Weston builds towards future

The Weston boys ski team finished sixth at State Open with a combined run time of 333.09 on March 4. Weston edged seventh-place Glastonbury (334.36) and eighth-place Barlow (334.52) but lost to fifth-place Fairfield Prep (332.29). Fairfield (314.38) won and Ridgefield (315.27) took second in the 12-team field.

"I'm very proud of my team because we did well considering the circumstances," Trojans senior captain Pat Fontaine said.

Weston was missing five starters, one because of an injury. Junior Ryan Vogel has consistently finished first for the Trojans all year but suffered an injury on March 1 when he fell during a race.

"We might have moved up but you'll never know," Fontaine said.

Fontaine led Weston by placing 13th overall with a combined time of 52.06.

"I was very proud of my performance," Fontaine said.

Junior Alex Merberg (53.21) was second for the team and 17th overall.

"I felt I did well personally," Merberg said. "Considering the slopes were bumpy, I thought the top six did well."

Senior Gavin Pomerantz (55.61) and sophomore Andrew Gardell (55.61) were tied for 41st place, and freshmen David Gardell (53rd, 58.06) and Kieran Wrynn (58th, 58.54) rounded out the top six.

"They did a good job considering it was a rebuilding year with young blood," Weston Coach Rich Fanning said. "We lost a lot from last year but have some great freshmen who improved as the year progressed."

Also finishing for the Trojans were senior captain Evan Renaud (71st, 58.99); freshman Ben Gutekunst (75th, 59.59); senior Jesse Prager (80th, 60.04); and sophomore Eric Schanzer (96th, 65.25).

Smith leads Lady Trojans

Although the Weston girls placed ninth (336.52) in the nine-team field, falling short to eighth-place Wilton (335.29), they were happy because they exceeded expectations. Darien (322.56) won.

"The team did better than we expected and I'm very happy," Lady Trojans senior captain Michelle Smith said.

Smith (53.56) led Weston and placed 16th overall.

"I thought I performed very well," Smith said. "My first run wasn't as good as the second run because of the conditions."

Junior Bonnie Guthrie (55.47) was second for the Lady Trojans and was 27th overall.

"I was actually happy with it," Guthrie said. "I was actually shocked because I flipped on one of the gates and I almost fell but I caught it and I was able to finish."

Senior Saskia Van Daalen (35th, 56.07); freshman Anna Dickstein (45th, 57.00); senior captain Jai Retter (46th, 57.08) and junior Halle Lucas (49th, 57.34) rounded out the top six for Weston. Sophomore Ava Van Daalen (50th, 57.35) and junior Caroline Quinn (62nd, 58.70) also finished for the Lady Trojans.

"We're still suffering from the loss of a few years ago when we had only one to two freshmen, but this year, we had a lot of freshmen girls," Fanning said.