Athletes of the Week: Smith & Culnane

Grace Smith
Mount Greylock

For the last couple of years, Grace Smith has dominated the Western Massachusetts high school cross country skiing circuit. When one of the league's other top skiers was asked last year what enabled her to win, her answer was simple: "Grace didn't ski today."

On Thursday, Smith added two more feathers in her cap: individual and team champion for the entire state. Smith's first place finish by a 2.6-second margin helped the Mount Greylock team win its first team title in four years. Her coach said Smith skied smart and skied with confidence on the Weston Ski Track outside Boston. "Coming up this little hill over here, I could see on Grace's face. It wasn't like, 'I've got this.' It was more like, 'I know if I've made it this far, I can make it to the end.' You could just tell," Hilary Greene said. Then, she added with a smile, "She just collapsed at the end, World Cup style."


Ian Culnane
Mount Greylock

Warm temperatures and a lack of natural snow made for a less than perfect high school Nordic ski season, but it was a perfect ending Thursday to the career of Mount Greylock senior Ian Culnane. Culnane, who missed his entire junior cross country ski season with an injury, earned a second-place finish at Thursday's state championships, helping the Mounties capture their sixth straight team title in the process. Afterward, Culnane credited his teammates with helping him stay positive after injury took away one year and el Nino all but stole another.

"There's not much I can do about it," he said as the Mounties waited for the team scores to be compiled. "The team was super supportive of me. Everyone's been great this year and last year. We've done a lot of training and hopefully it will pay off."