Ski Team’s Hot Season

The Wayne Valley Ski Team’s season is in full swing, with many successes for both the boy’s and girl’s teams. The girls team has a record of 14-3,lead by second year captain Morgan La Sala. They have 3 giant slalom and 2 slalom races under their belts, with only losses to power houses Basking Ridge, Ridgewood, and Pope John. In all five races the girls have had multiple finishers in the top ten. Standouts juniors Morgan LaSala, Kiera Clark, and Fallon Clark along with standout freshman Allison McConnell have proved to have huge impacts on the team, and helped greatly in the team’s victories against strong competitors Pope John and Mountain Lakes, along with others. Additional contributors to the varsity team are junior Genevieve Biron and sophomore Catie McGrath.

The team is looking forward to states and is hoping to come out with a victory to improve upon last year’s third place finish in giant slalom, slalom, and combined. Captain Morgan LaSala says, “There are definitely  some talented racers from other schools, but I have full confidence in my teammates. I know we can succeed.”

Kiera Clark believes that “As long as we work together and have fun while doing it, we can achieve anything.”

The boys team is also having a very successful season with a record of 10-9,lead by senior and second year captain Andrew Heydt. The team is proving to be more successful than past years with huge help from the five freshman boys. This gives the boys a full varsity squad this year, allowing them to get better finishes than they have in past years. The boys are lead by senior Andrew Heydt and freshman standout Brennan Chuang, with both of the boys finishing consistently in the top ten. The two are also assisted by freshmen Drew Kluck, Nick Napoli, Anthony Ziliani, and Justin Hunka, who allowed the boys to secure multiple important victories over Pope John among other schools. Since the boys team did not make states last year due to an incomplete varsity team, the boys are working their hardest to keep their record above 500 to make the state cutoff. They believe that their turn to the state race will be a good experience for all.

Both teams are confident that their successes will pay off in big ways in the state championship races, and have high expectations for themselves as the regular season closes and the post season approaches.