NORTH CREEK —The lack of snow in the Northeast finally turned into a positive for the Section II alpine squads for the Martin Luther King holiday Shenendehowa Invitational.

The lack of snow forced the event to be moved from West Mountain, its traditional home, to Gore Mountain and the squads took advantage of a pair of slalom runs on the Showcase Trail.

When the edges were done cutting through the side of the North Creek mountain, Saratoga senior Dan Rittenhouse led the Blue Streak boys alpine team to the combined two-run title and the Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa girls continued to dominate the slopes.

“We expect Dan Rittenhouse, Ian Hauser, our No. 1 through 7s we have a lot of depth on our team and we just tell the guys and the girls to shoot for top 10s and pre-qualify for states,” Saratoga coach Scott Singer said. “The more they race in the top 10 they have a better shot for states as an individual. Our goal ultimately for boys and girls is to win the team championship at the end of the year.”

The Section II squads raced down the shared base of the Twister and Showcase trail on a slalom course on two separate runs with Rittenhouse earning a third-place finish on the morning run, racing through the single-pole gates in 36.24 seconds, finishing third. In the afternoon, he covered the slope in 39.39 seconds for seventh-place.

Hauser made up for his wipeout on the morning run with a third-place finish in the afternoon.

“The first one I messed up,” Hauser said. “My skis, the din (binder settings) were wrong; they were too low, so my skis kind of popped off randomly on the first run. On the second run we turned them up, so it helped.”

Greenwich resident and current CBA skier Mike Merecki was too fast for the rest of the section, racing to a second-place finish in the morning with a time of 36.08 seconds and winning the afternoon run with his time of 36.51 seconds.

Saratoga’s Megan McIntyre finished 15th overall with her two completed runs, challenged by the afternoon course as the boys switched paths with the girls.

“I usually do better in the GS, but I like doing slalom better, so today was fun,” McIntyre said. “The boys ripped it up a lot, so it got really icy, it was interesting.” Continued...

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• See Full Story

The afternoon runs were delayed after Saratoga’s Deidre Howard took a spill on the upper course flat, hooking a gate and taking a tough fall on the snow. She was treated on-site, transferred down the trial by the ski patrol and taken to the hospital for evaluation.

The Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa girls continued to shine as Demi Feder, Taylor Manderson and Rebecca Stodgell went 1-2-3 on the first run with Feder repeating as the top skier in the afternoon followed by Manderson in fourth and Quin Feder rounded out the scoring in 14th position.

”We have some new names with the program, but our girls did really well today,” Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa coach Spencer Brown said.

Ballston Spa skier Alex Washburn led the boys contingent with a pair of 11th-place finishes, finishing four seconds behind the top boys on each run, within striking distance for a top spot looking forward to the rest of the season.

Several coaches were happy with the dual slalom format change and new venue at Gore Mountain for this annual invitational.

“I think it was good for the girls because they got to ski on one pair of skis all day as opposed to switching out to longer pair of skis in the afternoon,” Brown said. “”It was good for them to get that experience on the first run and carry it over to the second run.”

Shenendehowa boys’s squad finished with a combined score of 67 points, for fourth-place and the girls were third with 34.

Freshman Harrison Ma was 18th and 23rd for the Plainsmen for a combined 13th-place finish. Freshman Graham Irish was 40th and 21st in the second run, cutting nine seconds off his run with Mike Allen Martin third-overall for Shenendehowa a 55.71 and a 54.25 time for 35th overall.

Eighth-grader Julia Smith continued to impress with a ninth- and sixth-place finish for sixth overall for Shenendehowa followed by Kristen Kruk with a 13th- and eighth-place finish for ninth overall. Courtney Scriven rounded out the Plainsmen scoring with a combined 23rd-place finish.

Burnley offered the format and location change to the Section II coaches earlier in the season. Continued...

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• See Full Story

“It makes it easier on the athletes and easier on the parents too,” Burnley said. “The only reason we didn’t do the GS in the afternoon because the main race hill was not ready and we decided it was better, even more so than not having the hill ready, to run two GSs at Royal (Mountain) and do two slaloms here, it makes both races better.

“I think you’re going to find that the coaches likes how this runs and next year we’ll probably change it and be like this next year too,” Burnley said.

Shenendehowa Invitational

Boys slalom – Run One

1. Kelton Donohue (BOL) 35.74. 2. Mike Merecki (CBA) 36.08. 3. Dan Rittenhouse (SAR) 36.24. 4. John Underhill (QBY) 37.14. 5. Ned Feist (NIS) 37.18. 6. PJ Kotecki (CBA) 37.31. 7. Zach MacAffer (AA) 37.37. 8. Justin Swits (AA) 38.06. 9. Theo Korenowski (SW) 38.75. 10. Sean Donohue (BOL) 38.76.

Local finishers

11. Alex Washburn (BHBS) 40.01. 13. Peter Palumbo (SAR) 40.31. 14. Ben Taylor (SAR) 40.64. 17. T.J. Kruk (SHEN) 41.84. 18. Harrison Ma (SHEN) 42.35. 19. Jon Scavone (SAR) 43.01. 20. Bryce Reecer (BHBS) 43.25. 24. Shane Quackenbush (SW) 44.68. 26. Luke Pumiglia (SHY) 45.05. 38. Kiernan Anderson (SHY) 51.33. 39. Kurt Quackenbush (SW) 51.50. 40. Graham Irish (SHEN) 52.66. 41. Taylor Dooley (SHY) 53.22. 43. Carter Richardson (BHBS) 53.77. 44. Mike Allen Martin (SHEN) 55.28. 45. Bobby Morrs (SW) 55.71. 46. Dylan Irish (SHEN) 56.55. 52. Colin Wasacz (SHY) 1:00.96. 56. Matt Burkett (SHY) 1:02.69. 57. Justin Smith (BHBS) 1:03.51. 59. Peter Buck (SW) 1:05.44. 60. Joshua Nixon (SAR) 1:10.98. 61. Raul Mjia (SHY) 1:15.58.

Girls slalom – Run One

1. Demi Feder (BHBS) 37.69. 2. Taylor Manderson (BHBS) 38.70. 3. Rebecca Stodgell (BHBS) 38.94. 4. Julia Sante (QBY) 39.45. 5. Makenzie Perkett (LG) 39.54. 6. Deidre Howard (SAR) 39.69. 7. Ellie Daly (AA) 39.85. 8. Alex MacAffer (AA) 40.12. 9. Julia Smith (SHEN) 40.85. 10. Sam Ballard (QBY) 41.15.

Local finishers Continued...

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• See Full Story

13. Kirsten Kruk (SHEN) 42.58. 14. Alexis Georgia (SAR) 43.35. 18. Rachel Lopez (SAR) 43.79. 19. Quin Feder (BHBS) 43.99. 21. Megan McINtyre (SAR) 44.36. 22. Courtney Scriven (SHEN) 44.83. 24. Sami Grober (SHEN) 45.58. 29. Mary Morris (SAR) 46.56. 30. Kaitlyn Tepper (SHEN) 47.34. 34. Jenn Scuderi (SHEN) 48.44. 42. Ellie Pemiglia (SHY) 51.99. 45. Josie Korenowski (SW) 54.18. 46. Sophia Danison (SW) 54.46. 47. Jessica Kelleher (SHY) 55.01. 48. Cassie Blazejeski (BHBS) 55.24. 51. Gabrielle Hedges (SAR) 57.88. 65. Lauren Kelleher (SHY) 59.54. 59. Bridget Alber (SHY) 1:03.34. 63. Ariel Pignatelli (SHEN) 1:06.63.

Boys slalom – Run Two

1. Mike Merecki (CBA) 36.51. 2. Ned Feist (NIS) 36.81. 3. Zach MacAffer (AA) 37.97. 4. Ian Hauser (SAR) 37.97. 5. John Underhill (QBY) 38.00. 6. P.J. Kotecki (CBA) 38.54. 7. Dan Rittenhouse (SAR) 39.39. 8. Theo Korenowski (SW) 39.89. 9. Pat Burton (GF) 40.67. 10. Liam Maloy (AA) 40.68.

Local finishers

11. Alex Washburn (BHBS) 41.04. 13. Luke Pmiglia (SHY) 41.16. 15. Evan Connolly (SAR) 41.69. 19. Peter Palumbo (SAR) 42.30. 20. Jon Scavone (SAR) 42.61. 21. Graham Irish (SHEN) 43.02. 22. Joshua Nixon (SAR) 43.44. 23. Harrison Ma (SHEN) 43.77. 24. Dylan Irish (SHEN) 43.81. 26. Bryce Reecer (BHBS) 45.12. 27. Greg Hartunian (SHEN) 45.12. 31. Shane Quackenbush (SW) 46.81. 39. Evan Gasparini (BHBS) 50.66. 41. Kurt Quackenbush (SW) 51.23. 42. Kiernan Anderson (SHY) 52.23. 43. Kevin Eberle Milne (SHEN) 52.35. 45. Carter Richardson (BHBS) 53.74. 47. Bobby Morris (SW) 54.25. 50. Dylan Posporelis (SW) 56.44. 52. Sebastian Frolish (SHY) 57.53. 55. Mike Allen Martin (SHEN) 59.02. 61. Colin Wasacz (SHY) 1:03.57. 62. Matt Burkett (SHY) 1:03.83. 63. Peter Buck (SW) 1:03.90. 66. 66. Paul Mejia (SHY) 1:18.10.

Girls slalom – Run Two

1. Demi Feder (BHBS) 38.28. 2. Makenzie Perkett (LG) 41.03. 3. Alex MacAffer (AA) 41.29. 4. Taylor Manderson (BHBS) 41.43. 5. Ellie Daly (AA) 41.68. 6. Julia Smith (SHEN) 42.07. 7. Sam Ballard (QBY) 42.20. 8. Kirsten Kruk (SHEN) 43.00. 9. Julia Sante (QBY) 43.69. 10. Annabelle Feist (NIS) 44.28.

Local finishers

13. Gabrielle Hedges (SAR) 45.86. 14. Quin Feder (BHBS) 46.49. 17. Megan McIntyre (SAR) 48.54. 21. Jenn Scuderi (SHEN) 51.62. 23. Kaitlyn Tepper (SHEN) 51.98. 24. Josie Korenowski (SW) 54.87. 25. Nora Munsey (BHBS) 55.32. 27. Courtney Scriven (SHEN) 56.50. 28. Sophia Danison (SW) 56.56. 29. Alexis Georgia (SAR) 57.20. 33. Sami Grober (SHEN) 1:03.83. 34. Lydia Fowler (SHY) 1:04.44. 36. Lauren Kelleher (SHY) 1:05.59. 38. Bridget Alber (SHY) 1:07.28. 40. Cassie Blazejeski (BHBS) 1:09.18. 43. Ariel Pignatelli (SHEN) 1:11.45.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• See Full Story

NORTH CREEK —The lack of snow in the Northeast finally turned into a positive for the Section II alpine squads for the Martin Luther King holiday Shenendehowa Invitational.

The lack of snow forced the event to be moved from West Mountain, its traditional home, to Gore Mountain and the squads took advantage of a pair of slalom runs on the Showcase Trail.

When the edges were done cutting through the side of the North Creek mountain, Saratoga senior Dan Rittenhouse led the Blue Streak boys alpine team to the combined two-run title and the Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa girls continued to dominate the slopes.

“We expect Dan Rittenhouse, Ian Hauser, our No. 1 through 7s we have a lot of depth on our team and we just tell the guys and the girls to shoot for top 10s and pre-qualify for states,” Saratoga coach Scott Singer said. “The more they race in the top 10 they have a better shot for states as an individual. Our goal ultimately for boys and girls is to win the team championship at the end of the year.”

The Section II squads raced down the shared base of the Twister and Showcase trail on a slalom course on two separate runs with Rittenhouse earning a third-place finish on the morning run, racing through the single-pole gates in 36.24 seconds, finishing third. In the afternoon, he covered the slope in 39.39 seconds for seventh-place.

Hauser made up for his wipeout on the morning run with a third-place finish in the afternoon.

“The first one I messed up,” Hauser said. “My skis, the din (binder settings) were wrong; they were too low, so my skis kind of popped off randomly on the first run. On the second run we turned them up, so it helped.”

Greenwich resident and current CBA skier Mike Merecki was too fast for the rest of the section, racing to a second-place finish in the morning with a time of 36.08 seconds and winning the afternoon run with his time of 36.51 seconds.

Saratoga’s Megan McIntyre finished 15th overall with her two completed runs, challenged by the afternoon course as the boys switched paths with the girls.

“I usually do better in the GS, but I like doing slalom better, so today was fun,” McIntyre said. “The boys ripped it up a lot, so it got really icy, it was interesting.”

The afternoon runs were delayed after Saratoga’s Deidre Howard took a spill on the upper course flat, hooking a gate and taking a tough fall on the snow. She was treated on-site, transferred down the trial by the ski patrol and taken to the hospital for evaluation.

The Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa girls continued to shine as Demi Feder, Taylor Manderson and Rebecca Stodgell went 1-2-3 on the first run with Feder repeating as the top skier in the afternoon followed by Manderson in fourth and Quin Feder rounded out the scoring in 14th position.

”We have some new names with the program, but our girls did really well today,” Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa coach Spencer Brown said.

Ballston Spa skier Alex Washburn led the boys contingent with a pair of 11th-place finishes, finishing four seconds behind the top boys on each run, within striking distance for a top spot looking forward to the rest of the season.

Several coaches were happy with the dual slalom format change and new venue at Gore Mountain for this annual invitational.

“I think it was good for the girls because they got to ski on one pair of skis all day as opposed to switching out to longer pair of skis in the afternoon,” Brown said. “”It was good for them to get that experience on the first run and carry it over to the second run.”

Shenendehowa boys’s squad finished with a combined score of 67 points, for fourth-place and the girls were third with 34.

Freshman Harrison Ma was 18th and 23rd for the Plainsmen for a combined 13th-place finish. Freshman Graham Irish was 40th and 21st in the second run, cutting nine seconds off his run with Mike Allen Martin third-overall for Shenendehowa a 55.71 and a 54.25 time for 35th overall.

Eighth-grader Julia Smith continued to impress with a ninth- and sixth-place finish for sixth overall for Shenendehowa followed by Kristen Kruk with a 13th- and eighth-place finish for ninth overall. Courtney Scriven rounded out the Plainsmen scoring with a combined 23rd-place finish.

Burnley offered the format and location change to the Section II coaches earlier in the season.

“It makes it easier on the athletes and easier on the parents too,” Burnley said. “The only reason we didn’t do the GS in the afternoon because the main race hill was not ready and we decided it was better, even more so than not having the hill ready, to run two GSs at Royal (Mountain) and do two slaloms here, it makes both races better.

“I think you’re going to find that the coaches likes how this runs and next year we’ll probably change it and be like this next year too,” Burnley said.

Shenendehowa Invitational

Boys slalom – Run One

1. Kelton Donohue (BOL) 35.74. 2. Mike Merecki (CBA) 36.08. 3. Dan Rittenhouse (SAR) 36.24. 4. John Underhill (QBY) 37.14. 5. Ned Feist (NIS) 37.18. 6. PJ Kotecki (CBA) 37.31. 7. Zach MacAffer (AA) 37.37. 8. Justin Swits (AA) 38.06. 9. Theo Korenowski (SW) 38.75. 10. Sean Donohue (BOL) 38.76.

Local finishers

11. Alex Washburn (BHBS) 40.01. 13. Peter Palumbo (SAR) 40.31. 14. Ben Taylor (SAR) 40.64. 17. T.J. Kruk (SHEN) 41.84. 18. Harrison Ma (SHEN) 42.35. 19. Jon Scavone (SAR) 43.01. 20. Bryce Reecer (BHBS) 43.25. 24. Shane Quackenbush (SW) 44.68. 26. Luke Pumiglia (SHY) 45.05. 38. Kiernan Anderson (SHY) 51.33. 39. Kurt Quackenbush (SW) 51.50. 40. Graham Irish (SHEN) 52.66. 41. Taylor Dooley (SHY) 53.22. 43. Carter Richardson (BHBS) 53.77. 44. Mike Allen Martin (SHEN) 55.28. 45. Bobby Morrs (SW) 55.71. 46. Dylan Irish (SHEN) 56.55. 52. Colin Wasacz (SHY) 1:00.96. 56. Matt Burkett (SHY) 1:02.69. 57. Justin Smith (BHBS) 1:03.51. 59. Peter Buck (SW) 1:05.44. 60. Joshua Nixon (SAR) 1:10.98. 61. Raul Mjia (SHY) 1:15.58.

Girls slalom – Run One

1. Demi Feder (BHBS) 37.69. 2. Taylor Manderson (BHBS) 38.70. 3. Rebecca Stodgell (BHBS) 38.94. 4. Julia Sante (QBY) 39.45. 5. Makenzie Perkett (LG) 39.54. 6. Deidre Howard (SAR) 39.69. 7. Ellie Daly (AA) 39.85. 8. Alex MacAffer (AA) 40.12. 9. Julia Smith (SHEN) 40.85. 10. Sam Ballard (QBY) 41.15.

Local finishers

13. Kirsten Kruk (SHEN) 42.58. 14. Alexis Georgia (SAR) 43.35. 18. Rachel Lopez (SAR) 43.79. 19. Quin Feder (BHBS) 43.99. 21. Megan McINtyre (SAR) 44.36. 22. Courtney Scriven (SHEN) 44.83. 24. Sami Grober (SHEN) 45.58. 29. Mary Morris (SAR) 46.56. 30. Kaitlyn Tepper (SHEN) 47.34. 34. Jenn Scuderi (SHEN) 48.44. 42. Ellie Pemiglia (SHY) 51.99. 45. Josie Korenowski (SW) 54.18. 46. Sophia Danison (SW) 54.46. 47. Jessica Kelleher (SHY) 55.01. 48. Cassie Blazejeski (BHBS) 55.24. 51. Gabrielle Hedges (SAR) 57.88. 65. Lauren Kelleher (SHY) 59.54. 59. Bridget Alber (SHY) 1:03.34. 63. Ariel Pignatelli (SHEN) 1:06.63.

Boys slalom – Run Two

1. Mike Merecki (CBA) 36.51. 2. Ned Feist (NIS) 36.81. 3. Zach MacAffer (AA) 37.97. 4. Ian Hauser (SAR) 37.97. 5. John Underhill (QBY) 38.00. 6. P.J. Kotecki (CBA) 38.54. 7. Dan Rittenhouse (SAR) 39.39. 8. Theo Korenowski (SW) 39.89. 9. Pat Burton (GF) 40.67. 10. Liam Maloy (AA) 40.68.

Local finishers

11. Alex Washburn (BHBS) 41.04. 13. Luke Pmiglia (SHY) 41.16. 15. Evan Connolly (SAR) 41.69. 19. Peter Palumbo (SAR) 42.30. 20. Jon Scavone (SAR) 42.61. 21. Graham Irish (SHEN) 43.02. 22. Joshua Nixon (SAR) 43.44. 23. Harrison Ma (SHEN) 43.77. 24. Dylan Irish (SHEN) 43.81. 26. Bryce Reecer (BHBS) 45.12. 27. Greg Hartunian (SHEN) 45.12. 31. Shane Quackenbush (SW) 46.81. 39. Evan Gasparini (BHBS) 50.66. 41. Kurt Quackenbush (SW) 51.23. 42. Kiernan Anderson (SHY) 52.23. 43. Kevin Eberle Milne (SHEN) 52.35. 45. Carter Richardson (BHBS) 53.74. 47. Bobby Morris (SW) 54.25. 50. Dylan Posporelis (SW) 56.44. 52. Sebastian Frolish (SHY) 57.53. 55. Mike Allen Martin (SHEN) 59.02. 61. Colin Wasacz (SHY) 1:03.57. 62. Matt Burkett (SHY) 1:03.83. 63. Peter Buck (SW) 1:03.90. 66. 66. Paul Mejia (SHY) 1:18.10.

Girls slalom – Run Two

1. Demi Feder (BHBS) 38.28. 2. Makenzie Perkett (LG) 41.03. 3. Alex MacAffer (AA) 41.29. 4. Taylor Manderson (BHBS) 41.43. 5. Ellie Daly (AA) 41.68. 6. Julia Smith (SHEN) 42.07. 7. Sam Ballard (QBY) 42.20. 8. Kirsten Kruk (SHEN) 43.00. 9. Julia Sante (QBY) 43.69. 10. Annabelle Feist (NIS) 44.28.

Local finishers

13. Gabrielle Hedges (SAR) 45.86. 14. Quin Feder (BHBS) 46.49. 17. Megan McIntyre (SAR) 48.54. 21. Jenn Scuderi (SHEN) 51.62. 23. Kaitlyn Tepper (SHEN) 51.98. 24. Josie Korenowski (SW) 54.87. 25. Nora Munsey (BHBS) 55.32. 27. Courtney Scriven (SHEN) 56.50. 28. Sophia Danison (SW) 56.56. 29. Alexis Georgia (SAR) 57.20. 33. Sami Grober (SHEN) 1:03.83. 34. Lydia Fowler (SHY) 1:04.44. 36. Lauren Kelleher (SHY) 1:05.59. 38. Bridget Alber (SHY) 1:07.28. 40. Cassie Blazejeski (BHBS) 1:09.18. 43. Ariel Pignatelli (SHEN) 1:11.45.

• Return to Paging Mode