Wayland Nordic Skiers Continue to Improve

The Wayland High School Nordic ski teams competed Wednesday at the Weston Ski Track.

The girls’ team made dramatic improvements and the boys' team maintained its upward trend even with one of its top skiers still unavailable due to illness.

The girls scored 41 points more than during their previous outing, which is significant as each additional point represents one place higher finish for an individual skier. 

The race was delayed a day due to Tuesday's poor weather, with the morning snow changing to rain. It was still raining Wednesday, but the light drizzle didn’t stop the race. The wet conditions made for difficult skiing, but the Wayland teams stepped up to the challenge.

Wayland head coach Chris Li thought the conditions could have been worse and he was pleased with how well the course held up. “The course is fast,” he said before the race. “Our teams should do well.”

The first four Wayland girls finished in a pack, taking positions 15 through 18. 
For the third straight week, senior Rebecca Chinman was the first Wayland girl – at 15th – to cross the finish line.

Sophomore Hannah Brigham skied with Chinman for most of the race. The pair worked together, taking turns leading while the other was able to benefit by drafting. Brigham finished just one second behind Chinman in 16th place.

Brigham said she was surprised to be up with Chinman, and was “happy to be able to work with Rebecca.”

Freshman Elizabeth Karpacz finished strong at 17th place. Karpacz has been steadily improving and this week surprised her coaches and teammates by improving 17 positions over her 34th place finish the week before.

Senior Christa Villari was next for Wayland, finishing in 18th. Villari said she was happy to finish with her teammates, but felt she could ski better. 

“I did not get the wax right this week,” Villari said, commenting on her skis.

Sophomore Julia Lavenson added another solid performance to her record, finishing in 25th and improving 15 places over her previous race.

“Our athletes continue to improve,” LI said, adding that he was impressed with the girls’ performance. “The girls are working well together.”

The Wayland boys’ team is also improving. Li said he missed having one of his top skiers, David Villari, who was out again this week due to illness, but, he noted, the boys’ team is working hard to make up for it.

“We only had five skiers competing today and most of the other teams had seven or eight skiers,” Li commented after the race. “But we were able to regain the fourth team spot.”

There were seven teams competing in the race, and the Wayland boys improved to fourth from their fifth-place finish the week before.

Seniors Aaron Kano-Bower and Sam English led the boys’ team. Kano-Bower finished ninth, followed closely by English in 11th.  

The third Wayland finisher for the boys was Sidharth Vikurd in 19th place.  

Sophomore James Longnecker was next for Wayland. Longnecker proved another Wayland skier to make dramatic improvement over the prior race – he gained 15 positions in this outing.

Rounding out the scoring for Wayland was Jacob Buczek in 50th place.
Next week, the Nordic ski racing venue changes to the Great Brook Ski Touring Center in Carlisle on Tuesday afternoon.