Feder second in state girls’ slalom

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bill Rice

Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa’s Demi Feder put down two solid runs to place second in the girls’ slalom, one of the Section II Alpine highlights in the New York State High School Skiing Championships Tuesday at Whiteface Mountain.

The Section II contingent also had a pair of gold-medal performances, as Sean Donohue of Bolton Central School scored a pressure-packed, come-from-behind win in boys’ slalom, and Aaron Newell of Queensbury took the boys’ classical 10k cross country race at Mt. Van Hoevenberg.

Tacking on silvers for Queensbury were Mike Mulshine in the boys’ 10k and Brittany Winslow in the girls’ 7.5k event.

Girls’ slalom

Feder gave defending slalom and giant slalom champ Taylor Burgart of Honeoye Falls-Lima (Section V) a run for her money, but came up short. Feder finished .24 seconds behind Burgart on the first run. On the second, Burgart widened the gap, skiing the course .93 seconds faster than Feder to finish with a combined time of 1:29.23 to Feder’s 1:30.40. Cat Gorman of Pittsford Mendon (Section V) was third with a 1:32.77 combined clocking.

“I was just hoping to have a solid run. I wanted to catch her [Burgart], but I wasn’t really thinking about her as much as about myself,” said Feder, a Ballston Spa sophomore who was not aware that Burgart was the defending state champion.

“I knew she was a good skier, but I didn’t know that specifically.”

Things were looking great for Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa at the end of the first run, with Rebecca Stodgell fifth, Taylor Manderson 10th and Morgan Feder 14th. But Morgan Feder was disqualified for straddling on the first run, and Stodgell failed to finish her second run. Manderson moved from 10th to eighth.

Other Section II skiers who finished were Sierra Spring of Saratoga Springs, ninth; Deirdre Howard of Saratoga, 14th; MacKenzie Perkett of Lake George, 17th, Olivia Paolano of Queensbury, 25th, Samantha Ballard of Queensbury, 28th; Ellie Daly of Albany Academy, 31st; and Brielle Korenowski of Stillwater, 43rd.

Boys’ slalom

Patrick Burke of Goshen (Section IX) won the first run with a time of 43.51, and Donohue, starting in 44th position, jumped into second, just .11 seconds back. The Bolton junior, fifth in the race a year ago, uncorked the fastest second run in the afternoon, a 45.54 clocking, to nail down the win. Burke was .80 seconds off that mark with the fourth-fastest second run of the meet.

Donohue’s combined time was 1:29.15 to Burke’s 1:29.84. Third place went to Nick Balta of Pittsford Sutherland (Section V) in 1:30.07. Dan Rittenhouse of Saratoga Springs was fourth with a combined time of 1:30.64.

After the race, Donohue said starting so far back in the pack on the first run didn’t bother him much.

“It was a little bumpy and there were some tracks, but it was fine,” he said. Of the second run, he said, “I was a little nervous, but I just skied what I had to do. I had to concentrate on pole-planting because the trail [Draper’s Drop] was so steep.”

“I worked on keeping forward and focusing on my technique,” Rittenhouse said. “I almost wiped out on the steep pitch, but I kept it all together and made it through pretty good.”

He gave both courses high marks, but he said, “the second one had a lot more unusual things, in terms of where the gates were set up.”

Other Section II finishers were John Underhill of Queensbury, 21st; Teigue Donohue of Saratoga, 22nd; Peter Gryga of Queensbury, 24th; Phillip Weeber of Niskayuna, 26th; Dominic Weeber of Niskayuna, 30th; and Evan Connolly of Saratoga, 37th.

Boys’ cross country

Newell said he benefitted from having a top skier to chase. Kevin Hoose of Honeoye Falls-Lima, who wound up third, started 15 seconds ahead of the Queensbury senior.

“I caught him at 2K and passed him at 3K,” Newell said. “He stayed on me until the start of the second lap and I dropped him after that.”

Newell skied the two-lap cross country course with a time of 28:29.1. Mulshine was timed in 29:07.8 and Hoose in 29:12.9.

A quick change of wax also helped.

“My skis weren’t gliding well, so I scraped a lot of Klister off and put new kickwax on five minutes before the race,” Newell said.

Mulshine said his wax worked fine.

“I never ran out of kicks, so that was good,” he said. “The turns were pretty slick sometimes going down hills, but I managed to stay standing, though I almost fell a few times.”

Other Section II finishers were Will Frielinghaus of Queensbury, sixth; Brian Halligan of Saratoga Springs, seventh; Austin Huneck of Shenendehowa, ninth; Nick Underwood of Queensbury, 12th; Brett Schlessier of Johnstown, 15th; Willie Underwood of Lake George, 16th; Avery Francois of Scotia-Glenville, 18th; Alex Gilgore of Scotia-Glenville 28th; and Andrew Klug of Guilderland, 33rd.

Girls’ cross country

Allyssa Likly of Pittsford Mendon (Section V) won the girls’ race with a time of 27:11. Winslow, a senior, was second in 27:30, followed by Gabby Mancuso of New Paltz (Section IX) in 27:47.

Other Section II finishers were Kate Mulcahy of Glens Falls, fifth; Ashley Forshey of Scotia-Glenville, seventh; Katie Zeppetelli of Scotia-Glenville, ninth; Chloe Boutelle of Saratoga, 13th; Becky Christoffel of Shenendehowa, 18th; Gabby Lebihan of Queensbury, 23rd; Megan Kellogg of Queensbury, 25th; and Abby Hellman of Queensbury, 28th.