Wednesday, March 4, the boys and girls nordic teams competed for the DI championship title at Great Glen nordic ski area, and for the first time in BHS history the girls nordic team placed second in the state!
Bedford girls totaled 748 points to earn themselves the title of D1 state-runner up, the team scored 374 points in both the classic and freestyle races to put them second place on the leaderboard. Concord beat the bulldogs with a score of 781 points, but the bulldogs placed ahead of Memorial, Winnacunnet, and Keene.
Bedford girls not only collectively dominated the meet, but individually, BHS had four skiers in the top ten for the classic race, and four in the top ten for the freestyle race. These top ten athletes included Avery Manni, Maddie Beaton, Jamie Karr, Roisi Russell, and Abby Guerrette.
Junior Avery Manni describes the training obstacles the team was placed with when practicing for the state meet; “Because of the lack of snow, it was very difficult to prepare for our race, but luckily our coaches always do a great job of helping us maintain our technique and fitness levels even if we are not able to ski everyday.” Junior Abby Guerrette adds onto the new training approach the team took, “We did a lot of roller skiing which is just as scary as it sounds.”
Clearly the lack of snow did not prevent the team from working any less hard, no matter the conditions the team trained for success at the championship race.
Senior Maddie Beaton describes the confidence that she had in her team before the championship race, “When we were going into the state meet we knew exactly who we had to beat in order for us to reach our goals, so I had the high expectation that everyone was going to try their best.”
The faith that captain Maddie had in her team’s effort reflects the positive energy that the girls nordic team had going into their race.
Roisi Russell and Avery Manni comment on their emotions after the meet; “It felt very rewarding due to the hard work put in over the season” (Manni). “It was really crazy when we realized halfway through the day that we had a chance to get second because it would be the first time for all the girls on the states team and our coaches” (Russell).
After many years the girls nordic team finally took home a NH D1 plaque for BHS, congrats girls on an amazing end to a great season!
