This past Saturday, Blair's ski team competed in the West New Jersey Invitational at Blue Mountain for their second giant slalom (GS) race on what was by far the longest course of the season. Despite the leg-burner of a course, the team once again met with resounding success, with the boy's team placing second overall and the girls' team placing third overall, each out of nine teams.
These impressive scores were the result of many strong finishes throughout the day. On the boys' side, Joon Park '24 once again took second place overall, with the fastest time in the race on the second run. Captains Patrick Payne '23 and Ben Kotch '23 were close behind, placing 5th and 7th respectively. The fourth finisher from Blair was Dylan Rhee '23, who placed 21st. Finally, Liam Green '26 rounded out the boys' team with 30th place in his first GS race ever. These finishes were all the more impressive considering they were competing against almost 60 other boys.
On the girls' side, all seven girls who raced met with notable success. Courtney Payne '25 once again dominated the pack, placing 6th out of almost sixty other girls. Freshmen Olivia Gore '26 followed in 9th place in her first varsity race at Blair-- a truly phenomenal debut. Right behind her were C.C. Boellhoff '25 and Nina Diem '25, in 10th and 11th place respectively. Separated only by a matter of seconds from C.C. and Nina were Paige Celley '25 in 13th place and Christina Jiang '24 in 14th place. Finally, in her first GS race ever, Jaz Dellaert '26 rounded out the girls' team with 27th place.
The team's last regular-season race is next Wednesday, after which the racers will enter the championship season.