Courtesy photographFormer U.S. Olympic skier Julia Ford is joining Cardigan Mountain School as its assistant athletic director and director of alpine skiing.
Courtesy photographFormer U.S. Olympic skier Julia Ford is joining Cardigan Mountain School as its assistant athletic director and director of alpine skiing. Credit: Courtesy photograph

Canaan — Former U.S. Olympic skier Julia Ford is joining Cardigan Mountain School as its assistant athletic director and director of alpine skiing.

The Concord, Mass., native, Plymouth, N.H., resident and Holderness School graduate comes to the private grades 6-9 boys school with a goal of elevating Cardigan’s ski program. Working with head skiing coach Travis Nevins, Ford will help the school attract committed competitors and establish training programs for boys wishing to advance in the sport. Ford also will coach soccer at CMS.

Ford, 28, competed for the United States at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, placing 24th in the women’s slalom. She competed on the World Cup circuit beginning in 2010 is a two-time winner of the downhill at the U.S. Championships (2010, ’11) in Aspen, Colo.

Cardigan’s alpine ski team competes in U.S. Ski and Snowboard, New Hampshire Alpine Racing Association and New England Preparatory School Athletic Council races.

Golf

French Goes Low At N.H. Open

Goffstown, n.h. — Lebanon’s Pat Pelletier shot a first-round 69 at the New Hampshire Open at Stonebridge Country Club on Monday that looked pretty good — until Peter French brought his blowtorch and burned a 10-under-par 62 to take the first-day lead.

French, the 2017 Vermont Open champion, enjoyed one of those special rounds for which golfers can spend a long time waiting. His no-bogey day included more birdies (10) than pars (eight) and matching 31s on Stonebridge’s nines for a three-stroke lead on Fletcher Babcock and five-shot cushion on Christopher Crawford.

Even with French going super low, Pelletier continued a summer of fine play with his round. The 30-year-old Lebanon High grad started with an eagle on Stonebridge’s par-5 first hole, and he would have done even better had four bogeys not all but cancelled out the progress of five birdies.

Regardless, Pelletier holds the low amateur position through 18 holes by four strokes, and he has 54 holes to make up ground on French and the rest of the field. The tournament continues today, with the top 40 and ties advancing to Wednesday’s 36-hole finale.