As fall turns to winter, Upper Valley high school snow sports are gearing up for action once again.
In the first season of NHIAA’s two-division Nordic skiing setup, Hanover emerged with boys and girls titles. HHS Alpine will also be defending its state title, as will Lebanon girls Nordic. Hanover’s ski jump and girls Alpine each finished second at their respective state meets last year, as did Woodstock girls alpine.
Hartford snowboard, meanwhile, will be making a long-awaited return to the slopes after not competing last season due to COVID-19.
Coach: Gabriela Formankova (16th year).
Last Year: Boys won state championship, girls finished second.
League: NHIAA Division II.
Roster: Seniors — Amelia Berthold, Emanuel Bowie-Reimers, Camden Dwyer, Ella Goodney, Ian Keefe, Grace Lewandowski, Lia Naughton, Marco Rodriguez, Zane Schiffman, Wesley Stocken. Juniors — Lilly Clapp, Ashley Cotter, Maeve Crowley, Cameron Forbush, Sadie Higgins, Mack Levy, Reilly Loughman, Mia Madden, Riley McGuire. Sophomores — Virginia Adams, Adam Goodney, Ava Holthoff, Samuel Loescher, Peter Stover. Freshmen — Willow Clifford, Charles Forbush, Dahlia Fuld, Amelia Holthoff, Bjorn Larusson, Campbell Madden, Andrew McGuire, Sadie Ross, Noah Winchester.
Analysis: Hanover should be back for more after the boys won a state title last year and the girls nearly did the same. A combined 15 skiers return as coach Gabriela Formankova’s team hopes to have a more complete season this year.
“All the skiers have racing experience,” Formankova said. “We look forward to honing skills and drills at Whaleback, where we are going to train primarily. Super excited to have a race every week of our ski season once again, with the Covid restrictions being lifted more and more.”
Coach: Tom Masterson (29th year).
Last Year: Boys and girls teams both won division championships.
League: NHIAA Division I.
Roster: Seniors — Taj Bagnato, Luke Holmes, Joseph Richter, Kathryn Davis, Ella Goodney, Miriam Herron, Gwyneth Munroe, Charlotte Tagupa. Juniors — Adam Gilbert-Diamond, Lachlan McCann, Lyra Bornholdt-Collins, Zoe Chamberlain, June Clark, Sofia Consentino, Margaret Frost, Elsa May, Fredrika Tagupa, Katherine Valentino, Sophia Wainwright. Sophomores — William Parker, Skylar Spiro, Mia Bagnato, Ana Healey, Sydney Sandor, Lily Terry, Ayla Wagner. Freshmen — Aidan Beyer, Zachary Edson, Alexander Valentino, Andrew Valentino, Nicholas Van Citters, Owen Welch, Heidi Davis.
Analysis: Both the boys and girls teams will be defending their division titles. Erik McEwen is back as an assistant coach, and Andy Bishop and Liesel Robbins have also joined the staff this year.
“A good group of incoming freshman boys should be in a position to help defend their title. And there will likely be some surprises on the girls team,” coach Tom Masterson said. “With a reshuffling of divisions it’ll be interesting to see how things unfold.”
Coach: Tom Dodds (10th year).
Last Year: Second place at state championships.
League: NHIAA Division I.
Roster: Seniors — Wesley Stocken, Eric Ringer, Zane Schiffman. Juniors — Cam Forbush, Greta Holland, Lilly Clapp. Freshmen — Charlie Forbush, Schuyler Clapp, Jai Gregory.
Analysis: Hanover returns junior Cam Forbush, who finished second among the boys at last year’s state championship meet, as well as junior Greta Holland, who finished second among the girls.
“This should be a very competitive group of athletes,” coach Tom Dodds said. “We have established great team chemistry among both experienced and novice jumpers.”
Coach: Emma Woodruff (4)
Last Year: Boys team competed at the state meet
League: Southern Division
Roster: Juniors — Gavin Brothers, Nic LaRose, Larissa Davis (team manager); Sophomores — Asher Bettweiser, Nate Krom, Joe Pierson, Sebastian Fraser, Rowan Irvine. Freshmen — Sebastian Lorenz, Colby Luca, Cavan O’Brien, Aaron Lyon, Nicola Husmann, Janabeth Manley, Sarah Nichols, Lillian Parker, Norah Wood.
Analysis: Woodruff is working to build up the skiing pipeline at Hartford, getting middle schoolers involved. She’s just hoping to see her athletes improve this year.
“Our program is still very new. Even though most of our athletes have not raced before, many of them have participated recreationally with the middle school ski club. My hope is that every member of the team will be comfortable ski racing this season and make significant individual progress on the hill.”
Coach: John Mitchell (4)
Last Year: Didn’t compete due to COVID-19
League: VPA
Roster: Seniors — Tori Foster, Leah Foster, Tenrich Rinninger. Juniors — Kaylee Scott, Alixzander Speckert-Ring, Drake Richardson. Sophomores — Mason Chase, Cody Church. Freshmen — Benjamin Lang, Cavan O’Brian, Jack Sargent, Jordan Castro, Owen Parker, Sky Parnell, Tommy Gross, Greyson Renninger, Theolonious Vassilou, Jadeah Bruce, Nika Dumoulin.
Analysis: The Hurricanes snowboard team is back after missing last year because of the pandemic. Mitchell said his program has considerably grown since Hartford reintroduced snowboarding, and feels his team’s youth is a strength in the big picture.
“This team is all about skill development and creating access to the hill with these sports for everybody,” Mitchell said. “Certainly we have a lot of freshmen on the team which is exciting because that gives us four seasons to really push their progression to their highest level. Competitions and results come after creating positive growth and teaching each rider to be an ambassador for their sport.”
Coach: Mike Anikis (22nd year).
Last year: Cassidy Adams qualified for NHIAA Meet of Champions.
League: NHIAA Division III.
Returnees: Seniors — Cassidy Adams, Ellie Mooney. Juniors — Roy Shapard, Noah Lamontagne. Sophomores — Marin Pearson, Lucas Zaki.
Newcomers: Sophomores — Olivia Cook, Gwyneth Schachner, Heidi Algren. Freshmen — Brianna Hastings, Meg Cheevers.
Analysis: Senior Cassidy Adams is back, coming off back-to-back trips to the NHIAA Meet of Champions. The Raiders are looking forward to something resembling a typical season after last year’s pandemic-shortened campaign.
“We have a young, developing team with a couple more experienced racers,” coach Mike Anikis said. “We’re hoping to continue to develop as racers throughout the season and to be skiing at our best at the state meet.”
Coach: Les Lawrence (42nd year).
Last year: Girls were state champions; boys finished second at state meet.
League: NHIAA Division II.
Returnees: Seniors — Olivia Simone, Maya Barnett, John Biesczcad, Ben Katz, Micah Achmoody, Daniel Mladek, Seth Carl, Zoe Chinn, Anna Illsley, Sam Shipman, Paige Susco, Kayla Taber, Sydney Zagarola, Ava Reed, Dylan Budner, Ethan Eshbaugh. Juniors — Delaney Deshane, Diego Dela-Cruz, Ava Ackerman, Amanda Brooker, Isaac Ager, Emily Melkonian, Will Sandman, Carson Jones, Francis Calandrella, Tanner Ames, Finn Ericson, Ella Gessner, Carlos Kennely, Elizabeth Kourbatski, Duncan Green. Sophomores — Katherine Herring, Connor Chinn, Riley Sullivan, Andrew Belk, Norah Falcone, Carson Boardman, Heidi Ahlgren, Sophie Longacre.
Newcomers: Junior — Griffin Urezis. Sophomore — Levi Wilmot. Freshmen — Kaylee Felch, Orr Rabkin, David Zhou, J Chewning, Sophia Mladek, Reeve Green, Palmer Susco, Rya Wykes, Abigail Gallagher, Chip Silver, Amalia Mladek, Thomas Kennely, Otto Bourne.
Analysis: The Raiders return five of their six state meet competitors on the boys team, and four of six on the girls team. They also add 13 freshmen to the roster, six of whom skied in Lebanon’s middle school program.
“Our strength is our skiers’ determination and work ethic,” coach Les Lawrence said. “This is a mindset and philosophy driven by our team. It gets passed from our established skiers to our new skiers. Working with these athletes is a coach’s dream.”
Coach: Cheyenne Wood (2)
Last year: Women finished second at state championships, men finished sixth
League: Southern Vermont League
Roster: Seniors — Otto Nisimblat, Max Hambsch, Hannah Reed, Kierra Zayas, Abigail Masillo (captain). Juniors: Ben Johnsen, Oliver Szott; Sophomore — Bode Wood, Owen Kross, Chloe Massilo, Claudia Shoemaker; Freshmen — Mark Van DerSchoot, Levi Halley, Oliver O’Neil, Horace Morrel, Alexandra Carnehammar, Olivia Grasso, Ali Daigle.
Analysis: “Young team with a lot of potential of club skiers that continue to push hard,” Wood said. “(This team) has state championship visits on the mind at all times.”
Coach: Jeremy Read (2)
Last year: Did not qualify for state meet
League: Southern Vermont League
Roster: Seniors — Will Duane, Victoria Bassette, Abass Issaka; Juniors — Graham Farrington, Zed McNaughton, Aidan Reed, Mac Abrams, Willy Underwood; Sophomores — Farren Stainton, Ella Stainton; Freshmen — Lucy Drebitko, Myra McNaughton, Lili Morris, Tua Shaw, Joey Sluk a, Izzy Cellini, Graham Fox, Ada Mahood, Jane Stout, James Underwood, Quinn Uva.
Analysis: Woodstock grew its Nordic roster from six to 21 this year. Read is excited about the direction of the program.
“(The growth) is a huge step in Woodstock’s return to being a state title contender,” Read said. “Even better, more than half of our team is composed of ninth graders, giving us reliable strength for years to come and an exciting opportunity to grow as a team.”