MONTICELLO -- “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” It seems no matter what the sport or arena of life he was referencing, the late John Wooden, UCLA's iconic men's basketball coach, had something profound and apropos to contribute.

This particular piece of sagacity applies perfectly to the now-concluded alpine ski season and to its inimitable guiding force, Section 9 Ski Chairperson Janet Carey. In a year when sports faced cancellations, restrictions, exigencies of weather and even some incidence of positive Covid-tested individuals, Carey's mentorship propelled the shortened ski season which was limited to downhill runs at Mount Peter and Holiday Mountain to a successful finish with Sectional races that crowned champions.

Actually the kids had more time on the snow than a year ago as this year nature bestowed lots more of the white stuff. Last year started earlier but had a long dryland prelude. True, the season had to proceed without the majesty of the Belleayre races, Sectionals at Hunter Mountain and the state championships at Lake Placid.

Everyone had hoped to get back to Lake Placid. It's been years and now it will be four more before States are there again.

Still, the young men and women of Section 9 had their competitive moments nonetheless.

In the boys races, Monticello placed second in the team finish behind Warwick in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom competitions. Tri-Valley/Fallsburg garnered fourth place in the Slalom Sectional.

In the Giant Slalom Sectionals, Monticello's Jack Rein was crowned champion with a time of 28:72. Tri-Valley/Fallsburg's Austin Hartman was second with a speedy time of 29:46. In the Slalom portion of the Sectional, Rein captured first with a time of 34.07 and Hartman was second in 35.09.

See the combined results below.

In the girls races held at Mount Peter, Monticello finished second to Warwick. Tri-Valley/Fallsburg garnered sixth the combined results of both the Slalom and Giant Slalom. Monticello eighth grader Alexis Heins took second in the Giant Slalom in 29.53.

Ski Chairperson Janet Carey summed things up succinctly: “When winter sports received the OK to start, six of the Division I ski teams were off and running to prepare for this year's season. Unfortunately, Onteora which always has a strong team, did not have winter sports. After months of planning and subsequent postponements, our racers were energized. We were able, for the first time ever, to start on the snow without having to wait through two months of dryland practices.

“With Covid policies in place, we skied our girls and boys races separately. We are grateful to all and there are many who made this season possible including state agencies, school boards, AD'S, coaches and parents to name a few,” continued Carey.

“Our coaches did an amazing job adapting to the protocols and extra tasks to keep everyone safe and so did our athletes. A huge shout out to our local ski area, Holiday Mountain, for hosting our races and for all their behind-the-scenes preparation right through Sectionals. They were instrumental in making it happen! Through all the snowstorms and snow days, we eked out a memorable season,” said Carey.

“Our racers skied with the same passion and determination and the competition brought out the best in each other. Since the state championships were canceled, and we were not running state qualifiers at the event, our Section 9 race this year consisted of just our Sectional races,” Carey said.

“We crowned our top 12 individual Section 9 finishers and our top team of three as always. The Section 9 individual score is the ranking of total of the racer's best GS and best SL runs. The team score is the total of each team's top three racer's Section 9 individual scores. We congratulate and will miss our seniors -- some who have spent 4-6 years skiing with us and we enjoyed their senior costume runs. The ski hills have been very busy this year and we hope to welcome new racers next season,” Carey concluded.

Results of County finishers

(Combined results of Slalom

and Giant Slalom races)

Boys -- 1.Jack Rein (M) 62.99; 2. Austin Hartman (T-V/F) 64.55; 7. Ryan Weiner (M) 68.43; 9. Logan Danzillo (L) 70.48; 13. Brandon Schultz (T-V/F) 71.80; 14. Connor Foss (M) 72.03; 15. Zach Stevenson (SW) 72.50; 17. Tyler Parker (SW) 74.11; 23. Diego Ferrer 77.67; 28. Connor Kavleski (SW) 82.44; 32. Andrew Weiner (M) 83.96; 33. Iain Elanbossi (L) 84.43; 34. Adam Guziczek (SW) 86.75; 36. Carsen Terwilliger (T-V/F) 88.01; 37. Allen Carsen (SW) 90.75; 39. Armaan Butler (T-V/F) 93.01; Collin Mentnech (T-V/F) 107.48

Girls -- 2. Alexis Heins (M) 65.13; 9. Harly Taylor (M) 78.85; 12. Kaitlyn Miller (M) 81.01; 14. Brooke Nichols (L) 82.38; 19. Gabriella Pantel (T-V/F)84.40; 19. Lucia Kennedy (SW); 23. Allison Weinstein (M) 89.32; 26. Emily Schmidt (T-V/F) 91.86; 27. Marly Wells (M) 93.07; 31. Grace Gozza (T-V/F) 96.84.