Sarah Bennett ’19 at the start of a recent race at Whiteface (Photo: provided)
The U19 girls’ alpine team day-tripped to Gore mountain this week for some Super G and Giant Slalom races. The girls departed from school at 6am on the first day of Super G racing. One training run was available on the trail before the inspection of the course which the girls did. The track was very firm, which was good for the girls starting with high bib numbers. Sarah Coombs ‘19 finished in 18th, Chelsea Smith ‘19 in 35th, Joanna Rosenbluth ‘19 in 39th, Beth Fisher ‘19 in 38th, and Sarah Bennett ‘19 and Jane Baumer ‘19 DNF (did not finish).
The girls left for their second day at Gore mountain for their another Super G race at 6:15 am. Instead of doing the practice run, the girls did some free runs on their GS skis to warm up before the race. Sarah Bennett finished in 4th, Sarah Coombs in 21st, Jane Baumer had her first FIS race finish of the season in 30th, Joanna Rosenbluth in 39th, Chelsea Smith in 50th, Beth fisher in 56th. At the end of the Super G days, all the girls scored much lower than their original points.
On the first day of GS, the track was a lot slower. The second run set was much turnier than the first run, which threw some girls off. Sarah Bennett finished in 4th, Jane Baumer in 32nd, Chelsea Smith in 44th, Beth fisher in 47th, Joanna Rosenbluth DNF, and Sarah Coombs DNS (did not start) second run due to a knee injury. Twenty-seven racers did not finish the first GS race.
The girls had a treat and were allowed to stay at a hotel before the last awaited day of racing, which let them sleep in until 6am instead of the 5am wake up call. The first run course was extremely turny and 10 seconds slower than the previous courses, which the athletes did not like. Sarah Bennett finished 3rd; Joanna Rosenbluth finished in 25th, earning her fist top-30 finish of the season; Chelsea Smith in 46th; Beth fisher in 52nd; Jane Baumer DNF; and Sarah Coombs DNS. Thirty-two racers did not finish the race.
