The ConVal alpine ski team finished their regular season with a race at Crotched Mountain Friday for senior night and is in line to contend for the state championships this week.
The Cougars are led by last year’s double state champion Molly Dishong, who’ll look to repeat Tuesday in the slalom and giant slalom championships at Cranmore.
“It will be a hard fight with Souhegan’s top girls,” said ConVal head coach Hollis Wilson. The Cougars and Sabers continued their regional rivalry at their shared home mountain Friday in a meet that also featured Souhegan, Merrimack, Exeter, Goffstown and Hollis-Brookline.
“It is healthy and fun, and we have the ingredients to beat them as a team,” Wilson said.
Souhegan came out on top in the girls’ race Friday, as sophomore Lyla Kimball edged out Dishong in the dual course GS race by just 0.05 seconds (t0 be fair, Dishong’s wind resistance was a bit higher than normal, as she was decked out in traditional senior race attire – a tutu and a unicorn-horn helmet). The Sabers put five racers in the top 10 for the win; ConVal looked nearly as good, finishing second, with Jennifer Hopkins (fourth) and Eva McCullough (eighth) in the top 10, and Zoey Lazzaro, Caitlin Beal and Laramie Wilson going 13-14-15.
The ConVal boys finished third, behind Hollis-Brookline and Souhegan, but also looked strong, with three racers – Ben Fraley (seventh), Carter Rousseau (ninth) and Garret Rousseau (10th) all in the top 10. The Cougar boys are a smaller team, born out of Crotched’s parks and converted to racers. Even with just six racers and two seniors, Owen Kotula and Fletcher Maggs, the Cougars have found success; in their race at Sunapee Thursday, ConVal beat both H-B and Souhegan and will hope for similar success at the state meet, which was held at Cranmore Monday and concluded after press time.