CHARLEMONT — For the second straight year, the Mohawk Trail girls ski team had the top two finishers at the PVIAC Alpine Ski Individual Championships.

Last year, Emmy Sisum placed first while Addie Loomis earned second but the two reversed spots on Tuesday, with Loomis coming in first with a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 10.72 seconds on the giant slalom and slalom courses. Sisum tooksecond with a combined run of 1:13.54. 

Loomis finished the GS course in 29.53 seconds and the slalom course in 41.19 seconds, while Sisum earned a time of 30.47 seconds on the GS course and had a run of 43.07 seconds in the slalom.

For Loomis, Tuesday’s win continued her unbeaten streak, as the freshman won all seven races during the regular season before capping it off with an individual title. 

“This is a day everyone looks forward to,” Loomis said. “It's very fun and it’s always an easy-going race. It’s great to get a win here.” 

Fellow Warrior Sofiya Slocik-Gritzner also flew down the mountain, placing third with a combined time of 1:19.46 to give Mohawk Trail the top three individual finishers. Mae Hoff (sixth, 1:22.52) and Naomi Den Ouden (10th, 1:26.49) joined them in the top 10 while Ohia Delhert (15th, 1:35.91), Caroline Makosiej (16th, 1:38.18) and Brooke Koshinsky (20th, 1:40.43) each earned top 20 finishes for the Warriors. 

Mohawk Trail also took home the PVIAC North Division team championship, awarded to the squad that performed the best during the regular season. It’s easy to see why, with the Warriors filling up the top of the leaderboard throughout the winter.

While skiing is an individual sport, Loomis said Mohawk Trail has been able to create a team environment which has helped lead to its success on the mountain.  

“This is a team that clicked easily,” Loomis said. “We have a couple new girls this year but it’s mostly the same team as last year. There wasn’t much of a change between the two years.” 

On a warm day in Charlemont where temperatures hovered around 50 degrees, the snow on the course held up well, with no major complaints from competitors.

“The snow was good and the course held up fine,” Sisum said. “It was warm but not too warm. Both courses held up well.” 

The Warriors now set their sights on the state championship meet, which is scheduled for Feb. 28. Mohawk Trail won the team title last year, and with the meet taking place at Berkshire East this winter, the Warriors will be looking to make it two wins in a row on their home course.

“We’ll work for that and try for that,” Sisum said. “Thankfully it’s here at Berkshire East, our home mountain. We’re excited.”

In Tuesday’s boys’ race, it was Hampshire Regional’s Edward Przybyla who posted the winning time, narrowly edging out Mohawk Trail’s Weston Den Ouden to capture the individual title.

Den Ouden finished the slalom course in a time of 38.31 seconds, holding a slim .06 second lead over Przybyla heading into the GS as Przybyla finished the slalom run in 38.37 seconds.

It was Przybyla who blazed through the giant slalom course to take home the victory, as he got down the mountain in 29.01 seconds compared to Den Ouden’s run of 29.88 seconds, with Przybyla squeaking out a victory with a combined time of 1:07.36.

Den Ouden settled for second with his two runs totaling a time of 1:08.19.

“I’m feeling good,” Przybyla said. “It’s fun to come out during the last individual meet and get a win. I always like doing Individuals. It’s my favorite. Sometimes you get lucky like today and get to run slalom first and GS is there on the back half.”

Przybyla has been a regular atop the leaderboards during the PVIAC season and is hoping to parlay that success into a big day at states in two weeks. 

“I’m hoping to keep those number one finishes rolling,” Przybyla said. 

Den Ouden said he was disappointed not to win on Tuesday but still enjoyed getting to compete with the best Western Mass. has to offer.

“It’s always a lot of fun to ski at Individuals,” Den Ouden said. “It’s a fun, community race.” 

The Warrior boys were awarded the PVIAC North League title for their accomplishments during the regular season, and like the girls, Mohawk Trail had multiple names in the top 10 on Tuesday. 

Gage Patenaude placed fourth (1:13.92), Wyatt Sisum earned fifth (1:13.94) and Phineas Tuttman took seventh (1:16.41) in what was another impressive performance for the Warriors. Grayson Bishop (12th, 1:18.18), Oliver Johnson (14th, 1:18.39) and Alex Schreiber (18th, 1:20.63) rounded out the top 20 finishers for Mohawk Trail.

“It’s really cool to see the team succeed like that,” Den Ouden said. “We train hard and we put a lot of work in. It’s nice to see the results come here.” 

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