John Jay skiers overcome the elements at Thunder Ridge

CROSS RIVER, N.Y. — On Wednesday, Jan. 27, John Jay skiers braved the cold and took to the slopes at Thunder Ridge, contending not only with frigid temperatures but also with a fresh layer of natural snow.

“The first run had a lot of snow on top of the surface, so it was a little slow,” said Porter Bysshe. “On the second run, the snow got swept to the side, creating bumps and ruts.”

Despite the challenging conditions, Bysshe managed the course well, crossing the finish line in 29.73 seconds to lead all John Jay skiers on the day.

He finished second overall, trailing Yorktown’s James Mooney by just half a second. “It wasn’t good enough to catch him,” Bysshe said.

His brother, James Bysshe, also competed, returning from injury and easing into his first run before pushing harder on the second. “The first run was alright, but I was really going for it on the second,” he said.

Looking ahead, Bysshe acknowledged there is still work to be done, particularly at the start. He hopes to return to the top ten at the state level — but not alone. “As a team, it would be nice to win the states,” he said.

An 11th-place finish by Whit Degenhardt supported that goal, as did Dan Bourla’s 14th-place showing. “That’s my best run yet,” said Bourla, a freshman.

Still, Bourla had to elevate his performance after the opening downhill. “I hadn’t done a slalom in a while, so I had to get back in the groove and push myself,” he said.

The conditions added another layer of difficulty. “For racing, fake snow is a lot better because powder is really difficult to ski in,” Bourla noted.

On the girls’ side, Willow Lutz and Miriam DiPaolo finished fourth and fifth, respectively, while Isabella Dziedzic placed 15th despite the bitter cold. “It was really cold,” the junior said with a laugh.

Dziedzic found a silver lining, however. “The cold makes you warm up, stretch, and get prepared,” she explained.

Still, the conditions made clean turns difficult. “I straddled the gates,” Dziedzic said, noting that positioning was lost in the turns. Normally a strength of hers, navigating the gates will be a focus as she aims for a strong showing at sectionals.

Gemma DelRosso shares that goal. Finishing 10th, she knows a top-25 placement — which wasn’t enough to qualify for states last year — won’t suffice this time. “That’s the goal,” DelRosso said, after taking 12th earlier in the evening.

She knows what it will take. “I have to be more aggressive and take a closer line to the gates,” DelRosso said.

That task was complicated by limited lighting on the course. Reflecting on the visibility after her first run, she added, “I got into the headspace that it was okay. You can’t fully see, so you just go for it and make it work.”

For Mirabelle Wright, however, results mattered less than experience. In her first year on the team, she said, “It seemed like a fun senior-year thing to do.”

With no pressure to chase podium finishes, Wright focused on enjoying the ride. “I’d recommend it to everyone,” she said.

Initially unsure how she would fit in among seasoned racers, Wright admitted some nerves. “A lot of these skiers have been racing since they were four years old,” she said. “I wondered if they would accept me.”

It didn’t take long for those concerns to fade. “They are all so lovely, and the coaches are super helpful,” Wright said.

That sense of camaraderie carried through the day, as the John Jay skiers pushed through tough conditions, shared goals, and embraced the grind together on the slopes.