Londonderry High School’s girls’ and boys’ ski teams both completed their 2017-18 seasons by competing in the Division I state championships on Gunstock Mountain in Gilford early last week.
The Lady Lancers place a fine fifth out of some 18 teams at that ski area last Monday, Feb. 12, and the next day his Lancer males ended up 11th out of 18 competing contingents.
At the girls’ title event, the Lady Lancers tallied 594 points to go top-five as a group.
They finished an excellent third in slalom action, with Bryeton Evarts ending up second overall and Jordan Galluzzo finishing ninth. With those top-10 finishes, both of those young ladies qualified for the forthcoming state Meet of Champions on March 1 on Cannon Mountain.
Aiding in the scoring in slalom competition were Julia Deschamps and Juliette Louiselle. Both Rylee McGrath and Leonie Wittig skied hard but came up short in the points chase.
In giant slalom action, the Londonderry bunch was slightly less successful, placing eighth as a team. Standout Everts fell and took Did Not Finish status. Leading the scoring effort for LHS were Galluzzo, Deschamps, Louiselle, and McGrath. Jacqueline Peabody narrowly missed tallying points despite her great effort in challenging course conditions.
“Next year looks promising as 99 percent of the team returns,” said coach McGrath.
On Tuesday at the boys’ title event, the 11th place Lancers had Max Dolliver (40th overall) and Drew Gruchot (41st) pace the LHS effort in the giant slalom.
The locals also received a great effort from Ben Doris, who bagged a season-best third place finish for his squad in winding up 64th overall. Austin Theriault placed 67th, and Sam Palumbo and Kevin Brown closed out the LHS performances.
“Our slalom (performance) saw Drew Gruchot in first for our team and 37th overall, with Austin Theriault close behind in 39th overall,” said coach Bob McGrath. “Ben Doris brought his best once more in placing third for our team, with Sam stepping up to get the valuable points. Kevin Brown was close behind but missed getting a point, and unfortunately team-leader Max Dolliver missed a gate and was disqualified in the final run of his high school career.”
The LHS coach added of his boys’ crew, “With newcomers picking up the pace this year and skiing without a few of our racers due to injuries, next season’s points chase looks promising.”