On Thursday, February 9th, the alpine ski team held their Senior Night on their home turf at Shrewsbury’s Ski Ward. There, they celebrated their four seniors: all from the girls’ team.

The night closed out with a victory. The girls finished 2nd overall and the boys finished 6th overall.

Most of the team was filled with excitement, as they got a rare chance to race. In fact, this was only their third race this season, as the weather has certainly not been cooperative this winter.

“This year has been really difficult,” said Assistant Coach Dan Barry. “Because of lack of snow or rain, races got canceled, so it’s been a very uneven schedule. I think it’s [been] hard to feel the rhythm of the season.

“In a normal season where we have snow and the temperatures remain [cold], the racers can get into more of a rhythm and a pattern of practices and races and that helps us build [skills] over the course of the season,” Barry continued.

Athletic directory Kiley Murray aims to bring more attention to alpine skiing, which does not garner as much attendance or support as other winter sports.

“I think the off-site sports are tough. It’s not [completely] “out of sight, out of mind,” but it almost is,” she said.

Members of both the girls’ and boys’ teams enthusiastically gave reasons to get involved with the sport.

“It’s really fun if you know how to ski,” said senior Sophia Perrelli. “It’s more competitive than Ski Club and it’s only three nights a week. It’s low commitment—if that’s what you’re looking for. We’re a great group of [athletes] and the coaches are great too.”

“I’m excited. It’s nice seeing the senior race,” said junior Tareq Haque. “I’m excited for [that[ to be me next year. We also go to Chick-fil-a after every race!”

“I love skiing!” junior David Gitelson exclaimed, smiling.

Fellow junior J.B. Flynn walked through the typical procedures of race nights.

“Get here and unload—they won’t let us get ready in the lodge. After that, there’s an inspection. It’s called “inspection”, but it’s not that formal. You just look at the course to see how it is, just so that there are no surprises,” he explained.

“You get two warm-up runs on the other side of the lift before the actual race, those aren’t timed,” Flynn continued. “After that, you get a start order. You get two runs.”

At each race, athletes get two runs, racing one at a time in the same order. The time each skier takes in each run is summed is for their placement.

Barry believes that alpine skiing teaches athletes much more than how to hit gates and maneuver down slopes.

“This is a sport that offers a lot of life lessons,” he beamed. “The athletes have to adjust to a lot of things week to week. It could be the snow, the rain, the temperature, or the conditions of the course—they have to make those adjustments in order to succeed in a given race. That flexibility applies in life.”