Seven Alpine ski racers competed at the MIAA high school championship at Wachusett Mountain on February 23.

Senior girls’ captain Casey Reynolds, senior Juliet Chapin, juniors Jessie Delouis and Shelby Morrison, sophomore Kaleigh Reynolds, and freshman Meghan Nelligan and senior captain Ruide Bu competed for boys’.

With tough competition, the girls’ team claimed seventh place out of twenty five teams.

Coach Wayne Hey was impressed by the skiers’ times.

“I think everyone competed very well,” Hey said. “All of the racers grouped together and had a very good time.”

Finishing third in the Central Mass league, Casey Reynolds was satisfied by her performance at the State competition.

“Being the 19th seed, I was extremely nervous because all of the people around me were nervous, so it made me more itchy,” Casey Reynolds said. “But I think this was my best race so far.”

For individuals, Bu was happy with his 47:47 Slalom time.

“I had an embarrassing moment in the Giant Slalom race,” Bu said. “But I managed to finish the Salom pretty well. All in all, I think this was a fine day.”

For Reynolds and Bu, this was their fourth and second time respectively competing at States, but for others, being a first-timer led to nerves.

“I always get nervous for races,” Nelligan said. “The conditions were pretty icy, but if you really press on the outside ski you could really make some good turns.”

Positivity helped many racers, including Chapin.

“My goals for States were to go fast and not fall down,” Chapin said. “States weren’t too nerve racking because there’s nowhere to go from here. You kind of just have to put it all out there and see how it goes.”

Delouis had skied fast for the Slalom race, but unfortunately her first time at States ended with a fractured collarbone.

“I haven’t finished a slalom course in the past two weeks, so I took it really easy and made it down,” Delouis said. “But in GS, I fell on the second gate and fractured my collarbone. Other than that it was a fun day surrounded by good people.”

Most of the racers were proud of their season overall.

“I love everything about the team. Practices are always fun and I love race days,” Morrison said.

Physics teacher Nathan Largesse stepped up this year as the team’s assistant coach so more kids can participate on the team.

“It was a lot of fun being an assistant coach for the ski team,” Largesse said. “I enjoyed getting to know some students that I don’t have in class and it’s also a really different relationship with students besides teaching.”