In the fourth race of the season, Bromfield/North Middlesex boys placed second while girls placed third in the Alpha Division of the Mass Bay West Ski League at Nashoba Valley on Tuesday, Jan. 28. This was the first of three slalom races of the season; the previous three were giant slalom, which requires wider turns.
Conditions on the course were firm but somewhat icy, with temperatures just above freezing. The skiers had clear visibility.
Bromfield/North Middlesex boys and girls were led by ninth-grade siblings Jack and Lilyana deDiego, who placed fourth and seventh in their respective categories. The boys race was close, with Jack deDiego just 0.06 of a second from third place and 0.25 of a second from second place out of 94 racers. Four skiers on the boys team also placed in the top 20, with Cole Maddalone in eighth place with a time of 27.51.
While the boys team has 12 skiers, the girls have a team of just five. They performed well on Tuesday, with every racer in the top half of the total number of skiers. Girls team lead skier Lilyana deDiego said about the course, “There was one spot that a lot of girls messed up on. If you get too much speed, sometimes it’s hard to make the next gate … but overall it was a good course.”
Previous races this season were giant slalom, a type of race in which the gates are set wider apart. Skiers get two runs in giant slalom, but only one in slalom.
The boys team has stayed in first or second place throughout the season, but this is the highest the girls have placed. They started the season in eighth place and moved up each race. They now stand sixth in the league, while the boys stand first in the league overall.
The team’s next and final race of the regular season is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Nashoba Valley Ski Area.
Annabelle Purcell is a sophomore at the Bromfield School.
Bay West Alpha Division slalom race 4 results, Jan. 28
Boys top five finishers
- Jack deDiego (26.48 seconds), fourth
- Cole Maddalone (27.51), eighth
- Andrew Brown (31.46), 18th
- Andrew Zaslavskiy (31.89), 20th
- Cole Janda (41.25), 41st
Girls top five finishers
- Lilyana deDiego (29.19), seventh
- Audrey Slavin (30.36), 11th
- Ruby Hunt (33.41), 21st
- Anouk Bidault (40.02), 39th
- Summer Finn (41.21), 40th
