Mullen Repeats as Dual State Champion
CHARLEMONT, Mass. – Pittsfield High 12th-grader Eliza Mullen Saturday capped a sensational high school career and senior season that did not always feel sensational.
For the second straight year, Mullen won the giant slalom and slalom races at the State Championships.
She started her day with a half-second win over Mohawk Trail’s Addie Loomis, the hometown favorite at Berkshire East. In the afternoon, Mullen was six-tenths of a second faster than runner-up Jillian Bradford of Nashoba in the slalom.
For the second year in a row, Mullen finished as the top dog in the state and, this year, she led a Berkshire County contingent that also featured second- and third-place finishes in the boys slalom from Lenox’s Oliver Kirby and Monument Mountain’s Kitson Stover.
Although Mullen was one of the top racers in the county league the last two years and the best girl in the state public school league since transferring to PHS from Vermont’s Green Mountain Valley School, it was not always easy, she said.
“Throughout the season, I’ve definitely felt more pressure from people around me,” Mullen said. “I’ve noticed a lot of people do like to talk about me and, not like a bad way or anything, but it does get in my head after a while. So it can be hard. A lot of the high school races, I struggled with that. I was pretty frustrated with how my season had been going.
“So I was just happy that I was able to put two clean runs together today and represent my team.”
Next year, Mullen will be repping Castleton State in central Vermont, where she plans to ski and play lacrosse in the spring. But before she picks up a lacrosse stick this spring, she has more skiing ahead in Tri-State League and International Ski and Snowboard Federation competitions.
On Tuesday, the conditions made the skiers work, she said.
“It was pretty soft out with the warm weather and everything coming in,” Mullen said of the snow at Berkshire East. “It was definitely a challenge. But I think with my past and my history in ski racing, it’s something I’ve raced on before, so I knew how to handle it.
“The course sets weren’t too difficult, which definitely did help – at least on the girls side. I thought it was a pretty good day, and I’m proud of it.”
Kirby agreed that the conditions were a factor.
“It was clearly a good run,” he said of his second-place performance in the slalom. “But I came out of the start, and I didn’t feel great. It was weird snow, really wet and sticky. So I felt slow and felt like I couldn’t get off my edges. It felt conservative, but, as I’ve said previously, that’s not always a bad thing.”
And the soft track was not anything Kirby hasn’t seen before.
“I’ve skied soft stuff since – I mean, we’re in the Berkshires, so around this time of year, it gets soft,” he said. “It’s all just light on the edges and moving the feet back and forth quickly to not sink in, because once you sink in, it’s over. You’re gonna lose all your speed.”
Kirby kept enough speed to finish faster in the morning than everyone but Concord-Carlisle’s Theo Remington, who finished .37 seconds faster than the Millionaire.
Monument’s Stover was two one-hundreths of a second out of second place, settling for a bronze medal, a huge jump from his 20th place finish in the event a year ago. Stover also ended up the top Berkshire County finisher in the GS, just missing the Top 10 with an 11th place finish.
Boys Slalom
Top 10
1. Theo Remington, Concord-Carlisle, 43.87 seconds; 2. Oliver Kirby, Lenox, 44.24; 3. Kitson Stover, Monument Mountain, 44.26; 4. Robert Blanchard, Cohasset, 44.78; 5. Sam Charrette, St. John's Prep, 44.83; 6. Owen McLain, St. John's Prep, 45.07; 7. Josh Haarmann, St. John's Prep, 45.55; 8. Lukas Shemmel, Winchester, 45.64; 9. Thijs Tague, Newburyport, 46.39; 10. Ian King, Brookline, 46.41.
Other Berkshire County Finishers (by place)
37. Michael Piretti, Lenox, 50.05; 40. Owen Tanner, Lenox, 50.23; 56. Reese Cook-Dubin, Pittsfield, 51.61; 69. Declan Logan, Monument Mountain, 52.25; 85. Kody Lesser, Lenox, 53.78; 87. Ruben Fried, Pittsfield, 54.00; 113. Beau Sanders, Wahconah, 56.92; 120. Bronly Boyd, Monument Mountain, 1:00.19.
Boys Giant Slalom
Top 10
1. Sam Charrette, St. John's Prep, 53.76 seconds; 2. Robert Blanchard, Cohasset, 53.94; 3. Lukas Schemmel, Winchester, 54.51; 4. Owen McLain, St. John's Prep, 54.58; 5. Tucker Kutinec, Concord-Carlisle, 54.61; 6. Theo Remington, Concord-Carlisle, 54.76; 7. Chase Akstin, Central Catholic, 55.31; 8. Ted Holt, Minnechaug, 55.35; 9. William Kence, Needham, 55.86; 10. Thijs Tague, Newburyport, 55.90.
Other Berkshire County Finishers (by place)
11. Kitson Stover, Monument Mountain, 55.92; 20. Oliver Kirby, Lenox, 56.87; 25. Owen Tanner, Lenox, 57.59; 28. Bronly Boyd, Monument Mountain, 58.06; 67. Reese Cook-Dubin, Pittsfield, 1:01.39; 91. Ruben Fried, Pittsfield, 1:04.80; 96. Beau Sanders, Wahconah, 1:05.84; Declan Logan, Monument Mountain, dnf; Kody Lesser, Lenox, dnf; Michael Piretti, Lenox, dsq.
Girls Slalom
Top 10
1. Eliza Mullen, Pittsfield, 46.54 seconds; 2. Jillian Bradford, Nashoba, 47.14; 3. Addie Loomis, Mohawk Trail, 49.17; 4. Charlotte Richmond, Medway, 50.04; 5. Courtney Hoguet, Marblehead, 50.14; 6. Libby Rogers, Hingham, 50.63; 7. Grace Chandler, Newburyport, 50.99; 8. Jillian Magill, Ashland, 51.11; 9. Summer Flanery, Newton South, 51.12; 10. Lydie Pinkham, Mohawk Trail, 51.17.
Other Berkshire County Finishers (by place)
45. Grace Soule, Monument Mountain, 56.39; 47. Mackenzie Valenzuela, Lenox, 56.73; 77. Annette Boyko, Monument Mountain, 1:00.13; 79. Sophia Curletti, Monument Mountain, 1:00.43; 88. Aryanna Bouchard, Wahconah, 1:01.66; 96. Isabelle Scalise, Pittsfield, 1:04.19; 97. Maddie Harrington, Taconic, 1:04.30; 112. Adelina Scalise, Lenox, 1:07.49; Madison DiGritoli, Lenox, dnf.
Girls Giant Slalom
Top 10
1. Eliza Mullen, Pittsfield, 50.34 seconds; 2. Addie Loomis, Mohawk Trail, 50.86; 3. Jillian Magill, Ashland, 51.59; 4. Jillian Bradford, Nashoba, 52.56; 5. Charlotte Richmond, Medway, 52.90; 6. Amelia Hariskov, Newton South, 53.24; 7. Anoush McCarthy, Belmont, 53.36; 8. Kate Robinson, Wachusett, 53.41; 9. Courtney Hoguet, Marblehead, 53.74; 10. Charlotte Kelley, Wellesley, 53.91.
Other Berkshire County Finishers (by place)
22. Grace Soule, Monument Mountain, 55.82; 46. Mackenzie Valenzuela, Lenox, 58.36; 82. Sophia Curletti, Monument Mountain, 1:02.28; 87. Aryanna Bouchard, Wahconah, 1:02.76; 91. Annette Boyko, Monument Mountain, 1:03.02; 99. Maddie Harrington, Taconic, 1:04.44; 107. Adelina Scalise, Lenox, 1:06.46; 118. Isabelle Scalise, Pittsfield, 1:08.96; Madison DiGrigoli, Lenox, dnf.
Boys Team Scores
1. St. John's Prep (5:01.12); 2. Concord-Carlisle (5:08.31); 3. Needham (5:22.62); 4. Saint John's (5:23.30); 5. Winchester (5:24.87); 6. Hampshire Regional (5:24.93); 7. Boston College (5:25.38); 8. Marblehead (5:27.78); 9. Bromfield (5:33.55); 10. Brookline (5:33.93); 11. Acton-Boxborough (5:37.63); 12. Lincoln-Sudbury (5:38.56); 13. Ashland (5:41.03); 14. Longmeadow (5:46.88); 15. Mohawk Trail (5:48.09); 16. Northampton (6:04.41).
Girls Team Scores
1. Mohawk Trail Regional (5:18.69); 2. Newton South (5:21.97); 3. Medway (5:29.93); 4. Newburyport ((5:31.45); 5. Winchester (5:31.61); 6. Concord-Carlisle (5:38.67); 7. Marblehead (5:39.35); 8. Arlington (5:49.19); 9. Wellesley (5:49.99); 10. Hingham (5:52.24); 11. Dover-Sherborn (5:57.72); 12. Monument Mountain (5:58.07); 13. Minnechaug (6:02.24); 14. Algonquin (6:26.10).