Cardigan Skiing Wins Lakes Region Championship

A season of skill development, teamwork, and fast skiing culminated with an improbable result at Proctor’s Blackwater Ski Area in February. Competing against the varsity teams of other Lakes Region Schools--St. Paul’s, Holderness, KUA, and others--the Cougar middle schoolers swept the day’s events on their way to winning the slalom, giant slalom, and overall championship.

Coach Doug Clark says, “The Lakes Region Championship is one of the best events of the year. Ski racing is an individual sport in which you cheer on the guy in the gate in front of you, but at the same time, all you want to do is beat him. You need a team to push you to ski your best, and when we can ski as a team, it brings so much value to everyone’s experience.”

In the first race of the day, the giant slalom, the Cardigan team found themselves in third place after the first run. Cameron Blatz charged the second run to set the early pace and take the overall GS win, with Thomas Choi close behind in third. Simon Manners' 11th-place finish sealed the race victory for his team, while Ely Steffen, Riis Peterson, Jinwoo Ham, and Everett Lo contributed to the full team effort with top-25 finishes.

It was great to have the entire squad of racers whose backgrounds vary in ability and experience. One of the best things I witnessed was our racers waiting at the bottom of the course to cheer on all of their teammates, regardless if they were experienced ninth graders or new sixth graders just learning to race and starting last on the run. 

Coach Doug Clark

Snow conditions for the afternoon's slalom race were challenging, but the Cougars charged through the difficult track set by Cardigan Coach Doug Clark. This time Thomas Choi took the race win with a two-run time of 59.90 seconds and Cam Blatz claimed second, only .17 seconds behind. John Stadler's strong 7th-place finish sealed the slalom win and the overall Lakes Region Championship for Cardigan. Ely Steffen added another strong result while sixth grader Jackson Vikse scored an impressive top-25 finish skiing against the considerably older racers. Congratulations Cougars!

2024 Cardigan Ski Team Lakes Region Championship Roster

Berger, Wes, 8, New London, NH
Blatz, Cam, 8, Snowmass Village, CO
Choi, Thomas, 8, Busan, S. Korea
Chu, Angelo, 6, Rancho Palos Vero, CA
Ham, Jinwoo, 7, Seoul, S. Korea
Humphrey, Noah, 9, Bedford, NH
Imaizumi Sosuke, 7, Tokyo, Japan
Jones, Griffin, 8, Alexandria, VA
Kidosaki, Souta, 9, Tokyo, Japan
Lee, Reaves, 8, Hopewell, NJ
Lewis, Finn, 6, Meriden, NH
Liu, Allen, 8, Nanjing, China
Lo, Everett, 7, Menlo Park, CA
Madan, Piers, 7, Etna, NH
Manners, Simon, 8, Bethlehem, NH
Mansharamani, Kai, 8, Lincoln, NH
McClure, Joseph, 7, Meriden, NH
Nikodem, Jamie, 9, Washington, DC
Norby, Peter, 8, Locust Valley, NY
Peterson, Riis, 7, Aspen, CO
Rice, Channing, 9, N. Woodstock, NH
Schwab, Quinn, 8, Manchester, VT
Stadler, John, 8, Andover, MA
Steffen, Ely, 9 , Hanover, NH
Sullivan, Connor, 8, Big Sky, MT
Vikse, Jackson, 6, Woodstock, VT

From the Editor: Several members of the team continue to earn individual results and recognition on a regional and National level, and we will cover those in detail in the near future. For today, it was simply a great day for the entire team.