Sparta Ski: Girls place 2nd, Boys place 3rd

The Sparta Ski Team dialed it up a notch at the second giant slalom race of the season on Tuesday night, Jan 21. Team captains Connor McAndris and Olivia Finkeldie led the Sparta Ski Team to podium placement at the second giant slalom conference race of season. Even though the last time our ski team ran a giant slalom course was more than 10 days ago, the team was anxious to race. The recent warm weather caused the second giant slalom race to be postponed and forced a change of training to slalom. Luckily the cold weather had finally returned in time for the race and both the girls and boys ski teams were determined to achieve podium placement. When the race had finished, the Girls Varsity Ski Team won 2nd Place & the Boys Varsity won 3rd. It was a rewarding night, as both teams left the mountain with 3 wins and 1 loss in the NJISRA standings.

The Girls Varsity Ski Team continued to ski focused and fast. For the second time in a row, the Girls Varsity team won second place with a team time of 6:44:96. Winning first place was Pingry 6:29:45 and taking 3rd place was Blair 7:00.54. With a strong 8th place finish, team captain Olivia Finkeldie led the Sparta Girls Varsity Ski Team to podium placement followed closely by Rachel Young (9th overall), Jillian Stote (11th overall) and Claudia Calafati (12th overall).

The Sparta Varsity Boys Ski Team placed 3rd overall with a team time of 6:35.22, just 1.6 seconds behind second place Pingry (6:33.62). Vernon won first place with a team time of 6:05.57. With an impressive 4th place finish overall, team captain Connor McAndris led the Sparta Boys Varsity Ski Team to podium placement, along with Tucker Sears (14th overall), Charles Flint (16th overall) and Kanna Pasunuri (22nd overall).

The team standings after our second race: Varsity Girls: 5 Wins 2 Loss Varsity Boys: 3 Wins 4 Loss.