NJISRA Skiing

Vikings sweep Vernon, the defending champion in the boys’ and girls’ divisions of the Sussex County Interscholastic League skiing competition, showed they will be contenders for the league crowns again this season when they cruised to team victories on Thursday on the South slope at Mountain Creek. Junior Keith Vella of Vernon led the boys down the slopes, posting a combined time of 1:02.23 for two runs. Vella was named the Vernon Athlete of the Week, while the Vikings totally dominated with Scott Resinger (1:03.43) and Chad Kunz (1:04.39) placing second and third. Freshman Haley Merrit’s varsity debut for a Vernon girls’ team that has captured five straight New Jersey Interscholastic Ski Racing Association titles was a major success, as she posted the fastest total clocking of 1:07.88 among all the girls. Her teammate Amanda Malkin (1:08.99) was runner-up. Boys Team Scores 1. Vernon 4:15.62 2. High Point 4:36.19 3. Wallkill Valley 4:45.06 4. Sparta 4:50.36 5. Kittatinny 5:05.00 6. Jefferson 5:38.90 7. Pope John 5:40.07 8. Newton 5:47.60 Individual Top 10 1. Keith Vella (Vernon) 1:02.23 2. Scott Resinger (Vernon) 1:03.43 3. Chad Kunz (Vernon) 1:04.39 4. Tyler Bartz (High Point) 1:04.45 5. Devin Fielding (Vernon) 1:05.57 6. Alex Rubino (Sparta) 1:07.82 7. Eric Witten (Jefferson) 1:08.61 8. Greg Aromando (High Point) 1:08.69 9. Ed Cooke (High Point) 1:09.49 10. Ricky Brown (Sparta) 1:09.64 Girls Team Scores 1. Vernon 4:39.22 2. Sparta 5:03.93 3. High Point 5:05.75 4. Newton 5:21.85 5. Jefferson 5:57.69 6. Kittatinny 6:17.64 7. Pope John 7:00.57 8. Wallkill Valley N/T Individual Top 10 1. Haley Merrit (Vernon) 1:07.88 2. Amanda Malkin (Vernon) 1:08.99 3. Laura Backman (Wallkill Valley) 1:09.46 4. Casey Emilius (Vernon) 1:10.94 5. Chantal Bernhart (Vernon) 1:11.41 6. Hannah Kattermann (High Point) 1:11.86 7. Kent Pier (Vernon) 1:12.28 8. Stacey Davis (Jefferson) 1:13.14 9. Kaitlyn Heckenberg (Sparta) 1:14.20 10. Erica Pentony (Vernon) 1:14.68