Yorktown enjoys successful winter

Yorktown had a great season this winter, and a big reason why was the leadership of its All-League senior captains, Ryan Donnelly in his fifth year on the team and Gavin Appelle in his third year.

“So much of a team’s morale, work ethic and performance are influenced by strong leadership and this year’s captains played a major role in our success,” said Yorktown coach Wendy Nufer, a four-time All-Section ski racer for the Huskers who competed at the state championships each year of her high school career.

Yorktown’s boys squad finished second out of 10 teams in League A. The girls squad, unable to score as a team in league races because it was two members shy of the minimum number of required racers for most of the season, was also highly competitive.

“We had a fantastic ski-racing season this year and I couldn’t be more proud of both my girls and boys varsity teams,” Nufer said. “We’re still a member of the most competitive of the three leagues in Section 1, but this winter, our entire team just worked incredibly hard from day one of our dry-land training period to our final race days on the mountain, and they outperformed most of their competitors both during the regular season, and the post-season races.”

Nufer added that the team was “fortunate to have been able to extend our record of qualifying the greatest number and/or percentage of both our boys and girls teams for sectionals, out of all the teams in Section 1. Then we concluded the season with strong performances at both the sectional and state championships. It was an amazing job done by all of my athletes.”

In the postseason, seven of Yorktown’s nine boys skiers qualified for sectionals, along with Lakeland All-League freshman Francis Gandolfo, who races and trains with the Huskers but scores as an independent for Lakeland because it does not have its own team.

All-Section and All-League senior Jack Mooney, in his third year, individually qualified for states, placing third in the slalom, seventh in the giant slalom and third in the Ski Meister competition at sectionals. Junior All-Section Honorable Mention and All-League racer Charlie Zhong, in his fourth year, placed ninth in the slalom and 11th in the Ski Meister, earning the third alternate spot on the states team.

“This year, our boys’ team had both team depth, as well as strong racers at the top of the field,” Nufer said.

Additionally, Yorktown’s top three slalom athletes — Mooney, Zhong and Donnelly — narrowly missed qualifying for states as a team by 1.1 seconds, finishing second to sectional champion Horace Greeley.

Mooney was the first Husker to qualify individually for states since Vanessa Van Tongeren did so in 2019.

“The skiing state championships were cancelled during the COVID pandemic, and since then, we’ve had four years in a row where we’ve qualified one or two skiers each year as states alternates,” Nufer said. “Always so close, but not quite making it.”

The Huskers finally broke through with Mooney earning a trip to the state competition this season, making Yorktown proud.

“This year’s state championship giant slalom and slalom races both had unusually technical racecourses on poor, mixed snow conditions out at Bristol Mountain, in Canandaigua,” Nufer said. “Those circumstances led to nearly half of the field of 63 athletes not finishing each of the races. Jack did well to place 13th out of the 35 racers who were able to complete the slalom and 19th out of the 37 who finished the giant slalom.”

All-League junior Anthony Bartolini, in his fourth year; All-League senior Andrew Callaghan, in his fourth year; All-League junior Eamon Hansel, in his fourth year; sophomore Matej Pernica, in his first year; and eighth-grader Gavin Tonner, in his first year, also competed on the boys squad.

All-League freshman Madison Black, in her second year; All-League freshman Evelyn Hager, in her first year; All-League eighth-grader Stephanie Marello, in her first year; and eighth-grader Lyla Barrett, in her first year, made up the Yorktown girls squad.

Those who earned All-League honors were sectional participants.