Front row, from left: Lauren Masters, Sarah Rowse, Lizzie Rooney, Tori Budd. Back row, from left: Natalie Harrah, Jackie Sampson, Mary Egan, Captain Maggie Rooney, Gabby McCready, Tory Sowizral. Missing from photo: Jillian Saydah, Jackie Magoun, Jessica Williams, Karina Edwards, Emily Erdos. (Courtesy photo by Melinda Sowizral)
In very difficult conditions at Nashoba Valley Ski Area last Tuesday, Bromfield’s ski teams turned in their best results of the season, with the girls winning the race by a wide margin and the boys bringing home their strongest second-place finish. The girls’ Jan. 19 victory vaulted them into first place in league standings, and the points garnered by the boys pushed them back into sole possession of second place, behind powerful Westford Academy.
Sophomore Jackie Sampson once again led the Bromfield girls, with a fifth-place finish; Sampson was followed by eighth-grader Sarah Rowse in sixth place. Junior Tori Budd, racing with Bromfield from Littleton High, delivered her third eighth-place finish, while Bromfield juniors Tory Sowizral and Maggie Rooney closed out the team points in 11th and 16th place, respectively. Eighth-grader Karina Edwards, racing in a varsity slot, delivered 22nd place. The junior varsity girls also fared well, with eighth-grader Lizzie Rooney finishing 29th, and classmates Natalie Harrah and Jess Williams running back-to-back in 37th and 38th place, respectively. Lauren Masters, another eighth-grader, closed in 44th. Junior Mary Egan came home in 56th, and freshman Jackie Magoun in 68th, in the field of 80 racers.
With the fastest second-run time of the day, sophomore Erik Johnson led the Bromfield boys with a second-place finish overall, with junior Tyler von Loesecke right behind in third. Sophomores Sam Elkind and Tucker Edwards both laid down two solid runs to close in seventh and ninth place. Seventh-grade phenom Peter Donaldson was the next Bromfield racer, in 15th place, chased by senior C. Ryan Williams in 19th and junior newcomer Jon Fobert in 20th. Senior captain Josh Wright placed 22nd, sophomore Patrick Ware was next in 26th, while senior Brian Mandozzi and freshman newcomer Ryan Williams finished 28th and 29th. Sophomore Austin Parker was the next Bromfield racer, in the 38th spot, placing the entire team in the top half of the field of 79 racers.
With three of five races completed and two slalom races to come, Bromfield is well situated to qualify a large contingent for the state championships in late February. The league’s top 14 boys and girls qualify for states. For the girls, Sampson, Sowizral, Budd, and Rowse are all sitting in the top 10, while Edwards and the Rooney sisters are well within striking distance of the top-14 list. On the boys’ side, Johnson, von Loesecke, Elkind, and Edwards are well situated in the current top 14, with Donaldson, Wright, Williams, and Mandozzi all in range of a coveted top-14 slot.
