A year ago, the Mohawk Trail girls alpine ski team dominated the mountains. They’ll be looking to do the same when the season kicks off on Thursday. 

The girls team took home the PVIAC North division title and placed first at the PVIAC Championship meet at Berkshire East before heading out to Wachusett Mountain for the MIAA state meet, where it also took first place to capture its first state title of the 21st century.

The Warriors were able to take home the state title thanks to a pair of top 10 finishes by Addie Loomis and Emmy Sisum, and with both returning, the team will be looking to add another banner this winter. That journey starts on Thursday, when the PVIAC hosts its opening meet of the season at Berkshire East.

“We had such a good year last year,” Warriors girls coach Brandon Boucias said. “It’ll be tough handling the expectations of being the defending state champs but the trick of coaching is to keep them focused and that hasn’t been a problem this year. This group has been working hard and is doing everything they need to do to be ready to go this winter.”

Loomis, still just a freshman, placed eighth in slalom and giant slalom at the state meet while Sisum, now a junior, took third in GS. In the seven PVIAC races at Berkshire East last year, Loomis won six of them, and Sisum took first in the other one.

Neither have rested on their laurels, working hard since winning states to be even better this season.

“Addie and Emmy are our rock stars,” Boucias said. “They’re both skiing well. I’m lucky to have girls who want to continually keep getting better.”

Fighting for the No. 3 spot for the Warriors will be Sofiya Slocik-Gritzner and newcomer Mae Hoff, who transferred from Maine to Frontier this fall. Frontier is once again co-oping with Mohawk Trail.

Hoff competed in the Maine state championship meet and has been impressive so far on the mountain while Slocik-Gritzner has taken a big leap as a sophomore. 

Myah Grant is the lone senior while Caroline Makosiej and Adrian Grant are fellow returners who have improved since last year. Ohia Dellert brings great energy to the team while Naomi Den Ouden and Brooke Koshinsky are newcomers who have shown promise. 

“I try to judge my teams off of how they train and how they treat each other,” Boucias said. “I’m so lucky to have girls that come back each year, have great relationships with one another and enjoy their experience on the team. It makes it a rewarding process.” 

The defending state champs aren’t focused on repeating right now. The first goal comes with trying to win the PVIAC championship again before turning the focus on taking home a second consecutive state title banner. 

“It takes a lot of luck to win a state championship because so much can go wrong and so much has to go right,” Boucias said. “We’re focusing on PVIAC and winning that league right now. Then we can take a breath and see what the rest looks like once we get through that. A successful season would be repeating as PVIAC champs. We want to win the league then roll the dice and see where it takes us.” 

The Mohawk Trail girls weren’t the only ones who took home hardware last winter. The Warrior boys also won the PVIAC North division title and took first place at the PVIAC Championship meet. 

Mohawk Trail had eight racers qualify for the state race, and coach Sean Loomis said he’s hoping to get as many athletes to states as possible this season. 

“Every year our first goal is to win our league and compete at states,” Loomis said. “It’s hard to win states as a team and we’re focused on sending as many kids there as possible. With eight going last year, we want to match that or beat that this year.” 

Twelve boys will make up the Warrior roster, led by Weston Den Ouden who placed first in slalom and giant slalom at the PVIAC Championship. Oliver Johnson is someone Loomis expects to be a big contributor while eighth grader Wyatt Sisum has been looking good on the mountain during his club season.

Phineas Tuttman and Gage Patenaude are skiing well while Grady Patenaude is another young skier Loomis is eager to see on the mountain. Ben Makosiej is the lone senior on the young Mohawk Trail roster. 

Mohamed Abdelgewad, Grayson Bishop, Brayden Bishop, Alex Schreiber and Ben Zarotny round out the Warrior roster. 

“We’re looking good so far,” Loomis said. “We only have one senior so it’s a young team. The next two years we’ll be pretty strong. It’s nice to have those guys come back from last year and try to build off what they learned a season ago. They’re determined and they want to win. It’s exciting to have a team that gels together and are all friends. They’re also super competitive, which makes it fun.” 

With the weather being uncooperative in terms of snow thus far, the Warriors have mostly put in dry land work. While they haven't had much time on the mountain as a team, many Mohawk Trail racers have already been competing at Berkshire East in club skiing and look ready to go for the season opener. 

“Our team is lucky we’re able to get on the mountain,” Loomis said. “Everyone on the team has been skiing for a few weeks now but the majority of the kids haven’t gone through gates. Some kids who do the weekend program at Berkshire East have had some races already which is helpful. It’ll be nice to get all the kids out there next week.” 

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