Sparta Ski wins Petro Championship, again

For the second year in a row, the Sparta Varsity Girls Ski Team, "sent it" at the Petro GS Qualifier on Thursday night Feb 13 at Mountain Creek and won 1st place. The Petro is a memorial race and all seniors racing are eligible to apply for a scholarship. Having already qualified to compete at State Championships, the girls varsity lineup was modified to include all our seniors and give them a chance to win the scholarship. With no pressure to perform, the girls were excited to race and have some fun. Sporting summer bikinis over their ski suits, pit vipers and floral leis, the Sparta varsity girls ski team once again claimed victory and won the Petro for the second year in a row.

With a winning team time of 7:30.90 the girls won the podium. Ridge finished in second place with a team time of 7:40.92 and Pope John in third place with a time of 7:46.80. The four racers delivering the win were Olivia Finkeldie who finished in 5th place, Jillian Stote finished in 7th place, Claudia Calafati finished in 8th place and Olivia Calandrillo finished 23rd. Next up for the varsity girls team, NJ State Championships Friday Feb. 21 and Sunday Feb 23rd.

The boys varsity ski team struggled to capture the wild card seed at the Petro GS Qualifier. This was a mega race with fifteen NJ high school ski teams competing. For the varsity boys team, the Petro GS Qualifier was our last chance to qualify for State Championships. Sadly, the team was troubled with DNF's and the Petro ended up being their last race of the season. Team captain Connor McAndris gave it a most respectable, valiant effort and finished 3rd overall out of the 84 boys racing with a combined time of 1:39.32. Vernon won the race, followed by Ridge and Delbarton. Sparta boys finished in 10th place overall.

GIRLS win first place at Season Conference race on Tuesday, Feb. 11

Another first place victory was won by the girls varsity ski team at the final conference race of the season. Boys fell short of State Championships by just one second.

Six teams battled it out at the final slalom conference race of the season on Tuesday night, Feb 11. Since the girls team had already qualified for the State Championships, all eyes were on the varsity boys ski team seeking to gain entry. In order for the boys team to make it to State Championships they needed to beat three of the six teams. While they gave it a solid effort, they fell one win shy by exactly one second, not enough to go over the .500 mark and qualify for States. Taking first place was Vernon with a team time of 4:44.76, in second place was Ridge with a team time of 5:09.01, in third place was Wayne Hills with a team time of 5:23.13 and with just one extra second Sparta boys finished in 4th place with a team time of 5:24.13. Finishing in the top ten and once again leading the boys team at every conference race this season was team captain Connor McAndris who finished in 5th place, along with Tucker Sears 11th place, Charles Flint 17th place and Colin Kowalski 25th place. The boys team has one last chance to qualify for the State Championships if it can win the wild card seed at the upcoming Petro GS Qualifier, where all the NJ High School Ski Teams would be competing.

Even though girls varsity was not the primary focus of the race, they stole the spotlight and finished the season on a high note winning first place. The girls once again skied fast and finished within close range of each other giving them the victory. Leading the pack was Jillian Stote who finished in 4th place, followed by Olivia Finkeldie in 5th place, Claudia Calafati in 7th place and Cora Moriarty in 8th place. The girls closed out the regular season placing on the podium 5 out of 6 races.

Final team standings: Varsity Girls: 18 Wins 6 Loss | Varsity Boys: 12 Wins 12 Loss.

For more information visit SpartaSki.com.