Digrigolis, Spartans Pick Up Wins at Bousquet
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- For a lot of high school student-athletes, competing in their sport during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a major adjustment.
For Lenox downhill skier Max Digrigoli ... not so much.
"Honestly, the biggest thing has just been we didn't quite get on the steeper terrain early in the season with the way Bousquet was happening," Digrigoli said on Tuesday. "But it's OK, because now we have an awesome lift and an awesome hill.
"The only other thing that's a little tough is you've got to change in your car, so the boots are a little bit troublesome to get on and off in the parking lot. Otherwise, I am thrilled to be out here, and I think everyone else is too.
"We're just happy to be doing what we love in a year when some of those things got taken away from others."
The other big change for most of the 2021 Alpine season was the absence of teams from Pittsfield and Taconic from high school competition, but even that changed on Tuesday.
Skiers from PHS and Taconic, who have been able to take part throughout February in the league's weekly events in a separate under-19 league.
But on Tuesday, they gave the league its expected complement of five teams. And the Taconic boys and Pittsfield girls each placed third.
Monument Mountain's girls won their team competition behind third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishes from Bridget Stephen, Emma Soule and Olivia Ruggiero.
Lenox's girls were second with the 1-2 combination of Madison Digrigoli and Molly Knight at the top of the leaderboard.
The Monument Mountain boys also placed first, led by Keegan Leach and Andrew Churchill in third and fourth, respectively.
Dominic Scalise in sixth led the Wahconah boys to a second place finish.
Max Digrigoli again joined his sister with a top individual finish, crossing the finish line in 43.25 seconds to beat out Taconic's Andrew King (45.90).
"I was feeling good about the snow, just because this is my favorite condition to race in - firm and fast," Digrigoli said. "It feels good underneath my feet. I wasn't super thrilled with my run, but when I watched other people, it gave me some perspective."
The Berkshire County League has one more date scheduled this winter -- Thursday, when the league will celebrate its senior athletes.
Digrigoli admitted there was one other downside to racing during the pandemic, but, on balance, it was a great winter.
"A lot of our weekend races ended up getting postponed because a lot of the bigger mountains were flooded with out-of-towners, and they didn't want to risk anything," he said. "We had a couple of races. But I think of any of my seasons, this season has been a ton of fun. It's thanks to all the coaches here who made this season awesome regardless of the lack of racing and difficult things we've had to overcome.
"The snow has been the best part. Until this week, we've had impeccable weather."
Girls Team Results
1. Monument Mountain 221.37 seconds; 2. Lenox 246.19; 3. Pittsfield 274.77; 4. Taconic 314.00; 5. Wahconah 3,690.00.
Girls Top 10
1. Madison Digrigoli (L) 47.43; 2. Molly Knight (L) 48.09; 3. Bridget Stephen (MM) 49.95; 4. Emma Soule (MM) 55.17; 5. Olivia Ruggiero (MM) 55.91; 6. Grace Swartout (MM) 60.34; 7. Simone Long (MM) 63.72; 8. Charlotte Noyes (P) 65.38; 9. Lena Ungewitter (P) 65.72; 10. Ella Saupe (MM) 68.14; 18. Regan Miller (T) 74.50.
Boys Team Results
1. Monument Mountain 208.00 seconds; 2. Wahconah 232.73; 3. Taconic 243.08; 4. Lenox 260.67; Pittsfield 1,161.48.
Boys Top 10
1. Max Digrigoli (L) 43.25; 2. Andrew King (T) 45.90; 3. Keegan Leach (MM) 47.34; 4. Andrew Churchill (MM) 47.91; 5. Charles Heimann (P) 50.34; 6. Dominic Scalise (W) 51.89; 7. Owen Gutsmer (P) 52.85; 8. Julian Beadell (MM) 54.41; 9.Donald Tanner (T) 55.65; 10. Mitchell Scalise (W) 56.95.