Bromfield/North Middlesex boys were victorious in the fifth ski race of the season while girls, lacking a fifth skier, placed seventh at the Nashoba Valley Ski Area Tuesday, Feb. 4.
The weather on the course was cold and windy. The bottom of the pitch, the steepest part of the course, was the most challenging, said boys skier and only middle schooler on the team, Callan Slavin.
The boys were led by freshman Jack deDiego, who placed second with a time of 25.62 seconds and is ranked third in the division. Owen Wood and Cole Maddalone also placed in the top 10, in fifth and seventh place, respectively.
Lilyana deDiego placed highest on the girls team, coming in eighth with a time of 27.49 seconds, and Audrey Slavin (29.33) placed 13th. Dediego is ranked ninth in the division while Slavin stands in 17th place.
The girls finished seventh overall, beating two teams even while missing a fifth athlete. In scoring, each skier is assigned a number of points out of 100, based on time. The top five scores from each team are added together to form the team’s total score, so being short a team member means a large reduction in possible points. At the last race, the girls had a full five-member squad and had 387 points. Missing a team member in this race, they had just 305 points.
The teams are in the Alpha Division of the Mass Bay West Ski League. The boys (37-2-1) hold the top spot in the division, having edged out second place Acton-Boxborough (30-9-1) and Newton South (26-14). The girls sit in sixth place overall, behind undefeated Newton South (40-0), but ahead of eighth place Westford Academy (6-34) and ninth place Groton-Dunstable (2-38).
During the season there are two types of races: giant slalom and slalom. This race was a slalom, in which the gates are set closer together and skiers are allowed only one race instead of two as in giant slalom.
The team’s final race was scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 11, at Nashoba Valley Ski Area. Following their last race, qualifying skiers will compete at the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament, Feb. 25, at a site yet to be announced.
Annabelle Purcell is a sophomore at the Bromfield School.
Bay West Alpha Division Race 5: Slalom, Feb. 4
Boys top five finishers
- Jack deDiego (25.62 seconds), second
- Owen Wood (26.74), fifth
- Cole Maddalone (27.58), seventh
- Cole Janda (30.78), 19th
- Andrew Brown (30.94), 21st
Girls top finishers
- Lilyana deDiego (27.49), eighth
- Audrey Slavin (29.33), 13th
- Summer Finn (39.46), 36th
- Anouk Bidault (45.36), 42nd
