Bromfield-North Middlesex Alpine ski captain Noah Bagley established himself as one of the top high school skiers in the state last week. The North Middlesex junior excelled in both the slalom and giant slalom events at the March 1 Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association state Alpine ski meet to lead the Trojans to a ninth-place finish.
The championship event brought together more than 300 league all-star skiers from each of Massachusetts’ 12 ski leagues at Wachusett Mountain in Princeton. At the state meet, each skier makes one slalom run and one giant slalom run. Each team’s three quickest times are combined to make the team time in that event.
Coach Ray McCarthy said race-day conditions were typical for the time of year, but that recent snowfall changed the dynamic of the event. Usually, courses deteriorate throughout the day so that the first runs are fastest. But on Tuesday, a soft top layer of snow slowed skiers down early on. As the event progressed, a firmly packed layer was uncovered, making later runs quicker.
Heading into the event, McCarthy warned athletes not to get caught up in the excitement of a championship. He wanted the skiers to trust their training and prepare the way they had all season. “Keep it simple and just stay focused on the process and what you can control, and the results will take care of themselves,” he wrote in an email to the team the night before. On race day the skiers did just that, McCarthy said, and the results exceeded his expectations. “We simply could not have expected anyone to ski any better than the way you skied yesterday,” he wrote to the team later.
Bagley’s performances in both the slalom and giant slalom events—which McCarthy called “tremendous” and “jaw-dropping”—were the highlight of the day. He skied 48.60 seconds in the giant slalom to place 12th and then returned in the slalom, skiing 47.62 for fifth. His combined time of 96.22 was the fourth fastest in the state.
Sophomore Oscar Pride placed 34th in the giant slalom (49.38) and 40th in the slalom (53.56), contributing to the team time in both events. In the giant slalom, eighth-grader Cole Maddalone’s time of 50.76 put him 75th and rounded out the team time. Freshman Owen Wood skied 62.61 and placed 103rd in the slalom to score for the Trojans.
Eighth-grader Libby Bassage was the only athlete representing the Trojans girls at the state meet. She skied 54.03 in the giant slalom to place 113th and 1:22.33 in the slalom for 122nd.
The boys team’s combined score of 312.52 put the Trojans ninth among 15 scoring teams. In the giant slalom event, the team was sixth (148.74) out of 20, and in the slalom, it placed 10th (163.79) among 15. Saint John’s Preparatory School topped the field, scoring 145.09 in the giant slalom, 142.79 in the slalom, and totalling 287.88 to become state champions.
All of the Trojans skiers who competed at states are underclassmen, giving McCarthy high expectations for the team in coming years. “The future of the team looks very bright indeed!”
