In the shadow of BSM’s more popular hockey and basketball programs, the Alpine Ski team hardly gets recognition for their success.  But after a successful season last year––one that sent multiple skiers to the State tournament––the team hopes to multiply their efforts in order to achieve further success on the snow.

The team’s captains this year include both juniors and seniors, with seniors Ben Hoxie, Kate Murnane, and Jamie Dritz, as well as junior Matthew Tucker.  Each of the captains are racers with up to six years of experience on the BSM alpine team.  In addition, the team is working with coaches Moira Donovan and Nicole Rasmussen again this season.

Last year, both teams had a successful season, with the boys’ team finishing 3rd overall (out of 25 schools) as a team at the Section tournament and the girls’ team finishing 14th overall (out of 22 schools).  The also sent team member Jackson Fortney (‘15) to the State tournament as an individual racer.  Hoxie has high hopes for the coming season.  “As long as everyone’s motivated I think we could definitely do better than last season, and everyone’s really excited right now to be on the hill and skiing,” he said.

While several strong racers––including Jackson Fortney, Michael Black––have since graduated, the team still has several key racers to look out for this season including the Tucker brothers (juniors Matt and Ryan), senior Jaime Dritz, and senior Nick Backes, who all placed well in last year’s Section tournament.  “Nick has always been one of the best. Consistency has been one of the things he’s trying to improve on, but he’s really extremely good,” Hoxie said.

Along with competitive goals of sending racers to the State tournament and placing well at Sections, the captains have set other goals for the season.  “As far as overall goals, I think that bonding will be important, because we have a lot of new people on the team this year, and another goal will be to improve, not necessarily in comparison to others, but the team as a whole,” Hoxie said.