The Sparta varsity girls ski team stepped onto the podium Thursday night winning 3rd place overall at the 2019 NJISRA State Championships. This was the icing on the cake after a most successful season. The NJISRA State Championships was a two day event at Mountain Creek South on Kamikaze ski trail where the top high school ski teams competed for podium placement. Each team made up of six racers competed in two disciplines, Giant Slalom and Slalom. Each racer skied two runs in each discipline. The combined times for both runs from the top four racers for each team accounted for the teams total time. The first day of the state competition was giant slalom. The Sparta varsity girls team finished in fourth place and the varsity boys team finished in sixth place. The second day of the competition was slalom. The Sparta varsity girls team finished in third place and the boys team finished in fifth place.
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Once both competitions were complete, the race times from both disciplines were combined to determine the podium winners for the 2019 State Championships. The Sparta Varsity Girls Team won third place with a total team time of 12:15.10. The first place winner for the girls was Ridgewood High School with a time of 11:25.40 and taking second place was Blair Academy with a time of 11:59.40. The top four racers contributing to the 3rd place victory for the Sparta Varsity Girls team were Olivia Finkeldie a junior with a total time of 2:56.40 finishing in 9th place overall, Polina Novozhilova a senior with a total time of 2:58.90 finishing in 13th place overall, Jillian Stote a junior with a total time of 3:01.40 finishing in 17th place overall and Claudia Calafati a sophomore with a total time of 3:18.40 finishing in 26th place overall. Also racing for the Sparta varsity girls team were Rachel Young and Cora Moriarty.
Of the 84 boys racing in the State Championships, Sparta's Team Captain Brendan Muhs won 1st place overall and the Sparta varsity boys team finished in 6th place overall with a total time of 11:34.30. Don Bosco won first place with a time of 10:59.90, Morristown Beard finished in second place with a time of 11:05.80 and Ridge finished third with a time of 11:10.50. The Sparta varsity boys team time came from the following four racers: Brendan Muhs a senior with a total time of 2:34.50 finishing in 1st place overall, Connor McAndris a junior with a total time of 2:48.50 finishing in 19th place overall, Jack Imgrund a senior with a total time of 3:02.70 finishing in 37th place overall and Charles Flint a sophomore with a total time of 3:08.60 finishing in 45th place overall. Also racing for the Sparta varsity boys team were Joe Russo and Tucker Sears.