DS Alpine Ski Team Results

The DS Alpine Ski Team recently completed its season in the Mass Bay Ski League East and is now headed to the Mass State Championships at Wachusett on February 25. The team had a very successful season - dominating the small school division of the league. The Raiders out-pointed the next closest team, Duxbury, by more than double. Unfortunately the team was not able to bring home the overall league trophy as Wellesley managed to squeak out a 4 point victory (out of over 4700 points). 

Each season there are 10-12 races held at Blue Hills in Canton and Ski Ward in Shrewsbury. Due to weather conditions this year, the teams had a slightly abbreviated season and competed 6 SL and 4 GS races. At each race, 8 boys and 8 girls compete for each team with upwards of 90 boys and 90 girls competing overall. Racers compete as individuals in an attempt to qualify for the State Championships and as a team for MSBLE championship purposes. The league is broken into two divisions - small and large schools. The large school division includes Wellesley, Marblehead, Xaverian, Brookline, Newton North and Waltham. DS is part of the small school division which also includes Duxbury, Westwood, Milton, Easton/Oliver Ames and Framingham. In order to qualify for the State Championships, racers must finish in the top 12 in their division. 

The DS boys had a fantastic season and were the strongest team in both the small and large school divisions. DS qualified a record 8 skiers for the State Championships. Leading the charge was freshman Bailey Laidman who was 1st/2nd (small school/overall) in the league followed by sophomore Sam Scatchard in 2nd/5th, senior Chris Miner in 3rd/9th, sophomore Brandon Miner in 4th/11th, sophomore Joe Wirth in 6th/15th and senior Rogers Boylan in 7th/19th. Rounding out the eight qualifiers were sophomore CJ Savage and senior Andrew Psilakas who were 11th and 12th respectively in the small school division. Also competing and earning points for this boys this season was senior AJ Sebastian. 

The girls will send 5 skiers to the State Championships. Senior Devon Laidman leads their charge by finishing 5th/8th (small school/overall). Junior Carter Mitchell was 6th/10th, sophomore Ali Scatchard 7th/11th and senior Olivia Wayne in 8th/12th. Senior Kiki Geremia is the final qualifier finishing 10th in the small school division. Freshman Emma Hanmer had a great first season missing the States by 1 place. She will be an alternate in the event someone can not make it to the Championships. Also earning points for the girl's team this season were sophomore Rachel Shone, freshman Ali Jordan, freshman Isobel Morrison, freshman Sabrina Zekis and junior Livy Lewis. 

By finishing in the top 10 in the league overall, Bailey Laidman, Sam Scatchard, Chris Miner, Devon Laidman and Carter Mitchell earned League All-Star status. They will be honored at the league banquet at the end of the season. Ali Scatchard and Brandon Miner missed All-Star recognition by 1 spot unfortunately. 

The team is captained by seniors Devon Laidman, Olivia Wayne, Kiki Geremia, Rogers Boylan, Chris Miner and AJ Sebastian. Ron Downing and Mark Gray are the head coaches and Dan Boylan and Dave Laidman are volunteer coaches.