The Mountain Times

KMS alpine teams find the podium at Middlebury and Suicide Six over the holiday weekend

Killington Mountain School continued to retain the Mid-Vermont Council (MVC) U16 banner over the MLK weekend, Jan. 19-20 where both the men's and women's U16 alpine teams stepped up their game on Suicide Six's front face. At the MVC U14 race at the Middlebury Snow Bowl, KMS student-athletes found the podium multiple times as well.
After the prior week's fourth-place finish, Richmond's Ryan Znamierowski led the charge again for the men with a strong overall performance and a "slaying" second run for a combined time of nearly five seconds ahead of second-place Gregory Osborne of Okemo, according to KMS Men's Alpine Head Coach Jack Bailey. Jonathon Schwartz, after a very solid first run, slipped to third to round out the podium. Rounding out the top 10 was a good skiing day from Tomasso Auerbach in seventh and Patrick Salisbury-Jennings in 10th.

For the women, Bridgewater's Piper Jenne took a commanding lead as well, with an overall time of 1:15.62, three seconds ahead of second-place finisher Samantha Rubin of Pico. KMS' Taylor Dobyns finished just outside the medals in fourth place.

In the slalom race at Middlebury, 13-year-old Julia Denny, of Lebanon, N.H., took the overall women's title, with Tessa Queirolo (Farmington, Conn.) in fifth overall and Felicia Ayer in eighth overall. For the men, Marc Hartnett was second overall and Andrew Desino earned his first top-ten finish with ninth overall.
The MVC Banner is awarded to the winning team each week, as teams vie for the Mid-Vermont Council team title at the end of the year. Rankings from these council races also are used to select racers for the State Championships at the end of the council season.

To learn more about alpine, snowboard, freestyle, and freeride training and opportunities, visit www.killingtonmountainschool.org or call 802-422-KMS1.