Blair's Ski Team had their first race on Friday, January 12th at Winter4Kids (formerly known as National Winter Athletics Center). Despite the race being pushed back an hour and a half later than expected after the course itself had to be reset in several places, the Blair racers determinedly and confidently used the time to study the course and make the best of what they knew was going to be a long night. Their hard work paid off: both teams took second place out of the seven teams racing that night.
On the girls' side, Captains Courtney Payne '25 and Paige Celley '25 skied fantastic runs, coming in 6th and 7th respectively out of the 37 varsity girl racers. Senior Christina Jiang '24 followed close behind them in 9th place, and C.C. Boellhoff '25 rounded out the top four finishes with 11th place, securing the 2nd place finish for the team. In addition, in her first high school slalom race ever, Olivia Gore '26 placed 14th, and returning varsity racer Tess Mella '26 placed 19th.
On the boys' side, Fitz Kling '27 debuted his high school ski racing career with a 4th place finish, whose combined time was only half a second faster than captain Joon Park '24, who scored 5th place. Thomas Zhao '25 and Matthew Chong '27 rounded out the top four place finishers to secure their 2nd place as a team with 18th and 19th place respectively. In addition, first-time racer Jackson Cooper '26 placed 24th and second-year racer Liam Green '26 managed to take 26th place despite having to hike during his second run. With over fourty boys racing that night, the Blair team performed exceptionally.
Their next race is another slalom race this coming Friday at Blue Mountain against over 10 other teams, which is sure to be a tough but exciting event.