Skiers Represent Well at U16 Easterns

Sophomore Sarah Bennett was the Overall U16 Champion.

Last month, six members of the Northwood ski team had the opportunity to participate in U16 Eastern Championships at Stowe Mountain in Vermont. Julia Geraldi ‘20, Aiden Smith ‘19, Chelsea Smith ‘19, Sarah Bennett ‘19, Jojo Rosenbluth ‘19, and Sarah Coombs ‘19 participated in all five events.

The team left on March 7th and came back seven days later. The trip was out of the ordinary starting with the first race, a super G, getting cancelled because of bad conditions. The first race to run was on Friday, another Super G. Sarah Coombs finished in 15th, Julia Geraldi in 42nd, Chelsea Smith in 49th, Jojo Rosenbluth in 53rd and Sarah Bennett did not finish (DNF). On the men’s side, Aiden Smith finished in 32nd.

On Saturday, it was the women’s giant slalom which was held in -26°C/ -15°F temperature. The girls fought through the cold with neckies and tape on their faces, preventing them from having some serious frostbite while Coach Haggerty stood at the start all day wearing the most amount of layers she could. Sarah Bennett finished 3rd, Chelsea Smith in 16th, Jojo Rosenbluth in 26th and Sarah Coombs and Julia Geraldi were both DNFs. The men’s race was the next day with similar conditions and Aiden Smith finished in 32nd.

The women’s and men’s slaloms happened on the following days. On Monday, the conditions were perfect. The men were going first and Aiden Smith was one of the 43 who did not finish. On the women’s side, Sarah Bennett finished first, Chelsea Smith came in 29th, Julia Geraldi in 45th and Sarah Coombs in 48th, and Joanna Rosenbluth did not finish the race. On the second day, Aiden Smith came in 23rd. On the women’s side, Sarah Bennett came in second, Sarah Coombs came in 10th, Julia Geraldi in 35th, Chelsea Smith in 37th , Joanna Rosenbluth in 51st. The skiers left as soon as the awards were done because of the storm coming ahead. Instead of the simple two hours they had to do on their way there, they had to do a five hour drive.