Westfield near top
of individual skiers
By CHRIS PUTZ
Staff Writer
CHARLEMONT – While the temperatures were a bit balmy for a day on the slopes, the Westfield High School girls’ ski team was downright hot. The Lady Bombers set the trails ablaze during yesterday’s Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference individual championships at Berkshire East.
Westfield sophomore Jenna Rothermel finished runner-up against the entire field, and two other teammates cracked the top eight. Lauren Sheehan placed sixth and Jen Moller was eighth.
Longmeadow’s Camille Burger finished first.
“I was really pushing it, doing my best,” said Rothermel, who won the regular season championship. “There is lot of camaraderie within the top 10 – we are all just so close.”
Rothermel had a consistent outing yesterday, placing second on the slalom (40.04) and GS (26.23).
While Rothermel finished first on the slalom in every regular season race, it was her highest finish on the GS all year.
“I was in my own little world,” Rothermel said, cracking a smile just prior to the awards ceremony. The sophomore skier admitted she was a bit disappointed that she did not win gold, but pleased with her performance overall in changing-course conditions.
The course, while icy early, softened up as the morning wore on, but refroze mid-afternoon.
“The conditions weren’t consistent,” Westfield coach Monique Piotte said. “But they weren’t bad.”
With 26 racers – between the boys’ and girls’ team – Westfield managed 52 finishes and no disqualifications.
“That is success in itself,” Piotte said. “Everybody held it together.”
Sheehan and Moller, two skiers linked not only through the winter sport but in softball as well – the two classmates won a state softball championship last summer on the U-16 team – are part of the glue which keeps the team competitive, and cheerful.
The two teammates beamed with smiles after the race, and had good reason to.
Sheehan finished sixth overall with a sixth-place slalom run (46.11) and eighth-place GS finish (27.83). Moller was eighth overall. She placed eighth (46.74) on slalom and ninth (28.27) on GS.
“We’re just getting better and better,” Sheehan said, “with more practice, more time on the hill.”
Moller, Sheehan, and Rothermel will move on to compete in the state championships March 28 at Wachusett Mountain.
Not to be lost in the shuffle was Westfield’s Grace Giffune. Giffune placed 22nd overall.
Other notable finishes from some local skiers included: Gateway’s Liz Simonowicz (11th overall), Caitlyn Bodoh (13th), Ali Fisk (24th), and Hannah Green (33rd).
For the boys, Longmeadow’s John Mentor won the combined time, finishing first on the GS (24.75) and slalom (31.66). Michael Beauregard had Westfield’s highest finish (32nd). Gateway’s Austin Herman was 21st. Herman was sixth on the slalom in 36.48.
