After a few snow storms over vacation, the Wayland Ski Team kicked off their season last Tuesday with a Nordic race at Weston Ski Track and then a downhill race last Thursday at Nashoba Mountain.

Though they lost a few seniors last year, the boys team stepped up to the plate to have a great race. Juniors David Villari and Aaron Kano-Bower led with 14th and 15th place finishes overall. Following them were captain Mike Miles, and junior Siddharth Virkud, finishing 38th and 42nd respectively.

After being injured last season, Sam English made his racing debut to finish 47th overall. Following English was Ro Perkins, who also had an excellent race, finishing 71st. The boys look forward to a promising season.

The girls, on the other hand, have lost only lost two seniors in the past two years. Several veteran skiers posted several personal best finishes at Tuesday’s meet. Captain Kelsey Jurist placed 8th overall, which was her first top 10 finish in her high school career. Following Jurist was junior Rebecca Chinman, who raced hard to finish 18th overall.

Junior Christa Villari had a great race, finishing 28th overall. Kara MacDonald had a solid first race, to finish 64th. Sophie Gavell, Hannah Brigham, Rebecca Harris, Megan Conway, Meredith Riley, and Danielle Boykin all made their ski team debuts, finishing with flying colors. The girls showed the potential to have an excellent season. Both the boys and girls teams finished 4th place in the overall team results.

Two days later, both the boys and the girls made their way to Nashoba Mountain for the first downhill race of the season. Despite the chilly weather, both teams came out of the gate with a strong start.

On the boys’ side, Wayland had two top ten finishes. David Villari and Taylor Bridgman finished 2nd and 4th, continuing to be two of the top skiers in the league. Following Villari and Bridgman were Ro Perkins and Mike Miles, who had personal best finishes, crossing 15th and 24th, respectively. Jakub Buczek and Nathan Vanelli started off their high school careers 28th and 59th. The boys ended up 3rd this week.

On the girls’ side, Christa Villari had a terrific race, and a personal best finish, ending up at 2nd overall. Following Villari, Kelsey Jurist got 12th. Julia Braunstein and Shayna Rothschild kicked off their seasons finishing 22nd and 28th. Kyle Robb, Olivia Lucier, and Hannah Brigham all also had excellent races, finishing right in a row, 36th, 37th, and 38th. Just behind them were Rebecca Chinman, Alice D’Orlando, Nicole Noa, and Emily Poirier who all had superb races.

The girl’s team ended up finishing 4th overall. Both teams look forward to this coming week’s competition in Nordic and downhill.