Competitive Skiing vs BSL Slalom

Score/Result: 1st

The Taft Ski Team kicked off its 2012-13 season with a slalom race at Ski Sundown against Suffield Academy, Loomis Chaffee, Avon Old Farms, Miss Porter’s, and Ethel Walker.  Before the race, it looked to be a very promising season for the team with a strong core group of racers returning from last year’s successful 3^rd place finish in the BSL as well as some very talented racers joining the team this year. The racers did not disappoint.  In the varsity race of 44 skiers, Taft scored 20 points on each run (15 points is the minimum), and won the race by 59 points!  Following Taft was Suffield in second (99 pts.), Loomis in third (161 pts.), Avon in fourth (230 pts.), Ethel Walker in fifth (307 pts.), and Miss Porter’s in sixth (316 pts.).

 Leading the way for Taft in the combined time was newcomer Henry Conlon ’15.  Despite racing in tougher conditions as the #5 seed, Henry muscled through the course to finish with two consistent, solid times that secured him a first place overall finish.  Coming after Henry was last year’s reigning champ for the BSL Slalom and GS Championships, Eli Cooper ’15.  Don’t let his second place overall finish fool you.  In the first run, Eli slipped on a tough turn in the course, but was able to recover to at least an eighth place finish.  On his second run, Eli reminded everyone why he was able to win the league as a freshman last year.  His second run was four seconds faster than any other racer, thus putting him into a second place overall finish.  After Loomis’ #1 racer took third place overall, Taft continued its dominance by taking both fourth place and fifth place overall.  Coming in fourth place was another newcomer Sarah Reilly ’14, who swiftly weaved through the gates on both runs with ease.  Next was Co-Captain Kramer Peterson ’13 in fifth place, a racer who has seen this team improve astronomically over the last four winters.  After Suffield’s #1 racer took sixth place overall, Co-Captain Karlea Peterson ’14 swooped in at seventh place overall.  Karlea continued her incredible climb to the top of the BSL as she passed several racers who were faster than her last year. 

Although these five racers sealed the victory for Taft, the varsity racers were not done yet.  Becky Frank ’15 and Liz Veillette ’13 proved that this year’s team is also very deep by coming in nineteenth and twentieth overall, respectively.  Newcomer Kim Amelsberg ’16 also had a promising performance when she took eighteenth place in the second run despite being the last varsity racer to run the course. 

Our solid performance carried over into the JV race.  Leading the charge was Natalie Whiting ’14, who beat out many strong Suffield racers to take first place overall.  Natalie’s performance would have placed her in sixteenth place in the varsity race.  Following Natalie was faithful ski team veterans Sarah Lindenberg ’13 and Rebecca Bendheim ’13, who came in seventh and tenth, respectively.  Then came Bohan Gao ’15, who landed in eleventh place overall in his first ski race ever.  Ezra Levy ’15 had a very impressive second run as he came in second place only to Natalie, and both of them will be counted on for next week’s race.  Natasha Cheung ’16 and Lexi Walker ’16 proved to be very courageous in their first ski race ever, and Carey Cannata ’16 will continue to figure out his brand new slalom skis.  But watch out when he does.  Next week, Taft will travel to Massachusetts for a slalom race at Catamount.