Westford Academy Wins State Alpine Ski Championship

At Wachusett Mountain Ski Area, the Westford Academy Girls Ski Team capped
off a great season by winning the Massachusetts Athletic Association State
Alpine Skiing Championship. Team members Jessica Bishop, Jessica Webb,
Natalie Bishop, Alexa Sullivan, Katie Stokes, Mady Cady, Vanessa Palermo,
and Katie Mitrano already had a great season before today winning the Mass
Bay West Alpha Division Title and by winning the Giant Slalom and the
Combined at the Mass Bay West All-Star Title with the Alpha and Omega
Divisions.

These results qualified Jessica Bishop, Jessica Webb, Natalie Bishop,
Alexa Sullivan, and Katie Stokes to race at State Championships and Mady
Cady, and Vanessa Palermo to potentially race as Mass Bay West Alternates
for State Championships.

After the first run in the slalom, the Westford Academy Girls had three
girls in the top seventeen scoring 251 points beating out Notre Dame
Academy - Hingham and Andover High School with 249 and 241 points
respectively. Strong finishes were placed by senior Captains Jessica
Bishop, and Jessica Webb finishing eleventh and thirteenth and freshman
Katie Stokes finished seventeenth.

Andover came back strong in the giant slalom for the second run scoring
249 points to Westford's 241 points. Jessica Bishop, Jessica Webb and
Katie Stokes again finished strong placing 18th, 20th and 27th
respectively. Westford's 251 slalom points and 241 giant slalom points
combined for a total of 492 team points edging out runner up Andover by 2
points. Andover's combined score was 490 points.

Westford truly turned in a great team performance, especially in the
slalom making it difficult for Andover to get those needed two points.
This was due to the fact that Westford's Natalie Bishop and Alexa Sullivan
placed ahead of Andover's Nicole Ericson moving her two points further
down the point scale. Just so happens that these two points were what the
Westford Girls Team needed to win.

The Westford Academy Boys Team also had a great day finishing fourth place
in the state with senor captain Thomas Fahey finishing thirteenth in the
slalom, senor captain Thomas Yorke placing sixteenth in the giant slalom,
and freshman James Larsen placing twentieth in the slalom.

Thanks,
Coach Erik Ruhmann
Westford Academy Alpine Ski Team