CHARLEMONT — For the second straight year, an alpine ski state championship is headed to Mohawk Trail. 

After winning the state title last year at Wachusett Mountain, the Warrior girls set out to repeat this winter and accomplished that goal on their home course Wednesday. 

Behind a first place individual finish from Addie Loomis and big days from Emmy Sisum and Sofiya Slocik-Gritzner on the mountain at Berkshire East Mountain Resort, the Mohawk Trail girls earned a first place team finish to seal a second consecutive victory at the MIAA Alpine Skiing Championships.

“I come here and want my athletes to do well individually,” Warriors coach Brandon Boucias said. “Today is about the team. There’s a lot of people that walk out of this with medals but there’s only one team that walks away as team champions in the whole state and that’s what they accomplished again today.”

Mohawk Trail found out it was going to be raising another banner during the trophy ceremony, as it was in a tight race with Marblehead to see which school would take home the title. The anticipation and not knowing made the payout all the more sweet. 

“It was such a stressful buildup,” Loomis said. “Even though we had an idea we won, it was a relief hearing it announced and the excitement kicks in. Happy isn’t the word for it because it doesn’t fully describe it. ” 

There was also some added pressure on Mohawk Trail as the defending champs. Last year the Warriors didn’t enter the state championship race thinking they’d be crowned champs. This year taking first was the expectation, a different kind of pressure to deal with.

“There was a lot more stress on these guys this year,” Boucias said. “Last year they went in and saw the really big teams and all the really good skiers and didn’t expect to win. This year we were strong and they came in knowing they’d be in the mix. They expressed more nervous energy from all the girls and from me.”

Loomis, as she has all season, put on a show at Berkshire East on Wednesday. The freshman took second overall in the giant slalom with a run of 49.62 seconds but followed it up by winning the slalom race with a time of 47.86. Her combined run of 1:37.48 was good for second overall on the day. 

“There’s pressure that I put on myself,” Loomis said. “I put pressure on myself knowing what my team is capable of. Every one of us contributed to getting here. It’s something I've been working for all season. It’s satisfying.”

Sisum finished with a combined run of 1:44.88 to place 10th overall while Slocik-Gritzner took 34th with a time of 1:51.18,  with Loomis, Sisum and Slocik-Gritzner’s runs being the three that counted toward the first place finish. 

Mae Hoff (41st, 1:52.92), Naomi Den Ouden (81st, 2:02.79), Myah Grant (100th, 2:13.60) and Caroline Makosiej (106th, 2:15.86) also competed for Mohawk Trail. 

“It went well out there,” Sisum said. “It was fun. We all contributed to get this.”

While skiing is an individual sport, the Warriors make it a point to create a team atmosphere, which pays off during the major races at the end of the year. 

“Their great performances mattered but there’s a whole lot that goes into the whole year to make sure the team functions together,” Boucias said. “They’re always supportive of each other. We spend a lot of time making people feel good about their performances to relieve those anxieties. When you get here and hear your coach say that you need to ski fast and not fall, that’s tough. They handled it well. It's a lot of years and a lot of time that go into this.” 

In the GS race, PVCICS’ Sarah Fardal placed 36th (1:51.57), Amherst’s Vivi Bernier placed 112th (2:20.34), Northampton’s Simone Pagar took 109th (2:18.12) and Maise Tuck placed 111th (2:19.76) and for Hampshire, Dana Warren came in 91st (2:08.72), Talya Gilman finished in 104th (2:15.82) and Hannah Burke took 110th (2:19.36)

In the boys race, Mohawk Trail’s Weston Den Ouden flew down the giant slalom course during his second race of the day.

After completing the slalom run in 51 seconds, Den Ouden finished the GS course in a time of 48.85 seconds, giving him third in the event. Den Ouden’s combined time of 1:39.85 placed him fifth overall on the day. 

“I didn’t come in with a ton of expectations,” Den Ouden said. “I came in knowing I’d use the home hill advantage and try to ski as fast as I could. I came down and knew I had skied well. I didn’t know how well compared to the field because I didn’t know how everyone else did, but I knew I had a strong finish.” 

Mohawk Trail’s Wyatt Sisum placed 37th overall with a combined run of 1:50.23 while Phineas Tuttman (47th, 1:51.54), Gage Patenaude (58th, 1:53.11), Oliver Johnson (77th, 1:57.23), Ben Makosiej (84th, 1:58.80) and Alex Schreiber (94th, 2:00.54) rounded out the Warrior finishers on Wednesday. 

For Mohawk Trail, getting to race on its home course was a big advantage. 

“It’s a lot of fun doing states at our home mountain,” Den Ouden said. “It gives us an element of confidence because we ski here all the time. We know the hill so well and it gives us the extra edge to ski harder than we would have otherwise.” 

Hampshire’s Edward Przybyla took 38th on the day with a combined time   of 1:50.43, though he posted  an impressive sixth-place finish in the GS with a time of 49.78 seconds.

Dawson Kelly took 51st (1:52. 26) for the Raiders.

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