NMH and Deerfield put on a fantastic race today, with many coaches and spectators commenting to us how it was the best, most well-run and organized championship event in many years (some even said "ever"). We were lucky with good weather and great snow conditions on the hill. But, the biggest factor in the success of today's race was the tremendous effort put forth by the NMH and Deerfield students and adult volunteers, and also the Berkshire East race staff. I'd like to thank the entire NMH team, all of whom were up well before dawn today and worked tirelessly to make sure the visiting teams had a great experience. Thanks also to our adult volunteers (Craig Hefner, Jim Block, Don Murphy, Linda Sidorsky, Pam Eldridge, Emily Yandoh, Kate Roloff '99 and Danielle Faul '99), without whose help we couldn't have held this race. Because of the great work by all these folks, we were able to execute nearly 500 race runs (125 racers X 4 runs each) between 9:30 and 2:00, finishing the race three and a half hours earlier than it concluded last year!

In our final league race, the NMH boys' varsity team finished third today, as Mohawk won the race and the league title with a dominating performance that demonstrated why they are the two-time defending Massachusetts high school champions. NMH finished the season ranked #2 in the league of 8 teams, our highest ranking in several years.
Senior Maciej Lorentz paced the Hoggers with a career-best 4th place. Four-year veteran & captain Ryan Cynoski '00 demonstrated his usual consistency with an 11th place finish, followed immediately by Aaron Simmons '00. For the second week in a row, Dave Rosenzweig '02 turned in a better two-run combined time than his brother, Ben, who skis for Williston, which was essential to our narrow victory over the Williston lads. Drew Myers '02, another highly consistent racer for us this year, was the final team point scorer, in 22nd.
The boys' JV team won their second consecutive league title today (their 3rd title in the past 4 years) with a convincing 36-point win. Nobody seriously challenged this squad this season as they won four of the five races. In today's GS, NMH scorers were: Nico Herbst (2), Jeff Stewart (5), Dan Gilbert (10), Matt Hennessy (15), and Andy Birnbryer (22). Future Hogger Misha Sidorsky '04 (racing as an Independent) won his fourth race of the season and won the individual title in the JV division. We'll be happy to have him with us next year...
The girls' team, a rapidly improving corps of young racers, secured their usual 5th place finish today with scorers Cammie Heiser (15), Abby Eldridge (23), Tamara Coqui (27), Ani Mueller-Witt (28), and Katie Gallagher (35).
The top five racers from the boys' team and girls' team will represent NMH at next Wednesday's New England Prep School Alpine Skiing Championships, hosted by NMH & Deerfield at Berkshire East. Please consider coming out to cheer on the Hoggers at this all-day multi-race event. Races begin at 9:30 am and continue until about 3:00pm.

The girls' varsity team finished fifth. Cammie Heiser and Alexis Voutas led the team with career-best performances (9th, 17th respectively). Following them were Tamara Coqui, Abby Eldridge, and Adriane Mueller-Witt.

The boys' JV team got back on track (after last week's defeat) with a dominating performance, winning by 20 points. With one race to go, they have virtually clinched the league title. Pacing the Hoggers today was Jeff Stewart (4th). Helping their team to victory were Nico Herbst (5th), Ben Shenefelt (12th), Matt Hennessy (15th), and Dan Gilbert (18th).