Greylock finishes above Millionaires in Nordic skiing

WINDSOR – Mt. Greylock’s Nordic ski team continues to shine – even on one of the windiest days of the year at Notchview on Tuesday.

The Mounties finished first in the state in the boys’ division thanks to a fourth-place finish by Will Kirby, and the girls finished second in the state, behind a seventh-place overall finish by Kat Chenail.

“Greylock just has an amazing program,” said Lenox Head Coach Gary Miller. “I don’t think it matters to them what the conditions are – they are just really strong skiers.”

Greylock’s program boasts 70 kids and has one of the best coaches in the state in Hilary Greene.

“[Greene] is one of the best coaches I have ever met,” Miller said. “She is the real deal and is an amazing person.”

Most Berkshire County eyes at Windsor on Tuesday morning were on the rivalry of Chenail and Lenox’s Josie Marshall.

Marshall, who finished ninth overall, just four seconds behind Chenail at 25:41, was all smiles after the finish despite her coach feeling her recent illness may have set her back.

“She didn’t do as well as we expected her to do,” Miller said. “She did get top 10, and we are very proud of that, but we were hoping for top five.”

The difference may have been the wind; while most skiers prepared their skis for warm and soft snow conditions, the wind picked up and was a factor at start time, changing the snow to near ice conditions.

“I think the conditions played a huge role in today’s race – we really had to be aware of the wind and be conscious of who you draft off of,” Marshall said.

“The weather conditions were bizarre, [Greene] and I, we were both shaking our heads because this wasn’t what we were anticipating at all today,” Miller said. “We were thinking it was going to be pretty warm and it turned out to be very cold/frozen snow.”

Lenox as a team finished 13th overall for the boys, who graduate one senior after Tuesday, Andrew Woodger.

Woodger finished 79th at 28:03, while fellow skier and up-and-comer Jake Jourdain finished 52nd at 26:22.

While the team finish may not have been what Miller had hoped, he knows his boys program is a few years from taking off as he grooms the eighth and ninth graders in the coming years.

“It is what it is,” Miller said. “It’s a young program, but Jourdain is the real deal.”

For the Lenox girls, Lydia Graham helped boost the Millionaires to ninth overall with her second team time of 30:01.

“It was a good day, but it wasn’t a great day,” Miller said before stating Graham had “rocked today.”

“[Graham] had been skiing fourth for us this year and she came in second for us today – she had a great day,” Miller said.

Lenox’s Sophie Siverstein finished at 30:46, good for 46th. Lenox’s Caroline Wilkerson followed her at 50th at 31:12.

After the race, Marshall, smiling, diverted comments on her time to the success of her team.

“I’m really proud of my team right now – last year we did the best we could, but this year we really made an imprint,” Marshall said.

Posted by Tim Davis on February 14, 2013. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry