By Sapna Pathak
Staff Writer

Courtesy Photo West High’s Alpine ski team has been helped by Dave Auer/Fischer USA and Ken Jones Ski Mart’s generous sponsorships and equipment. The booster club at West also has been very supportive of the team.

Last week, the best skiers in the state hit the slopes in the Division I Alpine skiing finals.

On Monday, Feb. 13, the girls state finals took place at Mount Sunapee.

First place went to Bishop Guertin with 739 points. After Timberlane was disqualified for unspecified reasons, Manchester West moved up to second place with 665 points.

Concord came in fourth with 637 points, Goffstown placed sixth with 625 points, and Manchester Central finished eighth with 541 points.

“It’s been a long season and to come in fifth is a huge deal for some of these first-time team members,” said West head coach Wayne Quiet.

On Wednesday, Feb. 15, the boys took to the slopes at Waterville Valley for their state championships.

Concord’s boys took home the top prize with 716 points, while Keene came in second.

Manchester Central and Manchester West came in fourth and fifth place with 623 and 606 points, respectively.

Goffstown placed eighth with 576 points, and Manchester Memorial placed 14th with 147 points.

The Crimson Tide, coached by Stuart Kramzne, have always had a strong skiing program, and Quiet said they are usually one of the top contenders each season.

Each skier was given two runs in the slalom and giant slalom (GS). The total time for both runs was used to compute the final score, with the fastest skier earning 100 points and first place, the second-fastest skier earning 99 points and second place, and so on.

West

West’s Leah McGinley came in fourth with a total time of 70.48 seconds in the GS. McGinley raced the slalom in 89.88 seconds, earning her 36th place and an invitation to the New Hampshire State Top 12 Qualifier at Gunstock, on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Stephanie Seigart placed 14th in the slalom with a combined time of 77.86 seconds.

Also scoring for West were Lindsay Auer in 22nd place, Rachel McGinley in 24th place, Samantha Myers in 27th place and Samantha Thayer in 36th place.

In the giant slalom, Myers came in 10th place with a time of 73.84 seconds. Auer came in 21st, Siegart came in 29th, and Nicole Thayer earned 39th place for the Blue Knights. In the boys slalom, 12th place went to West’s Clark Caldwell, while Jon Paul Padfield took 14th place. Also scoring for West were Scott Hammond, Rob Meisner and Greg Chiocca.

Hammond came in 14th in the GS with a time of 77.24 seconds. Caldwell placed 23rd, Padfield placed 30th, and Meisner finished 39th.

Central

Scoring for the Little Green girls skiers in the slalom were Kerry Moynihan in 10th place, Emilia Comai in 35th place, Laura Valliere in 47th place and Julie Devine in 54th place.

In the giant slalom, Moynihan finished 31st, Comai came in 34th, Devine placed 50th, Valliere took 53rd, Victoria Lund placed 59th, and Emily Walsh placed 64th.

For the Central boys, Peter MacLellan came in third in the slalom with a time of 62.78 seconds. Chris DiCroce took ninth place with a time of 69.57 seconds. Mike Powers placed 27th, Elias McQuade placed 43rd and Shawn Connelly finished 61st.

In the giant slalom, MacLellan took second with a time of 70.45 seconds. Powers came in 15th, DiCroce came in 52nd, Connelly placed 54th, and McQuade placed 78th.

Goffstown

Goffstown had Abby Clark finish in sixth place in the slalom.

Ariel Desfosses finished 29th, Caitlin Strunk came in 39th, and Katelyn Crosby placed 46th. In the giant slalom, Abby Clark came in third place, Julie Clark placed 17th, Strunk came in 26th, Desfosses placed 42nd, and Emily Young came in 43rd.

Zach Morris placed 13th for the Grizzlies in the slalom. Ben Bradley came in 44th, Nick Neforas placed 49th, and Brendan Bertagnoll came in 76th. In the GS, Morris finished 12th, Bertagnoll placed 18th, T.J. Thomas placed 19th, and Neforas placed 35th.

Memorial

Representing Memorial’s boys ski team was Alex Quintal, who placed 33rd in the slalom and 24th in the GS.