For the second consecutive race, captains senior Sam Werkema and junior Abby McAlindon led the boys and girls varsity ski team in their race last Tuesday. A total of ten teams competed in the Slalom and Giant Slalom. Every skier had two runs each in both events.  In their second conference meet of the season, the boys team placed 6th and the girls placed 9th. 

The poor conditions of the snow played a prodigious factor in the team’s results. Many skiers had difficulties making it through the course clean on two consecutive runs.

“The Rangers did well handling the adverse snow conditions in slalom. The temperatures were above freezing, so the soft snow rutted easily,” Head coach Thomas Sabin said.

Overall, Sam placed in the top 25 for the boys, leading the Rangers in both events. In the slalom, he placed 21st with an overall time of 47.97 seconds. In the giant slalom, he placed 15th with a combined time of 1:17.64. Sophomore Ben Taylor had the second-fastest time in the giant slalom for FHC, finishing with a time of 48.64 seconds. The third-fastest time for the Rangers in the giant slalom came from junior captain Aidan O’Meara. Aidan placed 35th with a time of 50.96 seconds. In the slalom, freshman Thomas Corano came in second for the Rangers with a time of 1:24.34; he placed 23rd overall. With the third-fastest time of 1:29.43 for the Rangers, Ben placed 32nd in the slalom. 

Abby placed within the top 10 in both of her events. She took home third place in the giant slalom with a speedy time of 52.93 seconds. Abby also placed 8th in the slalom with a time of 1:03.85. The second fastest skier for the Lady Rangers in the slalom and giant slalom was junior Eden Growney. With a time of 57.31 seconds, she placed 32nd overall in the slalom. In the giant slalom, Eden placed 31st with a time of 1:15.03. In both the slalom and giant slalom, junior captain Koyuki Buckhold was the third-fastest skier for FHC. Koyuki placed 51st overall in the slalom with a time of 1:04.00 and placed 44th overall in the giant slalom with a time of 1:26.45. 

“Both the boys and girls teams are looking to improve as the season progresses,” Sabin said.

With only 1.5 races through the 6 race conference season, the boys are currently sitting at 6th place and the girls at 9th place within the conference. The Rangers will take on their third conference race on Tuesday, January 21st at Cannonsburg.