Section Nine Alpine Ski Championships

Alpine triumph

Panther boys team takes title; nine Sullivan County skiers head to state championships

By RICHARD A. ROSS

HIGHMOUNT, NY — Fabulous snow conditions awaited skiers on February 14 for the Section Nine Alpine Ski Championships postponed from February 12 due to inclement weather.

While the boys took to the giant slalom for a pair of runs in late morning, the girls vied for the fastest time on the slalom course.

Using the times from this year’s meets, the top 20 finishers from Division I, as well as those from Division II which includes Sullivan County, qualified to participate in this year’s sectionals. Monticello’s Ryan Sonnenschien and Oneonta’s Marlise Coombe were the top seeds and had thereby already locked in bids to the state championships to be held at Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid on February 25 through 27.

Sonnenschein (102.97) took a tumble on his first giant slalom run that cost him the title. He ended up in third place. This year, top honor went to Warwick freshman Jesse Asner (102.2). Second place was won by Robert Burke of Goshen (102.66). The top eight skiers, in addition to the top four from the winning team, move on to the state championships.

Chris Egenes (106.65) of Fallsburg/Tri-Valley was the county’s next highest finisher. He captured sixth place overall. Monticello won the boys team title, unseating perennial winner Onteora. Consequently, its top four skiers, including Sonnenschein, Richard Heins (110.96), who came in 11th, Colin Bunce (112.90), who finished 13th and Skylar Glick (113.36), who took 14th, will join Egenes at states.

In the girls meet, Coombe (111.36) maintained her season-long dominance with a first-place finish. She beat out Diann Wetzel (116.8) of O’Neill. Monticello’s Haley Heins (116.69) took third. Fallsburg/Tri-Valley’s Samantha Adriaans (121.07) was fourth, Monticello’s Devinne DuPuy (127.50) was ninth and Sullivan West’s Kassie Thelman (130.47) finished 10th. All of the above will be attending the state meet. Onteora won the team title.

See the print newspaper for full results.