Girls skiing wins first title, finishes undefeated season

A first-time winner in an underground winter sporter. The Darien High girls ski team won its first Connecticut Interscholastic Ski League Championship last Thursday after completing an undefeated regular season, finishing 14-0.

"An unprecedented accomplishment indeed," Darien principal Dan Heron said. "Thank you to both our boys and girls teams for representing Darien High School so well and a special congratulation to the girls for coming in first place. This is yet another example of what happens when talented, hard working athletes are lead by a terrific coaching team."

The girls' competition at the state event was fierce, with the top four teams finishing within three seconds of each other. Darien led the way with a winning time of 322.56, trailed by Greenwich (323.90), Glastonbury (324.69), Barlow (325.40), Ridgefield (330.35), and Staples (331.31). Fairfield, Wilton and Weston fnished at the back end of the meet.

"As far as I know, the girls team winning the state championship -- along with its undefeated CISL season -- is unprecedented at Darien High School," coach Brian Zeyer said. "The leadership of our captains and the consistent racing by all the members was the key to their success."

Assistant coach Marc Power said, "I couldn't be more proud of the team effort during the season and the support for each other during the Championship races."

Co-captain Meg Del Col was selected to the First Team of the All-State Ski Team and co-captain Alex Bair was selected to the Honorable Mention All-state Ski Team. Co-captain Andrew Del Col was also selected to the First Team All-State Ski Team.

Meg DelCol led the way, finishing with a time of 51.20. The next five girls finished within .01 and .15 of each other. In this cluster were Fay Rizzuto, 53.85; Bair, 53.92; Natalie Rowe, 54.22; Kailin Edgar, 54.37; and Allison Graham, 55.00. The other girls finished with very respectable times, crossing in the top half of Class S.

The boys skied on a treacherous course and ended the season in fifth place in Class S and 11th overall in the state championship tournament. Andrew DelCol crossed first, in 51.79, followed by co-captain Robert Goeller, 54.47; Will McCoy, 54.98; Andy Mogenson, 57.48; William Sandberg, 59.08; Chris Brophy, 63.31; Jack Clarke, 64.73; Billy Griffiths, 69.54; and Brady Collins and David Maturo were disqualified.

Earlier in the week, on Monday, the teams finished the regular season due to the rain that pushed the last regular season race scheduled from the last week of February to March 1. The warmer weather for the last several days challenged the Mount Southington mountain-maintenance team to the limit. The soft snow was hardened with some chemical conditioner to make it a fast-but-treacherous course.

The boys team improved its record to 12-9 to qualify for the state championship races. There it defeated Barlow, Glastonbury, St. Luke's and Pomperaug while losing to Weston. The DHS boys finished second with a time of 283.55. Weston had the best time of the night at 281.11. Barlow's time was 285.31, Glastonbury's was 289.83, St. Luke's was 321.40 and Berlin was disqualified. DelCol led his teammates again, finishing in 43.99. Will McCoy (46.66) took seocnd and Brady Collins (46.89) third.

At the same race, the girls defeated Barlow, Glastonbury and Weston with a winning time of 292.02. Barlow was 293.80, Glastonbury 297.79 and Weston 301.04. Meg DelCol crossed the finish line in 45.90 and Bair (47.62) and Rowe (48.23) were behind her.

More scores and information about the Connecticut Interscholastic Ski League may be found at http://www.cislracing.org/.

-- Dave Graham.