overall (1:03.96 slalom, 53.95 GS), while Dana Warren finished the GS in 1:05.14.
Northampton’s Nathaniel Jones and Hampshire Regional’s Edward Przybyla placed in the top 20.
Jones was 14th overall (1:32.83). He placed 15th in both the slalom (45.94) and giant slalom (46.89).
Przybyla was right behind in 15th. He placed 17th in the slalom (46.03) and was 16th in the GS (47.01).
Baxter Jennings was first in the combined in 1:29.18 to pace champion Marblehead. He was fifth in the slalom (44.45) and first in the GS (44.73).
James Davis, of Weston, won the slalom in 43.68.
Dawson Kelly, of Gateway Regional, and Benhamin DeLaCour, of Northampton, broke into the top 50.
Kelly was 43rd overall (1:40.90), placing 64th in the slalom (49.67) and the 43rd in the GS (52.23).
DeLaCour was 44th (1:41.06) in the combined. He was 57th in the slalom (49.32) and 54th in the GS (51.74).
Amherst Regional’s Nico Christakos was 16th in the slalom (45.99), but he did not finish the GS course.
Frontier Regional teammates Ben Martino and Ben Makosiej raced. Martino was 81st in the combined (54.51 slalom, 58.66 GS), while Makosiej was 83rd (54.30 slalom, 60.0 GS).
Zachary Ames (48.55 slalom) and Ryan Ames (54.01 slalom) joined Kelly on the slopes for Gateway.
A trio of skiers competed for PVCICS.
Teddy Scott was 80th overall (53.95 slalom, 58.89 GS), while Sebastian English was 85th (47.74 slalom, 68.32 GS). English’s slalom time was 32nd. James Scott finished the GS in 55.48.